×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Interest
Mel Kishida Wants to Bring Cuteness to World of Motorcycles

posted on by Eric Stimson
Plans to design helmet, stickers for custom motorcycles

Mel Kishida, a character designer known for a signature brand of cuteness (Hana-Saku Iroha, the Atelier video game series), is interested in bringing his style to the world of motorcycles. Motorcycles have become more popular among anime fans lately as part of the itasha trend. He plans to design a motorcycle helmet and sticker featuring four members of the J-pop group Niji no Conquistador (Conquistador del Arcoíris) and the unofficial Doberman mascot of GooBike, a motorcycle website.


From left to right: Shigematsu, a representative from GooBike, Okumura, Nagata and Nemoto

When asked what images they associated with motorcycles, the four singers (Minari Nagata, Nagi Nemoto, Yuka Shigematsu and Nonoka Okumura) chose "cool," "choiwaru" (a fashion term referring to dapper middle-aged men), and "tokusatsu heroes." Nevertheless they also long for a "dreamy cute" design typical of Kishida — "Melhentic," as Shigematsu joked. The Japanese use the German word märchen to refer to fairy tales. "Lace, rainbows, stuffed animals, bunnies, bears — you know, a fancy feeling," Nemoto explained. They called the combination of the harder, edgier tone of motorcycle culture with the fluffier, fancier feel of Kishida's style "dreamy cool."


Kishida's preliminary sketch

Unfortunately, Kishida doesn't keep a schedule, so he hasn't set a date for when his design will actually be done. Stay tuned!


Kishida sincerely pleads for your understanding.

Among Kishida's other antics, he has wrestled a high-ranking sumō wrestler, held an autograph session with fans wearing a white bodysuit, and cosplayed as Kantai Collection's Shimakaze.

[Via Kai-You]


discuss this in the forum (1 post) |
bookmark/share with: short url

this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history

Interest homepage / archives