Evangelion (Art) Exhibition 2014 at the Sogo Art Museum, Yokohama

I'm back... mostly! My computer is here and operational, and I have it speaking to me mostly in English instead of Japanese! I've installed pretty much all of the programs I need and I'm working on my data now. I've also got a back-log of emails to attend to...

Evangelion is massive. What started as a 24-episode series has spawned several movies, multiple trading card sets, plenty of merchandising goods, and recently, even an art exhibition.

 The art on display was directly related to the show and movies, though there were a few items from outside that universe. There were plenty of storyboard sequences and some cells from the original anime.

 A large portion of the exhibit had character sketches and pieces related to the main protagonists.

 Of course, art relating to the EVA machines and settings were also viewable, including a large 3D map of sorts showing the Evangelion "world" and the main locations within. They included a few video screens showing the animation for running EVA units, and a short looping clip from one of the movies.

The gift shop was well stocked with anything you could imagine, with some exclusive goods. Prices were unsurprisingly high, and being on a budget, I was limited to buying just a small set of stickers. There were books with most of the works included inside, exclusive figurines, omiyage souvenirs (snacks in custom packaging), clothes, and more.

I have watched only one Evangelion episode all the way through - the pilot episode in Japanese - so I don't know most of the actual story, but I've become quite familiar with the series. Along the way, I've collected a good amount of Evangelion figurines and other goods. And what little I've seen of the show just makes me want to watch the rest.

Admission was 1000 yen, and given the amount of art on display, it was well worth it. I was hoping for some more "fan" art or works not directly taken from the show and movies. Of course, photography wasn't allowed inside, but there were four large statues scattered throughout the mall for which photos were permitted:

 EVA Unit. These are pretty cool looking.

 Here's the main protagonist, Shinji. I just saw online that you can buy life-size figurines like these for about $5000 each. Pocket change!

 Here's Rei, one of the two main females on the show. She's calm and cool, much like her hair.

And the red fireball, with a personality to match, is Asuka. She's part German, and my favorite character on the show right now.

The exhibition was held at the Sogo Museum of Art, ending last weekend. It's the first of its kind, apparently, though an Evangelion art exhibition toured a few cities in Australia in 2013. A cursory search online didn't bring up any other exhibitions. There is an Evangelion store in Hakone (near Mt. Fuji - where the series and movies take place) and in Tokyo (Ikebukuro, reopening in early October).

Artwork images were found online, and come from materials related to the exhibition.