Ghost in the Shell on the byobu.

Something I noticed a long time ago is that posters seem to be more popular among anime fans overseas than in Japan. That’s not because Japanese fans don’t appreciate the artwork of their country’s animated works, of course, but rather because hanging things, including posters, on your walls in general is comparatively less common in Japan.

But now here comes Tokyo-based creative company UMAA with a very eye-catching alternative to anime posters, with an anime byobu, or traditional Japanese changing screen.

Chosen as the muse for the newest entries in UMAA’s TechnoByobu series is none other than Major Motoko Kusanagi, protagonist of anime/manga classic Ghost in the Shell. Two different designs are available, the first of which is called Konpaku (meaning “soul”) and shows the Major perched atop her Fuchikoma mecha pod in an illustration originally drawn by series creator Masamune Shirow.

The other design, designated Gitai (“prosthetic body”), uses the Major’s character design from the 1995 anime movie that brought the franchise worldwide acclaim, with a web of wires attached to her cybernetic shell.

In keeping with Japanese artistic traditions, the screens are specified as being five shaku in length, which converts to roughly 150 centimeters (59 inches) in modern measurement units, and they’re 140 centimeters (55 inches) tall. UMAA lists the screens’ materials as paper treated with gold leaf and pressed tin, with the different materials presumably occupying opposite sides of the screen, since there’s only a single price, 1.1 million yen (US$7,190) for each.

▼ UMAA’s previous TechnoByobu design was a recreation of a Yellow Magic Orchestra album cover.

The Ghost in the Shell screens will be produced in limited quantities and each will have a serial number. As you can probably guess, given their size and price, the Ghost in the Shell TechnoByobu aren’t going to be stocked on the shelves of ordinary anime shops. Instead they’ll be offered for sale at the upcoming Ghost in the Shell: The Exhibition event which will be held at Tokyo Node inside Tokyo’s Toranomon Hills complex from January 30.

Related: Ghost in the Shell: The Exhibition official website
Source, images: PR Times
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