Drawing an animation on a disaster on the scale of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake is no easy task, even for a seasoned anime director such as Koji Morimoto.
Drawing an animation on a disaster on the scale of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake is no easy task, even for a seasoned anime director such as Koji Morimoto.
But, Morimoto, whose artistic talents were tapped for “Magnitude Zero,” a book of illustrations themed on the March 11, 2011, disaster, and contributed to by manga artists of the world and published earlier this month, knew that it was not a task that he could easily shirk away from.
Morimoto contributed a monochromatic image of a girl who is encircled by many layers of halos and looks up at the sky with hands clasped together.
"I first thought about declining the offer, because the March 11 disaster was no easy theme to deal with," he said. "But I had second thoughts, telling myself that I had to do something on my part."
"Magnitude Zero" is based on "Magnitude 9--Des images pour le Japon," which was published by CFSL Ink in France last autumn. The Japanese version included works by Japanese manga artists.
A connotation of the title is about starting all over again from zero.
"Magnitude 9" assembled 250 pieces from among the roughly 3,000 works that Jean-David Morvan, a French editor who plies between Japan and France, collected through the Internet.
"Magnitude Zero" reprinted only about 60 of them, while including about 50 works by cartoonist Kotobuki Shiriagari, manga artist Kamui Fujiwara and other authors who answered the call.
Shiriagari drew an image of winged human beings flying above a constellation of white wind turbines. Verdure submerges buildings reminiscent of crippled nuclear reactors. The picture is an apparent allusion to a growing use of natural energy sources and the souls of disaster victims who watch the development.
Besides the illustrations that are themed on prayer for the dead and hopes for reconstruction, the book also contains bilingual messages, in Japanese and in English, contributed by the authors and conceived by the Frenchman as a means to address a global audience.
Part of the proceeds from the 128-page book, selling at 2,200 yen ($27), tax exclusive, will be donated to disaster-hit areas.
The Kyoto International Manga Museum is hosting a related exhibition through May 6.
Contact MindCreators LLC, the publisher, at info.magnitudezero@gmail.com, for more information.