New Yorkers Need to Check Out Kodansha House

We had the chance to check out Kodansha’s immersive manga pop-up Kodansha House and it was a lovely experience. The event opened to the public on October 4th and is located in SoHo at 45 Grand Street, open from Wednesdays to Sundays from 12 pm to 9 pm throughout October. The location is pretty impossible to miss; the entry is a giant manga shelf and the buzz around the entrance, at least for me, was noticeable in comparison to the fairly empty streets.

There are two sorts of events at Kodansha House. First is the static portion of the offering, including a few standalone art-gallery-style displays from popular manga like Attack on Titan, Akira, and Witch Hat Atelier. This also includes two static installations, including the Akira Slide Photobooth, where fans can don Kaneda’s iconic jacket and goggles and pose for photos with a stationary Akira bike, and Titan’s Fury – Attack on Titan Photobooth, where fans can experience a life-size model of the Attack on Titan walled village and act out scenes as titans. The first of these was a popular favorite on the night I visited and the second was a personal favorite. There’s a lot of detail in the Attack on Titan activation and there are little Titan suits that you can wear while acting out scenes, which makes for even better (and more hilarious) photos.

The second sort of event includes a variety of movie nights, manga-focused events, social-focused events like a “Speed Friending” night, opportunities to meet manga creators, and an open manga marketplace to trade with fellow fans on the 26th. Unfortunately, registration is already closed for the majority of the events (aside from, at the time of writing this article, the “Toast of Tardiness” scavenger hunt on Sunday the 6th and the manga marketplace, which requires no RSVP).

Admittedly, going through the static portions of the offerings at Kodansha House is pretty quick. It’s truly like an art gallery (or several booths at a convention), meaning you can put as much time as you’d like into enjoying the installations and taking a look at the activations, especially if you’re in line to take photos. If you’re in the area though, I think it’s a nice thing to stop by and enjoy a combo of nostalgia at some of the classic series featured alongside maybe some interest in the newer ones. Even more, there’s a social component; spaces like this are nice places to meet other people into the same manga and that was definitely an underrated aspect of the event. Fans can also enjoy a special cafe hosted by Grace Street Cafe, the official cafe partner for the duration of the event.

To those who were lucky enough to win the lotteries for meeting creators or quick enough to RSVP for the variety of events, there’s even more reason to go. In either case, this is something worth checking out if you’re in the area.