While I don't really get to make as many Gunpla as I did before, I'm still a fan of the Gundam series - in particular the older generations.
Recently I came across the opportunity to work with Okawara Kunio-sensei - the mecha designer who did Gundam, Votoms, Vifam and more - the result of our collaboration is Mirai Project and which was revealed at our booth at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show.
Snapped together with Okawara-sensei at our Mirai Project booth - a really nice and down to earth guy!
The focal point of the Mirai Project is Hiriko - an electric powered urban mobility vehicle. Originally developed by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and currently being developed into a commercial product in Spain, Hiriko will soon be on the roads of the Niigata prefecture in test runs.
Together with Okawara-sensei, I'm on a team of folks who are focused on pushing this product out not only as a real vehicle to carry people around - but also as a vehicle for content too and thats where Mirai Suenaga fits in.
Okawara-sensei has designed the outer shell for the Japanese version of Hiriko which is driven by Mirai Suenaga. Everything up to here is reality and we have a roadmap to get Okawara-sensei's version of Hiriko on the roads in the future.
From here on its content - Hiriko then transforms into a powered suit which is also worn by Mirai - this part is designed by Skan Surisuwan - the lead designer for Square Enix's Front Mission.
The contents we are considering are various media including animation and merchandise too.
Here are the original sketches of Okawara-sensei's Hiriko sketches showing the car transformation - the wheels move inwards so that it can spin around on the spot. Sensei added arms to aid the driver in various situations like "help carry the shopping" ^^;
2560px x 1600px wallpaper lives here.
And here are the design sketches of the Hiriko Powered Suit - worked on by both Skan and Puppy52.
Wallpaper lives here.
And here is the Moekana version of Mirai by Ikkyuu-sensei - wallpaper here.
The Tokyo Motor show runs for about a week at Tokyo Big Sight. While there were a sprinkle of anime collaborations, it seemed that a lot of attention was focused on our booth ^^;
And here is a 1:1 scale mockup of Okawara-sensei's design of Hiriko complete with Mirai-chan colors.
Looks kinda plasticky at the moment but was the best we could do in the couple of weeks we had to make it - done with 3D printing.
Watch the European version of Hiriko in the video below.
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Okawara-sensei and I also had a talk session at the booth last Sunday.
Our booth featured bits n pieces of Okawara-sensei and Mirai-chan's work.
First we take a look at Okawara-sensei's corner.
Okawara-sensei also has a small factory where he makes various gadgets.
How many of you have watched the Votoms series?
This post contains a video, click here to view.
And how many of you have checked out the original series of Gundam?
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The following photos cover Mirai-chan's corner.
This illustration by Koizumi Amane-sensei.
From next year I'll be able to have Smart Doll as part of our displays on a regular basis but for now this is all we got ><
These are our main products at the moment - Moekana and Moekanji for Japanese learning.
Moekana and Moekanji desk cases.
The following photos cover the shenanigans at the booth.
I'd like to thank Hion-san for helping organize the Mirai and Kanata cosplayers at the booth who are:-
Arisu, Kurozaki Sakuya, Sachibudou, Chihaya, Misao, Yuuma and Hion.
I don't have high res photos of all the girls right now so will add them to this post later ><
Can't remember what publication this was but Mirai Project was picked up by quite a few media outlets in and outside of Japan.
And here are a few photos of the project brochure handed out at our booth which has interviews with some of the key staff involved.
Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>