Prolific artist Takashi Murakami is launching his first feature length film Jellyfish Eyes. The film showed at the Dallas Museum of Art on May 1, and is continuing on a month-long nine-city tour.
Inspired in part by the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Murakami’s new film combines his trademark anime-inspired aesthetic with themes of social change and self-empowerment. Though intended for children, the film doesn’t shy from larger questions surrounding Japanese identity and effects of World War II on Japanese society. The story follows a boy named Masashi, who moves to a small town after the death of his father, and soon realizes a strange creature already lives in their apartment.
This isn’t an isolated entrance into the film world for Murakami. Jellyfish Eyes part two is already done shooting and in post-production with aim set for a release at the end of this year. Murakami is also working on a 15-episode series, The Six Heart Princess that will launch on TV next year in Japan. It may also air the United States.