News
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Costellazione Manga – Saint Seiya Special
October 2026
Stay tuned! In October 2026, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the manga and anime Saint Seiya, during the Ottobre Giapponese (Japanese October) festival organised by ASCIG, there will be a Costellazione Manga – Saint Seiya Special.
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Goldrake Forever Goldrake
11 November 2024, Planetarium of Ravenna
In 2024, a new version of Go Nagai's animated series Goldrake is expected. While featuring stylistic and narrative novelties, when the Moon turns red, the most beloved robot of all time, piloted by Duke Fleed, will wield the space halberd in defence of humanity.
A special edition of Costellazione Manga dedicated to the series that introduced Japanese animation and mecha robots to Italy.
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Akira Toriyama’s Works on Display
4 November 2024, Piazza del Popolo, Ravenna
In memory of Akira Toriyama, the creative author of Dr. Slump & Arale and Dragon Ball, we set up a window display at the Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna bank, in Piazza del Popolo, showcasing his works, character figurines and collectible items inspired by them.
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N’cha, Androids: Toriyama’s Human Robots
25 October 2024, Planetarium of Ravenna
Akira Toriyama explored in his manga the relationship between humans and robots, and between human and artificial intelligence. In both Dr. Slump & Arale and Dragon Ball, the androids are never just comic characters, but represent the starting point to explore where they stop being machines and find instead a point of contact with human beings. During this evening, Daria Dall'Olio discusses this with Gabriele Scardovi, philosopher, and Piero Ranalli, researcher in the field of artificial intelligence.
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Costellazione Manga – The Multi-Universes of Akira Toriyama
11 October 2024, Planetarium of Ravenna
"Would you ever have thought of discussing quantum mechanics with Son Goku and Arale? Or of exploring life on exoplanets with Vegeta? Probably not. But this is exactly what we will do, having fun exploring the universes created by Akira Toriyama and the scientific curiosities present in his works."
A tribute to Akira Toriyama, recently passed away, creator of worldwide cult works such as Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump & Arale, discovering the many universes of the Author, among space travels, alien planets and dragon balls.
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Leiji Matsumoto’s Works on Display
7 December 2023, Piazza del Popolo, Ravenna
In memory of maestro Leiji Matsumoto, the extraordinary author of Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Starzinger, Space Battleship Yamato and countless other manga, we set up a window display in the prestigious former Bubani showcase of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna bank, in Piazza del Popolo, featuring his works, character figurines and collectible items inspired by them. Matsumoto had the rare gift of combining imagination, science fiction, and introspection on human nature and its place in the universe.
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Costellazione Manga – The Universe Is My Home. A Tribute to Leiji Matsumoto
October – November 2023
Join us for a journey into the universe of Leiji Matsumoto, the imaginative author of Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Starzinger and countless other works. In his manga and anime, Matsumoto was able to convey the emotions of a future humanity grappling with space, with careful attention to scientific knowledge. His fantastic stories manage not only to warm the hearts of readers, but also to spark an interest in astronomy, inspiring us to look at the stars with renewed wonder.
From 16 to 30 October 2023: exhibition in the shop window of La Cassa branch no. 1, Piazza del Popolo 3-4, Ravenna.
Costellazione Manga: history and international recognition. From the sky of Galla Placidia to the skies of the world, the main milestones of a “made in Ravenna” project. Preview of the tribute to maestro Leiji Matsumoto, with exhibitions of collectible items.3 November 2023, 9 pm, at the Planetarium of Ravenna: Dome show. Info and reservations: 0544 62534 (morning).
From 7 November to 4 December at Kazuma, viale F. Baracca 13, Ravenna, and
from 6 to 15 December at the Private Banking La Cassa SPA (formerly Bubani) shop window, Piazza del Popolo 30, Ravenna
Costellazione Manga: The Universe Is My Home. Exhibition-tribute to Leiji Matsumoto with a display of wonderful collectible items related to the works of the great maestro, recently passed away. -
Costellazione Manga – Special: Women and Research
7 October 2022, for the “Ottobre Giapponese” (Japanese October) event at the Planetarium of Ravenna, a dome show with Daria Dall'Olio and Piero Ranalli.
A new episode of the journey through the universe, discovering the most beautiful space-themed manga and anime and revealing all the astronomical curiosities they contain. We will discuss the latest developments in astrophysics and more or less imaginary space travels referenced in these works, showing how often the interpretations are very imaginative yet equally compelling. 2022 has been declared by the United Nations the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, endorsed by, among others, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics. We at Costellazione Manga also want to celebrate the importance of basic sciences such as astronomy, mathematics and physics, especially now in the post-pandemic period. We will show how many of these space-themed anime and manga promote the main sustainable development goals proclaimed by UNESCO, with the aim of improving the global well-being of our planet.
