M+ Myths, Monsters, and Manga: The Art of Fantasy in Asia

Hong Kong's biggest museum is about to fill its largest gallery with demons, spirits and superheroes. Myths, Monsters, and Manga: The Art of Fantasy in Asia is the headline autumn 2026 special exhibition at M+, and on paper it is the most crowd-pleasing show the West Kowloon museum has staged in some time — a sweep through Asian fantasy from nineteenth-century woodblock demons to the pages of manga.

Here is what the exhibition covers, when and where to see it, how to get there, and what else is worth catching at M+ while you are on Level 2.

What is Myths, Monsters, and Manga?

Myths, Monsters, and Manga: The Art of Fantasy in Asia explores the role of fantasy in the evolution of Asian visual culture — and its global reach — from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The curators frame fantasy not as escapism but as a creative tool artists have used to respond to shifting social and political conditions.

The show unfolds across four chapters. It opens with pre-modern traditions — Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Chinese shadow puppetry and Tibetan Buddhist scrolls — that established fantasy as a foundational element of Asian art. From there it moves through the modern and contemporary, tracing a line all the way to manga and today's image-makers.

It is, in other words, a rare show that can hold both a serious art-history crowd and a family with teenagers who came for the monsters. That breadth is exactly why M+ has placed it in the West Gallery, its largest special-exhibition space.

When, where and tickets

The exhibition runs from 17 October 2026 to 4 April 2027 in the West Gallery on Level 2 of M+. That is a generous window — nearly six months — so there is no need to rush, though weekends and the winter holidays will be busiest.

M+ sits in the West Kowloon Cultural District, an easy walk or free shuttle from Kowloon Station; Austin Station is also within reach. As a special exhibition, it is ticketed separately from the free-to-access parts of the museum, so book ahead online and confirm the current price on the M+ site before you travel.

Is it worth seeing?

If you like a single-artist retrospective, this is not that — it is a big, thematic, crowd-friendly survey, and those can occasionally feel broad. But the subject is a gift. Fantasy travels: the same yokai and spirits that haunt Edo-period prints echo through anime, gaming and contemporary painting, and M+ is unusually well placed to draw those threads together.

For visitors it is also a smart use of a trip across the harbour. You can pair the exhibition with the museum's free-to-access collection galleries and the harbourfront terrace, making a half-day of it. Families, in particular, will find this an easier sell than a more austere contemporary show.

What else is on at M+ this autumn

One of the joys of M+ is that a single visit stacks several shows. When Myths, Monsters, and Manga opens in October 2026, these are the other exhibitions worth building into the same trip.

For the full lie of the land, see our guides to what's on at M+ and the best museums in Hong Kong, plus our previews of Wael Shawky and Heri Dono at the same museum. Gallery-hoppers should also browse the best art galleries in Hong Kong.

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