Thanks for sharing. I'm eager for any kind of description of the event, and you don't need to worry about what others have said. I’d urge you not to hold back. How did certain pieces that struck you make you feel? Was there any particular art piece that stood out to you seeing it in person? The number of members here who have actually attended the event is something like 2-3. So please, we want to hear it!
Thanks, Walter. I'll try to give a few more thoughts on the event.
The first thing that surprised me after arriving was the very different types of people that had shown up for the event. I've never really thought about what constitutes a "Berserk Fan", nor did I have a specific mental image of who might attend, but I was still surprised at who attended. There were the typical suit wearing Japanese salary men, young, old, people in groups, people attending by themselves (including a lot of single women), goth types, straight laced types, and a few foreigners. In short, I found out that Miura-sensei touched many more people from very different walks of life than I had imagined was possible.
Being able to see his hand drawn pictures was very interesting. At first I think that I was shocked at how much time each single picture must have taken to make. The number of strokes, the use of white out, the typed dialogue pasted into the word bubbles. Especially to see originals of some of my favorite scenes. To look at them and see the imperfections, the smudges of ink and white out; all of this made the art feel more personal.
The actual exhibit seemed to have captured most of the major events in Berserk. Not everything that i wanted to see was there, but they had artwork from just about every story arc represented. Interspersed with the art work were statues or figures that matched the events in that area.
Never having any Art of War figures in person before, I was very excited to see the ones that made it into the exhibit. There weren't as many as I would have liked, but they ones that they did have were very impressive. Wish that I could afford one or a couple!
The larger statues (and by larger I mean large, like some were at least 1 meter tall!) that populated the exhibit seemed to have been made by another studio, but I don't remember the name at the moment. These, while not as detailed as the Art of War statues, certainly made the walk through more enjoyable.
The buildup to the eclipse was well done. This was one of the few places that had music and as you were walking towards the large "Eclipse Room", there was a steady dull beat in the air. The Eclipse Room itself was pretty cool and I wish that photography was allowed. They had recreated the birth of Femto and had the pillars made out of heads. There were larger statutes of the God Hands in the back of the room. Creepy!
Towards the end of the exhibit, there was a coffin display with the broken remains of Casca inside. Next to this was a video message from the actress who voiced Casca in the 1997 anime, Yuko Miyamura.
As for the "desk" display, I was a little disappointed in it. I had already seen pictures of Miura-sensei's desk before and thought that the desk in this exhibit was too "fake" for me; it had some of the major props that did surround his desk, but most of the clutter that I remember seeing before was missing. I know that it would be impossible to faithfully reproduce his real desk, and while I do appreciate the sentiment a part of me still wanted to see the "real thing" instead of a "prop".
The last part of the exhibit had a few monitors that were playing an actual video interview with Miura-sensei on them (I believe that the interview was recorded last year). I certainly hope that it becomes available to view elsewhere later. I haven't started reading it yet so I can't confirm, but I am guessing that this interview was transcribed and printed in the end of the book for sale at the exhibit, "The Art of Miura Kentaro".
All in all, this exhibit was a long time coming. The shear number of fans that attended was heart warming. Miura-sensei is still beloved.
(side note. as i'm typing this, there is a segment with Naoki Urasawa, the artist of the manga "Monster", playing on tv this morning. i can't help but feel saddened that it's not Miura-sensei. the lack of media coverage surrounding his death and this exhibit was pitiful. i remember nothing about his death in mainstream media here, i think that they only care about which celebs are cheating with what other celebs. the only reason i found out about this exhibit was because i kept checking the Young Animal website to see what their official response was going to be.)