It might have been Astro Boy or Ultraman or Osomatsu-kun. Perhaps it was Hello Kitty or Pokemon and even Tamagotchi. But if you're under 40 there's a fair chance you have, at some point in your life, been affected - perhaps profoundly - by one of the wildly popular and esoteric incarnations of modern Japanese pop culture.

Melbourne's RMIT Gallery in conjunction with the Japan Foundation Gallery presents Kingdom of Characters, a visual showcase with film and character related products complemented with discussion panels and featuring a lecture from filmmaker, essayist and author of the BFI book 100 Anime Philip Brophy. Coinciding with the summer holidays this interactive and mostly playful exhibition traces back subcultures successfully exported to the western world such as anime to postwar Japan of the late 1940s and follows its diverse and iconic evolution through manga, TV, Film video games and character goods. Scope will be broad and include observations on the social realities and the impacts characters have on religion, gender and consumerism.

Kingdom of Characters opens January 21 and runs through 19 March before it moves to Sydney.