“SPACE RUNAWAY IDEON: Contact / Be Invoked / 伝説巨神イデオン 接触篇・発動篇” (1982) – ORIGINAL JAPANESE 2-SHEET “EKI-MAE” STATION-FRONT BILLBOARD POSTER – HOLY GRAIL RARITY | More Than Double the Already-Super-Rare B0 Eki-Bari Size | Original 1982 Japanese Theatrical Release Campaign | c. 157.5 × 215.9 cm (62 × 85 in) (Unused / Unrestored)
A monumental original Japanese station-front billboard poster for the paired theatrical films SPACE RUNAWAY IDEON: Contact and SPACE RUNAWAY IDEON: Be Invoked, released together in Japan in 1982. This is not the already rare eki-bari station poster format, but something even more extraordinary: a giant 2-sheet “eki-mae” / station-front display measuring approximately 157.5 × 215.9 cm (62 × 85 in) when the two sheets are combined. According to the source notes and the reverse markings in pencil, this example was intended for billboard installation at the front of a station in Nagasaki, printed on thick stock for direct pasting rather than for ordinary lobby display. The reverse pencil notation “駅前分” literally indicates station-front allocation/use, and the reverse title stamp is exactly the kind of operational marking collectors hope to see on authentic utility display material of this kind.
For collectors, this sits beyond the already elite echelon of Japanese large-format paper. Standard theatrical posters survive; even large public-display formats occasionally surface. But this eki-mae station-front format is a different class altogether: an enormous working-advertising piece made for a prime commuter location, more than double the size category of the already famous B0 eki-bari format. This copy survived only because it was a spare that was never used. Once posters of this kind were glued to a station-front billboard, removal in one intact piece was effectively impossible. No official print records are known, but production would have been tiny from the outset—very possibly fewer than 50 complete sets for major flagship locations.
Date & Japanese Theatrical Release
Sunrise’s official film pages list both SPACE RUNAWAY IDEON: Contact and SPACE RUNAWAY IDEON: Be Invoked as opening on July 10, 1982, distributed by Shochiku. The films served as the theatrical culmination of the 1980–1981 TV series, which Sunrise lists as running for 39 episodes. Contemporary film coverage also notes that the two movies were released together, with (Contact) 接触篇 condensing the story and (Be Invoked) 発動篇 providing the ending the interrupted television run could not fully deliver.
The Film & Its Place in Anime History
Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino (then credited as 富野喜幸) with Hajime Yatate, Ideon is one of the key Sunrise mecha works of the early 1980s and belongs to the same crucial creative period that followed Tomino’s breakthrough with Mobile Suit Gundam. The theatrical pair is especially important because it marks the point where the television project was transformed into a definitive feature-film event, making original first-release campaign paper for these two films highly significant within both anime and Japanese poster collecting.
Design Notes
The artwork is spectacular in this giant format. The lower sheet centers the crimson Ideon in a burst of radiating white energy, while the upper section expands into a vast science-fiction landscape of towering structures, platforms, small craft, and combat movement. The blue lower banner carries the huge red イデオン title and portrait panels of the principal characters, while the combined billing 接触篇 / 発動篇 makes clear that this was created for the twin-film campaign rather than the TV series alone. In visual terms, it is exactly the sort of image that benefits from extreme scale: bold, architectural, and instantly legible from distance in a major public setting.
About the Creator & Visual Team
Sunrise’s official credits name Yoshiyuki Tomino as original creator and overall supervisor, with Toshifumi Takizawa directing the films. The core visual staff includes Tomonori Kogawa for character design and animation direction, Yuichi Higuchi and Submarine for mechanical design, and Mitsuki Nakamura as art director, with music by Koichi Sugiyama. For collectors, these are important names: even where a separate commercial poster illustrator is not explicitly credited on the sheet, this is the creative team responsible for the unmistakable Ideon world the poster visualizes.
The “Eki-Mae” Station-Front Format and Why It’s So Hard to Find
This is the key point of the listing (!) Collectors already know the rarity of large Japanese eki-bari (c. B0) station posters. This piece is not merely that. The reverse pencil notation identifies it as 駅前分—literally a station-front allocation/use—pointing to an even more exceptional billboard-scale format intended for display at the front of a station rather than on a more standard station posting panel. It was made on heavy paper stock, meant to be pasted directly to a billboard surface, and the supplied provenance places it in Nagasaki, exactly the sort of high-traffic urban location where such an enormous campaign piece would have been worthwhile. Because these were functional advertising objects, not collectibles, survival is dramatically lower than even other rare Japanese poster formats.
Condition Report
Overall presentation: remarkably strong for an unrestored, never-used billboard-format survivor.
This example was a spare and was never pasted for public display, which is almost certainly why it exists today. It remains unrestored and in its original multi-fold state across the two sheets. From the front, the colors remain bold and the display impact is extraordinary. Visible condition points from the photos include the expected fold lines, age toning, scattered foxing/spotting most noticeable on the reverse and in the blank margins, and light handling/storage wear consistent with age and original distribution. Crucially, it does not show the destructive signs one would expect from a copy actually used as pasted station-front advertising. The reverse “駅前分” pencil notation and title stamp remain present.
Authenticity / format note: presented as an original 1982 Japanese theatrical campaign station-front billboard poster, comprising two original sheets designed to form one complete giant display image when joined. The reverse markings, oversized construction, and heavy stock are all consistent with period Japanese billboard-use material.
