Interest

Character Designer Mel Kishida's Helmet is Finally Done

Several weeks ago, we reported that erratic character designer Mel Kishida (Hana-Saku Iroha, the Atelier video game series) has been working on a motorcycle helmet in his signature cute style in cooperation with the J-pop group Conquistador del Arcoíris and the motorcycle website GooBike. Unfortunately, Kishida was busy at the time with other projects, including organizing and participating in an event in Nagoya.

After profusely apologizing to his coworkers, Kishida finally finished the helmet. This involves printing the illustrations into stickers, laminating them to protect them from wind and rain, cutting them into the right shapes, selecting where they would go on the helmet, carefully applying them to the helmet's surface, and using a heat gun to fasten them on.

And here is the finished product!

The Doberman in the middle is GooBike's mascot.


"Conquistador del Arcoíris"

Nagi Nemoto, one of the members of Conquistador del Arcoíris, affirmed that it was "dreamy cool" — the aesthetic they were going for. It describes the fusion of coolness inherent in motorcycles with "dreamy cute," the fluffy, pastel-toned style associated with Tokyo's Harajuku district and Kishida's own artwork (although he denies it himself).

After trying on the helmet one by one, Kishida proceeded to chase the singers around. He then found it was hard to breathe and struggled to get it off.

Perhaps they took the name "pain bike" a little too literally...

Although the group only made one helmet, Kishida's illustrations are being given away to 100 winners of a lottery. To enter, follow KAI-YOU on Twitter and retweet this article with the hashtag #kai_you. The deadline is April 30.

[Via Kai-You]