As a general rule of thumb, I don’t attend most animanga special exhibitions in Japan. They run expensive (about ¥2000 on average) for a person of my financial means. But at their best they can be great. Both the Taniguchi Jirou and Mori Kaoru exhibitions at the Kyoto International Manga Museum were phenomenal (and cheaper because of the location). And this one – Sakurai Norio – well, that was always going to be an exception. These things don’t always travel outside Tokyo, but happily this one did. To Animate’s Space Gratus hall in Osaka’s otaku haven, Den Den Town.

Any BokuYaba-related RL stuff is a bit emotional for me, so deep is my love for this series. But this was also a nice reminder of how much I loved Mitsudomoe – not in the same way of course, but as a straight-up comedy it was one of my favorites of the 2000’s. Norio also wrote Rororro! and Kodomo Gakkyuu, though sadly neither is licensed in English or fully translated so I haven’t read them. Given the success of Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu I suspect Rorroro! (more representative of her current style) might get a second look from a publisher (or even an anime).

The exhibition was structured as such: the first section is an overall retrospective of Sakurai’s career, with all of the above series getting more or less equal billing. Again, great fun to see all that Mitsudomoe stuff – a pretty wonderful ecchi comedy that got a great adaptation directed by Oota Masahiko. But there’s no question what Norio’s masterpiece is, and everything after that is dedicated to it. There’s all sorts of incredibly cool stuff here, including mock-ups of the classroom (with Yamada’s “touch” diagram on the board), nurse’s office, and library. Along the way are lots of names and rough sketches, and the sounds of junior high school life on the sound system.

Also of note is a room devoted to the Shimokitazawa arc, with an obvious focus on what happened on that stairwell. It also features Kana’s handwritten lyric sheet for “Moving Forward”, the song based on Kyou’s lyrics based on Yamada’s confession. The performance by her band Primary COLOR is playing in the background, of course. This was very cool and very well done.

Finally we have the merch shop (naturally) where of course my impulse is to say “one of everything please”. But that’s not realistic so I limited myself to some humbler items like stickers, postcards and clear files. There was some great stuff, like an aloha shirt with comic panels, not to mention Ichi’s trashcan (with police tape) and a BokuYaba tissue box. But in general (as usual) there wasn’t enough Ichi in the swag options. Like, he’s not even on the coffee mug  or the tote bag, and doesn’t have a bobblehead or a plushie. Those would totally sell, too.

All in all a great experience and a very well-done celebration of Sakurai-sensei’s work. It’s intense to be in the middle of all that as a massive BokuYaba fan, but if you ever have the chance to experience it (you’ve got about a month) I can’t recommend it highly enough.