Yoshiyuki Tomino Stands in Odawara!! Report on the "Yoshiyuki Tomino's Starting Point" Exhibition and Ceremony

"The Beginning Point of Yoshiyuki Tomino — From Odawara to the Universe —" has been running since November 6, 2026, in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, the birthplace of Yoshiyuki Tomino, the Japanese anime master behind Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Runaway Ideon.

The exhibition features valuable materials such as sketches and writings he produced while living in his hometown of Odawara, along with production materials from the TV anime Astro Boy, which he worked on at Mushi Production, where his career began. Together with a career timeline spanning more than half a century, it offers a look at the origins of Tomino's creativity.

Ahead of the opening, an opening ceremony was held on November 5 at the Honmaru Plaza of Odawara Castle Park, in front of the main keep of Odawara Castle, which serves as the venue. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino also took the stage.

Tomino began his remarks by saying, "I am humbled to be allowed to hold an exhibition at a venue that is almost unbelievable to me. That's because what is on display is, by rights, not something meant to be shown to other people. That is what I thought myself, but when I was actually shown this much of it, I looked back and wondered what kind of person could have done all this. I was also able to see that I could do these things thanks to having been raised in the climate and culture of Odawara."

"I couldn't draw, but I focused my attention on creating stories. In doing so I gave up on drawing pictures, but I was able to work as a director in the medium of TV anime. It was a completely new genre. As I presented my works, I showed through anime that even a mere giant robot story, if it creates this kind of narrative, can open up a vision toward the 22nd and 23rd centuries," said Tomino, who also voiced his view of the current state of modern society in his own characteristic style: "I have come to feel, concretely, that humanity will never be able to go out into space."

After the opening ceremony, a preview for the media was also held, and we stepped into the fourth-floor exhibition room of the Odawara Castle main keep, the first venue. The timeline recorded the history of Tomino, who was born in Odawara in 1941, joined Mushi Production in 1964, and has been involved in a great many anime works up to the present.