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Costellazione Manga – Pure and Ready to Rise to the Stars. Astronomical References in Go Nagai’s Works Inspired by Dante and the Divine Comedy
15 October 2021, 9:00 pm, at the Planetarium of Ravenna. Reservation required, admission fee. For reservations and access information: 0544.62534 or visit the website: www.planetarioravenna.it.
Using the astronomical references found in the most popular Japanese comic (manga) and animated (anime) series, Daria Dall'Olio leads the audience on an entertaining journey of discovery through the universe. In this edition dedicated to the Divine Poet, we will see how Go Nagai, a great admirer of Dante and the creator of Goldrake and Devilman, interpreted the astronomical references in the Divine Comedy and transformed them into his comic works, offering a distinctly pop and alternative vision of the Poem.
In collaboration with: ARAR, ASCIG and Planetarium of Ravenna.
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Costellazione Manga is back with a Sailor Moon special!
In our latest event, the Sailor warriors guided us through the most recent news on the Solar system. Celebrating 25 years since the first Italian edition of Sailor Moon, this year also marks the ninth year of Costellazione Manga.
The event was an online seminar; speaker: Daria Dall'Olio.
The CAP Journal published our paper on Costellazione Manga
It's now available online the issue 24 of the CAP Journal - Communicating Astronomy with the Public, including the paper Costellazione Manga: Explaining Astronomy Using Japanese Comics and Animation by Daria Dall'Olio and Piero Ranalli. For better reading and for printing, a high-resolution PDF of the issue is available. We thank the editor, Sze-leung Cheung, and an anonymous referee whose comments helped to improve the presentation of our paper.
Costellazione Manga at Lucca Comics and Games 2018!
An enthusiast public has partecipated to our workshop on Costellazione Manga and the communication of science, held at the Lucca Comics and Games convention. The participants appreciated our method, and the interactive sessions sparked several ideas future work and collaborations. We thank all the people who participated! Thanks to la Repubblica, the online newspapers, Lo Spazio Bianco and media INAF for covering our event. We acknowledge support from INAF - Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory through the Genesis-SKA project, and we thank our collaborators from INAF for their help in the workshop organisation. We thank the AnimeClick.it team who helped in making our project known and that we could finally meet in person in Lucca!
Photos: Daria Dall'Olio e Piero Ranalli, with their collaborators Alessandra Zanazzi (INAF-Arcetri), Caterina Boccato (INAF-Padova) and Claudio Codella (INAF-Arcetri).
Photos: some ideas proposed by the participants. Click to enlarge.
Photo: Daria Dall'Olio with the AnimeClick.it team.
Double success for Costellazione Manga at the Notte D'Oro festival in Ravenna
The event "Sotto il cielo del Drago d'Oro: omaggio a Goldrake per i suoi 40 anni in Italia", celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first broadcasting of UFO Robot Grendizer in Italy, was so successful that the Planetarium of Ravenna was full - twice. Both Daria Dall'Olio's planetarium show "Costellazione Manga Speciale Goldrake" and Gabriele Scardovi's seminar "Puoi fuggire da Vega, ma non dai tuoi mostri. Combatti per la Terra, Duke Fleed!" were given twice during the evening. Special guests of the evening were the Japanese deputy consul Mr. Tominaga, who came from the consulate in Milan, the prize-winner cosplayer Piero Magoga with his Duke Fleed costume, and artist Pietro Bassani with the digital paintings from his series "Relinquere nuces".
We thank the Planetarium of Ravenna the ARAR association for hosting us one more time!
Photos by Paolo Morini, Amalia Persico, Paolo Alfieri and Angela Dalla.
Interview to Costellazione Manga's authors on Animeclick.it
Animeclick.it, the most important Italian portal on anime and manga, just published an interview to Daria Dall'Olio and Piero Ranalli about Costellazione Manga and its plan for the future. You can read it here (in Italian).
Costellazione Manga at Lucca Comics and Games!
PLEASE NOTE: the workhop on Nov. 3 will be held in Italian, not in English.
After the success in Japan and the appreciation by the International astronomical union (IAU), Costellazione Manga is getting ready to a new important step: we will be at Lucca Comics and Games, the most important comic and gaming convention in Europe. We will present a 2 hour workshop
in Englishin Italian where we will show the "backstage" of our project. Starting from a review of pedagogy studies, we will show how to build one of our shows, how to choose the material and how to tune it to the public expectations. Finally we will show how it works in practice, with an example session dedicated to the works of Leiji Matsumoto. The workshop will be open to journalists, science communicators, teachers, museum operators, amateur astronomers and students; an application including a CV is needed. (There will also be another workshop in Italian).A wall painting to celebrate 40 years of Grendizer in Italy
A wall painting made during last summer celebrates 40 years since the first broadcasting in Italy of UFO Robot Grendizer (localised as Goldrake). It was the first anime to be shown in Italian TV, and the first of a long series of popular Japanese series to be broadcasted. The painting is on the rear wall of Cinema Arena del Sole, in Lido di Classe, Ravenna. (Click on the image to enlarge).
