Ghibli Exhibition, Seoul

Nov 21, 2014

My friends with No-Face

Being a HUUUGE Ghibli Studios fan, I HAD to go see the life-size exhibit in Seoul. I already went to the one in Mitaka, Japan so there was no way I was missing this one.

Here's the official website: 2014ghibliexhibition (Korean)

Here's the outline of the exhibit. Looks small and it kinda was.

Luckily I found a few friends that wanted to go. The exhibit is in the Ipark Mall at the Yongsan Station in Seoul. It took us a while to find the exhibit because the mall is huge.

Outside the Yongsan Station is Ponyo. She isn't part of the exhibit inside. Only Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononke, Pom Poko, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso and Spirited Away are highlighted in the exhibit.

The exhibit is on the 6th floor near the CGV theatre. I was worried that we would have to wait in line but there was none that day! Tickets were ₩15,000 (~$13.50) which is considered not cheap in Korea. The one in Japan costs ¥1,000 (~$8.50).

Photos were allowed (unlike the one in Japan) but videos weren't. It was dark inside so our photos came out grainy and not super awesome but still... the exhibit was really cool.

First off was Howl's Moving Castle. At the entrance is Heen (the dog). The moving castle was really cool and detailed. It was huge and it moved up and down and the eyes also moved. If you haven't already, I suggest reading the book by Diana Wynne Jones, the ending is completly different from the movie.

Howl's flower field was pretty to look at. The fire hearth where Calcifer lived was roped off. I liked that they put the bacon and eggs there. "Here's another curse: May all your bacon burn!" If you don't get it, you should watch the movie again...

There were ropes around Howl as well. Though he didn't really look all that cute... You could take pics with Markl, Sophie and Heen.

Heen was hiding under the table staring at Sophie and Markl was on the opposite side of the table. The scorch mark curse from the Witch of the Waste was in front of Sophie. I didn't get a photo of it because there were too many people around. But no Turnip-head?!

Next was Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka and Yakul are at the start. Then there's images of the Kodama and the Forest Spirit in it's Nightwalker form projected on a giant screen and when that video loop is over, the Forest Spirit in it's stag/baboon face form is there. There was also a life size figure of San with Moro and another wolf. I didn't get a good photo of it because of the light from the projector making the photo turn out bad.

Next is Pom Poko. I tried watching this movie buuuut I couldn't pay attention to it. I think it might have been the singing... or the changing of the raccoons... I'll give it another try later...

My Neighbor Totoro! My favorite movie along with Howl's Moving Castle! The first display was of Mei and Satsuki running towards their new house. Then there was this giant tree trunk that had holes where you can look into and see a sleeping Totoro (his chest rose and fell), a medium Totoro (blue) and Chuu-Totoro (white). Super cute!

Then there was the bus stop scene where everyone was trying to take photos of. You could hear sound of rain falling and see little droplets of rain in the background that kind of sparkled. The end of the Totoro section was the backdrop of the house with the dust mites floating along. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a life-size Catbus...

The next movie was Porco Rosso. It was pretty small. They just had a life-size airplane and Porco Rosso chillin on a lawn chair.

Next up was Spirited Away. And at the entrance was Yubaba in her desk with the 3 head brothers Kashira. This display was really cool. I liked it a lot. Across from the Yubaba display was a life size Chihiro standing in front of the bath house.

And then there was No-face. He seemed like the main character since there was more of him around then there was of Chihiro. Especially the life-size scene inside the train. I had a whole set-up with my photo with No-Face. It's going to be my Christmas card this year so be prepared! I was surprised that there was no Haku, Kamajii, Bou or Zeniba... Sadly this was the end of the exhibit that led to a gift shop where I bought stuff.

Outside people were leaving their stickers (the ones that we got when we bought our tickets) on the walls.

I didn't leave anything but Allie did.

So the stuff I bought came out to be less than what I thought I was going to spend. Things were definitely more cheap here than in Japan. I was tempted to buy this 500 puzzle piece since I love puzzles but didn't... Instead I bought these notebooks, post-its and notepad...