Danica Davidson
May 29, 2025 
Isao Takahata, a director who co-founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki, is receiving an exhibit titled “Takahata Isao Exhibition: The Man Who Planted Japanese Animation.” Takahata died in 2018, but if he were still alive, he’d be turning 90 in 2025. This year also has meaning because it is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and his best-known film, Grave of the Fireflies, follows children during the war.
The exhibit starts on June 27 and lasts until September 15, and can be found at the Azabudai Hills Gallery in Tokyo.
Attendees will be able to check out background art and cels from various anime he worked on, like Anne of Green Gables; Heidi, Girl of the Alps; The Tale of Princess Kaguya; Pom Poko; and My Neighbors the Yamadas, though it will mostly concentrate on Grave of the Fireflies. A special item people can see is a “harmony cel” (which means it more resembles a painting) from Grave of the Fireflies that’s adapted from a layout designed by Evangelion’s Hideaki Anno.
People can purchase an audio guide and be led through the exhibit by the voices of Hikaru Ijūin — Abe no Daijin in The Tale of the Princess Kaguya — and prolific actress Sakiko Tamagawa.
If you’re interested in going to the exhibit, tickets can be obtained through Azabudai Hills Gallery and LAWSON Tickets.
GKIDS licensed Grave of the Fireflies and gave this description for its plot:
Grave of the Fireflies Plot
As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Beautiful, yet at times brutal and horrifying. Based on the retellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki and directed by Isao Takahata (co-founder, with Hayao Miyazaki, of Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli,) Grave Of The Fireflies has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force. Now digitally remastered and restored, it is one of the rare films that truly deserves to be called a masterpiece.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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