I paid a visit to Urbis on Friday, mainly to check out the aforementioned Best of Manchester exhibition (the Rags to Bitches and UHC work being the highlights). The place is full of exhibitions at the moment though, from the welcome greenery of Urban Gardening to the ever-so-bright Matthew Williamson fashion retrospective.

I’m saving How Manga Took Over The World, which opened in March and runs until 27 September, for a rainy day. Feedback for the exhibition, which looked pretty substantial from the floor above, has been hit and miss so far.

And, for some reason, not much has been mentioned about the accompanying anime film screenings throughout the summer months:

Urbis is open until 8pm from July on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. To celebrate the long summer nights we have organised evening anime screenings, as part of the Manga exhibition. Manga movies for kids will show every Thursday in August.

We’re half way through the schedule now but remaining highlights include Howl’s Moving Castle (21 August), Spirited Away (28 August), Animatrix (12 September) and – saving possibly the biggest anime masterpiece til last – Akira (20 September).

All screenings are free but places are on a first come, first served basis.