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Anime Included in Barbican Animation Show

The "Watch Me Move" animation season at London's Barbican Centre is now underway. The season's centrepiece is an exhibition called Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, in which anime is represented alongside animation from other parts of the world. It is open now, and runs until September 11.

The exhibition includes a screening room, with a seven-day repeating programme showing a total of 28 animated feature films from Monday to Sunday. The films range from the original Tron (showing Wednesdays at 1330) to Toy Story 3 (showing Sundays at 1130). Four anime films are represented, all dubbed:

Saturdays:

1030 - Spirited Away

1430 - Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (this is the 2008 modified edition of the original Ghost in the Shell film. It should not be confused with Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence).

Sundays:

1330 - Howl's Moving Castle

1730 - Paprika

Beyond the screening room, the exhibition features extracts from the following anime: Akira, Sailor Moon, Princess Mononoke, Legend of the Overfiend (a non-sexual extract), and Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind. Additionally, it shows representatives of earlier anime: an episode of Astro Boy, the 1943 short film Spider and Tulip, and the brief 1930 film Village Festival by Noburo Ofuji.

The exhibition is also showing the complete 1941 Chinese feature film Princess Iron Fan, which is based on the Monkey stories. This was the first animated feature made in Asia, and was a direct influence on the first anime feature, Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, in 1945. It was also a major influence on the young Osamu Tezuka.

The exhibition is open seven days a week. It opens at 1100 Sundays to Friday, and 1000 on Saturdays. It closes at 1800 on Wednesdays, 2200 on Thursdays, and 2000 on all other days.

Tickets prices are as follows: Standard £10 online (book at the above link)/£12 on the door

Concessions £7 online/£8 on the door

Secondary school (groups of ten or more) £6

12-17s yrs £6 online/£7 on the door

Under 12s free

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