This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1996 for the first Japanese release of Swallowtail Butterfly (スワロウテイル), directed by Shunji Iwai (岩井俊二) with music by Takeshi Kobayashi. One of the defining Japanese films of the 1990s, it blends youth culture, pop music, and social realism into a stylised vision of a near-future Tokyo.
Film background
Released in 1996, Swallowtail Butterfly is set in a fractured, multicultural “Yen Town,” where migrants and outsiders survive on the edges of Japan’s economic boom-and-bust era. The film follows a young girl and the people around her as they navigate money, identity, language, and belonging—building toward the creation of a pop idol figure and a soundtrack-driven cultural moment that still resonates. It remains a cult classic and a cornerstone title for collectors of 1990s Japanese cinema.
Poster design
A powerful, era-defining Japanese design: a sepia-toned group portrait of “Yen Town” outsiders holding banknotes over their eyes—identity reduced to currency—set against a dense web of overhead cables. The massive red-outlined Swallowtail Butterfly typography sits like graffiti across the image, while the cast list and the strip of small film stills along the bottom complete the late-’90s “urban cinema” aesthetic. Graphic, political, and instantly displayable—one of the strongest Japanese B2 designs of the decade.
Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.
It is over 29 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