Costellazione Manga will be at the Notte d'Oro in Ravenna
Costellazione Manga will have a special event during the Notte d'Oro festival in Ravenna, on 6 October 2018. We will present the planetarium show "Sotto il cielo del Drago d'Oro: omaggio a Goldrake per i suoi 40 anni in Italia", dedicated to UFO Robot Grendizer and to its 40 years since it was first broadcasted in Italy.
More information in our press release (in Italian).Great success for Costellazione Manga in Arcetri
Costellazione Manga held the closing event of Notti d'estate ad Arcetri (summer nights in Arcetri) on 4 September 2018, in the majestic site of "Teatro delle stelle" (star theatre) on the Arcetri hill near Florence. Famous for being Galileo's residence, Arcetri now hosts the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory of the National institute for astrophysics (INAF). Daria Dall'Olio, PhD student at Chalmers University of Technology, together with Claudio Codella, researcher at INAF-Arcetri and with the support di Piero Ranalli, led more than 150 participants to the discovery of the planets of the Solar systems, of the robotic probes that are exploring them, of stars and nebulae.
Costellazione Manga on the AnimeNewsNetwork and on manga-related sites from around the world
AnimeNewsNetwork, 9 May 2018
Arte.Sky.it, 29 May 2018
MangaForever.net, 3 May 2018
AnimeClick.it, 17 May 2018
JustNerd.it, 11 May 2018
RisaMedia.com, 11 May 2018
koi-nya.net, 11 May 2018
NY-Anime.net, 9 May 2018
SGCAFE, 10 May 2018
AkibaNation.com, 11 May 2018
Bitfeed.co, 3 May 2018
dexclub.com, 10 May 2018
Akibatan.com, 13 May 2018
AnimeX, 11 May 2018
Costellazione Manga featured on the Ravenna newspapers
An English version of the press-release text can be found on this article on the AleMontosi blog.Vetenskapsfestivalen 21 April 2018
Costellazione Manga had an event at the science festival in Gothenburg, Sweden! On the 21 April 2018 the Vetenskapsfestivalen hosted a duet between Daria Dall'Olio and Yvette Gustafsson, the cartoonist who writes the comic stripe "Infosfären" for the Swedish astronomical outreach magazine Populär Astronomi. They talked about planets, stars, cosmic distances and life in the universe, taking inspiration from the anime and manga that are most famous in Sweden (Starzinger and Sailor Moon above all).
The location was the beautifully decorated Cafè Sirius within SF Bokhandeln, the largest bookstore in Gothenburg that specialises in science fiction, fantasy, comics and board games. The public, who completely filled the venue, had an enthusiastic appreciation for Costellazione Manga!
CAP meeting 23-28 March 2018
At right forty years since the first broadcasts in Japan of Starzinger and Galaxy Express 999, and also at forty years since the arrival of Ufo Robot Grendizer in Europe, Costellazione Manga has been warmly welcomed in Japan. Daria Dall'Olio presented the Costellazione Manga project at the most important international conference on astronomy outreach, Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2018, organized by the International Astronomical Union. The conference was held in Fukuoka from 23 to 28 April. A number of 455 people participated, including researchers, communicators, teachers and journalists. Daria's talk was among the 29 chosen for the plenary session, out of more than 300 talks presented in the less attended parallel sessions. Costellazione Manga has been highlighted in the IAU newsletter as one of the three most representative moments at the conference.
Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) is a series of conferences organised by the IAU to encourage the exchange of ideas and best practices in astronomy outreach. Among its aims there are the new challenges in communicating astronomy in the social media age, and the development of new techniques to involve people with disabilities. The CAP meetings try to empower outreach operators by connecting them to a world network of professionals.
Daria's participation was supported by the Swedish foundations Chalmersska Forskningsfonden and Åforsk, and by two contributions by the Planetarium of Ravenna and the Solaris cultural association of Ravenna.
Update: the conference proceedings have been published; read our contribution here.
Paper submitted
The experience gathered in seven years of Costellazione Manga was described in a paper submitted to the CAP Journal - Communicating Astronomy with the Public published by the International Astronomical Union.
Update: the paper has been published on issue 24 of the CAP Journal.
la Repubblica, Firenze edition, 2 November 2018
Ravennanotizie.it, 5 November 2018
Ravenna24ore.it, 1 November 2018
Lo Spazio Bianco, 22 October 2018
Media INAF, 26 October 2018
Il Resto del Carlino, 20 settembre 2018
Corriere di Romagna, 20 settembre 2018
Ravenna 24 Ore, 2 May 2018
Ravenna Today, 2 May 2018
Ravenna Notizie, 2 May 2018
Ravenna e Dintorni, 2 May 2018
Più Notizie, 2 May 2018
