Sunday, November 13, 2016

Sailor Moon Exhibition


The Sailor Moon Exhibition was held in the Mori Arts Museum in Roppongi Hills from April 16th to June 19th, 2016. While I was in town for Golden Week, my friend and I managed to snag last minute tickets. 

Most areas were off limits to photography so I couldn't take many photos, but the exhibition was really enjoyable, especially if you are a Sailor Moon fan or if you were a student of animation. 

When you first walked in you were greeted with banners of all the Sailor Scouts hanging in front of the giant glass windows that look out to Tokyo. 


At night time these banners glowed in the dark!


Right before you entered the exhibition tour, you passed a giant image of Serenity. This is a copy of one of the two new illustrations Naoka Takeuchi created for the exhibition. Once inside the art gallery you could see the original illustration. 


There were various things on display in the exhibition. One section displayed old and rare toys, cards, dolls, and other merchandise, as well as the original manga books from the 1990's. There was also a smaller display of new figures created for the 20th anniversary. Original cels and copies of the first episode's storyboards were also on display close by. I especially enjoyed looking at the cels. Near the end of the exhibition there was also a small Sailor Moon musical section display where you could see Prince Endymion's costume. 

However, my favorite section was where Takeuchi's original cover art and other illustrations were displayed. Before entering it, there was another wall mural of Sailor Moon, but this one had Naoka Takeuchi's signature on it. Takeuchi's illustrations were breathtaking up close. I was amazed to learn how much mix-media art she creates. Many of her illustrations featured cut-outs from magazines. 





The one area where you could take photos was the statues of Princess Senerity and prince Endymion. These were simply gorgeous!



On the way to the gift shop there were paper stands of each Sailor Scout. I wish they had been the original 1990's illustrations though. I am not a fan of the new anime's art.


The gift shop featured clearfiles, postcards, keychains, cookie boxes, and tons more. I bought a few postcards, a Sailor Mars keychain, and a clearfile featuring one of the new illustrations created for the exhibition. 

After finishing the exhibition, we went to Chibi Usa's Cafe and had a parfait. The line was long! We waited almost an hour. The parfait wasn't too bad, but I couldn't stomach the syrups and bitter jellies at the bottom. 




While the cafe was a little disappointing, I really enjoyed the exhibition!


Cardcaptor Sakura Cafe




As soon as I heard about this cafe I knew I had to go! I had a three day weekend so I decided to visit Tokyo and stay at my friend's house. My friends and I had to reserve tickets in advance for the Cardcaptor Sakura cafe in the Animate Cafe in Ikebukuro. And did they sell out fast! It was 2000 yen per person, but you got a beautiful mug and an art print with your entrance fee!

This is by far the best themed cafe I have visited. Cardcaptor Sakura is my favorite anime and manga so I was super excited to go and I extremely enjoyed it. Plus everything was super adorable.

We were assigned one of the two floors based on the time slot we chose. We were on the Suppi floor and the floor above was the Kero floor. Customers could get permission to go to the other floor to look and take photos. The staff would basically give out a "hall pass."


Once seated we were given a menu and asked for our orders. The menu looked like the Clow Book. 



With each item you ordered you got a random coaster. The coasters were placed facedown so you wouldn't know what you got until you flipped it over. You could go around and try to trade with other customers. I ordered the curry and the orange-flavored hot chocolate. Having a flavored hot chocolate was interesting, but neither the cocoa or curry was bad!

 

While waiting for your food you were allowed to go and buy the exclusive merchandise or take photos. Certain items like the plate, the rubber straps, and the cookie tin were limited to one per person. I bought so much! I got the cookie tin and the plate, as well as the Syaoran x Kero and Sakura x Tomoyo straps. I also tried 3 random acrylic straps. I got Syaoran twice and one Toya.  

I noticed people were placing extras near the end of their table. I figured that meant they wanted to trade. No one else seemed to be getting up (Japanese people are shy), but I quickly grabbed my extra Syaoran and my Toya and started to look around. One girl sitting by herself had two Sakura, so I asked if she would trade for my extra Syaoran and she was THRILLED I asked to trade! I went back to eat my curry and later found someone who had a Tomoyo at the edge of her table. I asked her what she was looking for and she said she wanted Kero or Toya so I went back and got my Toya and traded her for Tomoyo. :)


We then ordered dessert. We all got the Clow Card ice-cream parfait which was delicious! The Clow Card was a cookie and tasted nice. 



Before leaving we took photos around the cafe. There were cloth banners with each character on them. 




As well as a life size Clow Card named "The Guest" where you could pose in. 


Also there was a life size replica of the Sakura Wand.


Overall this was an awesome cafe! I really enjoyed it!


Below are photos of the original menu and goods.