Takashi Murakami’s First Feature Length Film Tours

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.