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Leiji Matsumoto Takes the Stage at Cupitron Concert
posted on by Eric Stimson
The idol group Cupitron performed a concert at the Hokutopia Dome Hall in Tokyo on April 17 while wearing the "digital fairy" costumes Leiji Matsumoto had designed for them. As part of the performance, they sang the theme song to the Galaxy Express 999 film — based on a manga Matsumoto created — while a video of the character Maetel played on the monitor behind them.
The music video for Cupitron's version of "Galaxy Express 999"
Matsumoto himself was in the front row of the audience during the concert, and took the stage afterward to congratulate the trio and offer a few words. He pointed out how the colors changed on the costumes depending on the angle — red and blue became purple, yellow and blue became green. Matsumoto had also designed the garb he was wearing. This was his first time designing women's clothes.
Matsumoto wished Cupitron well in their future endeavors (they are all high school students, although one member, Nichika Yamakawa, recently graduated), and reminisced about his own youth. "The first time I was published in a newspaper, I was 15, and I was 18 when I came from Fukuoka to Tokyo. All I had then was my ticket to ride. I left with my art materials and ticket, thinking 'Even if I die, I'm not going back.' It was a journey just like Tetsurō's and Maetel's. But on my journey I didn't have Maetel," he conceded.
Matsumoto also discussed the Kumamoto earthquakes that began on April 15: "I'm Kyushu-born and bred... I offer my heartfelt condolences to the many who died in the great earthquakes. It is a pity. People are born to live. No one is born to die."
To Culpitron he added, "It is not shameful to cry. It's shameful to give up. Please do your best and put your lives into [what you do]." He then went on to express a wish to work with them again on a video.
Cupitron's cover of the theme to Galaxy Express 999 will go on sale on May 25. A train ran on the Seibu Railway with Galaxy Express 999 art until it was retired in 2014 due to old age; a crowdfunding effort to bring it back failed.
Source: Comic Natalie
