Brooklyn is about to become the manga capital of the East Coast. Art of Manga, the first major exhibition in the Americas to treat Japanese comics as the art form they are, opens at the Brooklyn Museum on October 3 and runs through January 31, 2027.
More than 600 original drawings fill the Great Hall on the first floor, including artwork from series your kids can likely name faster than you can — ONE PIECE, Inuyasha, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure — plus art prints from BLEACH and The Rose of Versailles. The show introduces the artists behind the medium, from the “King of Gag manga” Akatsuka Fujio to ONE PIECE creator Oda Eiichiro. Fair warning for parents of littles: the exhibition covers the full breadth of manga, including work written for adult readers on themes like gender roles and social inequality. The museum sets no age requirements or limits — the sweet spot is probably tweens and teens.
Art of Manga requires timed tickets, with entry slots every 15 minutes from 11 am to 4:30 pm; last entry is at 5 pm. Tickets include general admission to the rest of the museum. Adults pay $30, teens ages 13–19 and students $21, and kids ages 4–12 $12; members go free. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am–6 pm. Tickets are nonrefundable but can be exchanged once, free, up to 72 hours ahead (email tickets@brooklynmuseum.org). Superfans can spring for the Manga Fan Pass — unlimited untimed entry for you and a friend for the whole run, plus presale access to programs and a collectible badge.
Cosplay is not just allowed but encouraged. House rules: props get left at coat check (the museum is calling it “CosCheck”), costumes can’t block pathways, and nothing that could read as a weapon. Non-flash photos are fine in designated areas.
The museum brings manga drawing activities to Playtopia by Brooklyn Bridge Parents atAtlantic Antic on Sunday, September 27, noon–4 pm, via its Museum on Wheels pop-up — a free preview of sorts before opening day.
The Brooklyn Museum is at 200 Eastern Parkway, steps from the 2/3 at Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum. Full visitor guidelines are in the museum’s FAQs.
Photos: ©Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan; ©PAPIER/Jirō Taniguchi, Masayuki Qusumi, FUSOSHA; “Hinemosu notari nikki”; ©Tetsuya Chiba/Big Comic (Shogakukan); ©Mari Yamazaki, Tori Miki/Shinchosha; ©Fujio Akatsuka; ©Hirohiko Araki & LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/Shueisha; ©Kazumi Yamashita/KODANSHA LTD.; ©Gengoroh Tagame/Futabasha Publishers Ltd.; ©Fumi Yoshinaga/HAKUSENSHA, Inc.; ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha
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