Vesuvius , the volcano par excellence in the imagination of our country, and which with its fury in 79 AD has immortalized a civilization to the present day, celebrated and told in the prestigious room dedicated to Pompeii of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples , it is next to another great mountain of fire, Mount Fuji, also an icon of a culture, the Japanese one, which has always inspired and fascinated great artists. At the foot of Fuji, sometimes inside it, sometimes in its own crater, the heroes of Japanese pop culture meet, the protagonists of manga and anime who from the 80s to the great contemporary success, have conquered the hearts of passionate readers. from all over the world, especially from Italy.

The MANN in collaboration with COMICON and J-POP hosts a special selection of the works of the Manga Heroes project right in the Pompeii room, underlining the connections between the manga authors who were inspired by the image of the volcano to tell their stories, but not only. Helmets that recall the helmets of Magna Graecia , mythological armor, rare and exclusive collector's items that will unite the threads of a network of connections, inspirations, suggestions capable of making the visitor experience a true immersion in the universal global culture: that of the hero , of his challenge to nature, destiny, history. From this point of view, Super Robots like Grendizer, Mazinger, Jeeg, Voltron are like the giants of a mythology that blends the Japanese imagination with the Mediterranean one: alien monsters reminiscent of Scylla and Charybdis and armor forged in fire like those of Hephaestus.

Monsters and little monsters of a timeless bestiary, such as the legendary Pokémon of which some remember (even in style) the gods of nature typical of Roman mythology, while Haran Banjo, pilot of the very famous Daitarn 3, is a tragic hero where "tragic" is the irrational conflict between the will of man and the need for reality. The heroes of Osamu Tezuka, god of manga, from Triton the son of the sea to the super-boy Astroboy are constantly embellished with references to ancient history, at the time of the myth that in its modernity acquires the philosophical characteristics of the search for self and one's own nature within the world, of history, of humanity. Finally, to arrive at Tokyo Revengers, a manga of enormous contemporary success, which through its drawings seems to recall the words of Xenophon in the Anabasis: Since we have reached the decisive moment [...] we must be brave ourselves and encourage others to value. (III, 1, 43-44; 2002).