Art of Manga opens today at the Brooklyn Museum and runs through January 31, 2027. The museum calls it the first major exhibition in the Americas to explore manga as an art form. It fills the Great Hall on the first floor. This is also the show’s East Coast debut, with more than 600 drawings on the walls.
We have not seen it yet. Everything below about the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum comes from the museum’s own pages.
What the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum covers
Manga usually reaches readers as cheap printed volumes. This show goes back a step, to the original drawings. That means pages by the mangaka, the artists who write and draw the stories, shown as works on paper.
The series in the show will be familiar to a lot of readers. According to the museum, they include Inuyasha, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Ōoku: The Inner Chambers and ONE PIECE. So there is something here for longtime fans and for people who only know the anime.
The museum also groups the work by theme, rather than only by artist. It names coming of age, environmentalism, gender roles, LGBTQ+ rights and inequality among the subjects. In other words, the show treats manga as a way artists write about real life, from first crushes to climate.
What you will see
The pull here is the hand of the artist. When you read a printed volume, the lines arrive clean and uniform. On an original page, by contrast, you can often spot corrections, notes and the weight of each ink stroke.
We would give the speed lines and splash pages extra time. Those are the moments where a drawing has to feel like motion, and the scale of a gallery wall helps. Likewise, look for how artists handle quiet scenes, such as a close-up on a face or an empty room. Those panels carry a lot of the storytelling.
Tickets, hours and the fan pass
Every visit to the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum needs a timed ticket. According to the museum, adult tickets cost $30. Seniors, students and visitors with disabilities pay $21, children ages 4 to 12 pay $12, and members get in free.
The museum asks visitors to book timed tickets online. Do it early for weekends, especially in the first weeks of a show this size.
Superfans have another option. The museum’s Manga Fan Pass costs $75, according to its press release. It covers unlimited visits for one adult, 18 or older, plus a guest. The math is simple. Two adults visiting twice would pay $120 at the door, so the pass wins by your second trip together.
The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those hours leave out Monday and Tuesday, so plan your trip for later in the week. The address is 200 Eastern Parkway.
Pair the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum with Prospect Park
The museum sits right beside Prospect Park, which makes for an easy half-day. Here is how we would do it.
Book a late-morning slot for the show, around 11 a.m., when the doors open. Give the galleries about two hours, since 600 drawings is a lot to take in. After that, walk out onto Eastern Parkway and into the park.
Early October is a good time for it, before the cold sets in. Bring a sketchbook if you have one. After a morning with the mangaka, the park is a fine place to try a few panels of your own.
Then, for an evening plan, our guide to what to watch in October has streaming picks for the night.
Who the show suits
You do not need to read manga to enjoy this. If you like drawing of any kind, the original pages show how much skill goes into a single panel. If you grew up on anime, on the other hand, the show gives you the source of the stories you know.
Families have an easy case too. The $12 ticket for children ages 4 to 12 keeps the cost down. Some of the series on the walls may already sit on a teenager’s shelf. Still, check the themes first if you have younger kids, because some of the work deals with adult subjects. For collectors and artists, the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum is a rare chance to study the original pages in person.
Before you go
A few practical notes will help. First, book ahead, since every ticket has a set entry time. Second, check the date on your ticket. The show runs for four months, so it is easy to pick the wrong weekend.
Third, think about the season. The show stays up through the holidays, so it could make a good outing with visiting family in December. On the other hand, opening-month weekends tend to be the busiest at any big show.
For more exhibitions around the city, browse our Culture section. For now, go to the Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum to see original ink up close, one page at a time.