Shopping Guide
This is the 11th episode of Japacon TV , and part 5 of “Moulding a Business - The Latent Potential of Figure Makers”! Japacon TV is a program that introduces Japan’s subcultures and is currently broadcasting to good reviews at 12:00 a.m. Fridays on satellite broadcast channels and BS Fuji. Continuing from part 5, Kazuyuki Kiyomizu, company president of the long-standing Japanese figure maker Kotobukiya, and his wife and managing director Hiroyo are interviewed.
The episode begins with the The Matrix figures produced by Kotobukiya. In charge of the figures of this work that became a huge hit all over the world when it was released in 1999 was surprisingly the actor Keanu Reeves. This is the story of the astonishing passion of a married couple who have poured their power into supervising figure goods not for Japan, but for America.
In the latter part of the episode, the future of Kotobukiya is discussed. What they are putting particular focus on right now is developing American figures that combine Japanese style. In the past, Kotobukiya created figures of Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode 1 that fused kabuki, ukiyo-e, and other Japan-specific cultures which resulted in being huge hits. Currently, they are creating American figures in the same form seen from many Japanese anime, namely the “face of anime,” in their series “DC Comics Bishojo” and “Marvel Bishojo” which are doing magnificently well.
What kind of figures are these? What the show to find out!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
