Gallery Fake

Gallery Fake (ギャラリーフェイク) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujihiko Hosono. It was firstly serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits from 1992 to 2005, with its chapters collected in 40 volumes. A two-chapter story and a four-chapter story were published in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in 2012 and 2016, respectively. A new serialization of Gallery Fake began in Big Comic Zōkan in 2017.

A 37-episode anime television series adaptation, animated by TMS Entertainment (episodes 1–25) and Tokyo Kids (episodes 26–37), was broadcast on TV Tokyo in 2005.

The manga has had over 10 million copies in circulation. In 1996, Gallery Fake received the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the general category.

Plot

On a wharf on Tokyo Bay is a small gallery named Gallery Fake. The owner of the gallery, Reiji Fujita, was once a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He was a learned curator with remarkable memory, keen aesthetic sense, great skill in restoration of paintings and knowledge of many languages, so he was called the "Professor". However, because of trouble in the workplace, Fujita was forced to quit the museum. Now he is an art dealer who sells paintings, authentic and fake alike, sometimes at extraordinary prices, depending on the circumstances or the type of buyer. His motto is "One without aesthetic sense can't help being cheated out of his money. And by being deceived, one may learn to distinguish real ones from the counterfeit."

However, Fujita appreciates art and the artists who spent their lives creating it and does not try to deceive people by passing off fake paintings as genuine ones. He often helps the people he encounters, and other characters are attracted to him in spite of his sometimes gruff manner.

Characters

• Reiji Fujita (藤田玲司)
• [1]
• An art dealer and a former curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). Those he worked with refer to him as "Professor Fujita". He was forced to leave the Met by Max Watson when Fujita threatened to expose his shady dealings. Later, he established his own gallery on a wharf in Tokyo, Japan called Gallery Fake. He is an expert at painting restoration and an artist. He can usually determine if a painting is real or fake. He sometimes makes promises he cannot keep (mostly to Sara) and will sometimes deal on the black market to get certain artifacts. Fujita hates exercise and is easily exhausted from physical activity. Fujita is often the cause of Sara's anger although he is very protective of her. He has a daughter from a previous relationship, named Elizabeth, his love child with Flora Joconda (a descendant of Mona Lisa). The two met when Fujita was a penniless young man and not yet an employee of the Met.
• Sara Halifa (サラ・ハリファ)
• [1]
• Fujita's very loyal assistant, who defends him if he is criticized. She accompanies Fujita on trips although she has little knowledge of art. She has a crush on him and is jealous if he visits Fei Cui. She adopts a stray cat which she has used to attack. She is an optimistic person and has a somewhat childish personality though she is persistent and unforgiving at times. Sara is a member of Kerabia's royal family and hates war because it resulted in the death of her family.
• Sayoko Mitamura (三田村小夜子)
• [1]
• The director at Takada Art Museum. She thinks of Fujita as someone who is not helping the art world but destroying it. She states that Fujita is a cold-blooded scam artist. She is a stiff confident person and workaholic. She harbors some feelings for Fujita
• Fei Cui (翡翠)
• [2]
• She owns a store called Jade, but is also a proclaimed jewel thief. She is obsessed with them and other precious items. She often calls Fujita to gloat about her latest stolen items. Sara sees her as a rival for Fujita's attention. She has a volatile personality and her manservant, Menou, has said that Fei can be sunny one day and stormy the next. She sometimes has a problem with her eyes and fears she may go blind. Fujita claims that the jewels affect her eyes.
• Menou
• [3]
• Fei Cui's middle-aged manservant who is also a masochist. He is happy when Fei Cui punishes him for misdemeanors.
• Carlos (カルロス)
• [4]
• He is an associate of Fujita and helps him with his activities.
• Ramos (ラモス)
• [5]
• He is an addicted treasure hunter and sometimes joins Fujita when his particular skills are required.
• Max Watson (マックス・ワトスン)
• [6]
• An art expert and employee of the Met. He caused Fujita Reiji to resign from the Met after Fujita accused him of re-attributing paintings which were then sold at a reduced price to the art dealer Bill Travers.

Media

Reception

The manga has had over 10 million copies in circulation.[51] In 1996, Gallery Fake received the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the general category.[52]

External links