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Utena, Penguindrum Director Ikuhara's Exhibition Will Begin in Tokyo on April 27
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The works of director Kunihiko Ikuhara are taking center stage next month at the "Kunihiko Ikuhara Exhibition: The Desire to Connect Us and The Survival Strategy of the Revolution" at Space 634 in the Tokyo Solamachi shopping mall.
The exhibition will focus on Ikuhara's previous anime work including Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, and Yurikuma Arashi and his upcoming series Sarazanmai. The exhibition will also include information about Ikuhara's other non-animation projects.
Tickets will go on sale on March 9 at Animate and LAWSON locations. The exhibition opens on April 27 and will run until May 6. The streaming service Nico Nico will commemorate the exhibition and Sarazanmai with broadcasts of Penguindrum, Utena, and Yurikuma Arashi beginning on March 7. The program streams will also announce new information about Sarazanmai.
The anime will premiere in April and will air on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. The staff revealed a story summary at the Animate Girls Festival 2018 event in November:
The stage is Asakusa.
One day, three second-year middle school students — Kazuki Yasaka, Toi Kuji, and Enta Jinai — meet a kappa-like creature named Keppi, who is the self-proclaimed heir to the throne of Kappa Kingdom. Keppi forcibly takes the students' shirikodama (a mythical organ kappa steal through a person's anus) and they are transformed into kappa. Keppi informs them, "If you want to return to your former selves, you need to connect in 'that way' and you must bring me the shirikodama of zombies." Will the three boys be able to connect and take the shirikodama of zombies?
At the same time, two policemen, Reo Niiboshi and Mabu Akutsu, try to do something at the police box where they are stationed.
Ikuhara is directing the series and, along with Teruko Utsumi, is overseeing the series scripts. The studios MAPPA (Yuri!!! on Ice, In This Corner of the World, Rage of Bahamut Genesis) and Lapin Track (Yurikuma Arashi) are producing the series.
Ikuhara is perhaps best known as the director of the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime, a 1997 series he co-created with the Be-PaPas creative group, which consisted of him, writer Yoji Enokido, animator and character designer Hasegawa Shinya, manga creator Chiho Saitō, and producer Yūichirō Oguro. Before Revolutionary Girl Utena, he worked at Toei Animation, where he directed Sailor Moon R, S and SuperS. After Revolutionary Girl Utena, he did not direct another anime series until Mawaru Penguindrum in 2011. Until now, his most recent directorial work is Yurikuma Arashi in 2015.
Source: Comic Natalie
