Trance, time travel, new wave fantasy and futurism are just some of the escape mechanisms offered visitors to KRAZY! The Delerious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games, now on view at Japan Society.

Displayed in a series of spaces designed to evoke the clamorous cityscape of Tokyo by the Japanese architectural firm, Atelier Bow-Wow, the 200 works presented illustrate the interconnected roots and themes of Japanese visual culture that have infused pop culture worldwide.

Photos: Peggy Roalf

The show begins with sequential narratives created by six influential manga artists. This section shows how Japanese artists have taken the art of traditional woodblock prints, combining them with American-style comic punch to create a totally new form. In Black & White, a seminal series from 1994, artist Taiyo Matsumoto developed a unique style for breaking up frames on the page. Junko Mizuno's Pure Trance, an elaborate story about women living in a post-apocalyptic future, is one of the cult classics on view. Among the framed art are page proofs and original drawings, complete with pasted in corrections that will delight artists visiting the show.

Action figures, related merchandise and ephemera are displayed under plastic bubbles that evoke cartoon balloons - a neat graphic device used for the wall text. One of the highlights here is the Manga Pod, a playful magazine stand fashioned of triple-thick plywood that houses nearly 1,000 titles. It has low benches where small visitors can hole up and read to their heart's delight.

In an intimate, dimly lit space a few steps away, the history of video games becomes an object lesson to be seen and played. Angular little stools host visitors who want to catch up on Pac-Man, Super Mario World or the recent role-playing game, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker.

Around the corner, Anime Garden presents simultaneous projections of six acclaimed films, including excerpts from the classic Akira (1988) by Katsuhiro Otomo, which was set in the year 2019 and introduces the prototypical anime character - a statuesque woman with heart-shaped face and huge eyes. The panoramic "multiplex" wall has benches for viewing and a carpeted sunken floor where kids can sprawl out and let the images engulf them. On the opposite side are individual theater pods showing classics like Satoshi Kon's Paprika Girl, featuring a red-headed psychotherapist who has the ability to "jack in" to other people's dreams, with nightmarish results. A separate listening room where Yoko Kanno's soundtracks can be heard presents the composer's fusion of jazz, hard rock, blues, hip hop and ambient techno created for anime films and TV programs.

KRAZY! The Delerious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games, is on view at Japan Society through June 14, 2009. 333 East 47^th Street, New York, NY. Please check the website for related events, including a Cos Play party, the musical collaboration of Steve Reich and Nobukazu Takemura, and screenings of full length anime films.