From magazines to films to idol groups to small white cats, rock band KISS has a significant history of collaborations in Japan. This time the band is teaming up with a small metal boy: Tetsuwan Atom, or as he is known in the English-speaking world, Astro Boy.
The U.S. band is holding “KISS Expo Tokyo 2016~Jigoku no Hakurankai~” (KISS Expo Tokyo 2016: Hell’s Exhibition) at Tokyo’s Laforet Museum Harajuku from October 13 to October 31. This is the first time Osamu Tezuka‘s Astro Boy manga and anime is collaborating with a foreign rock band.
Apparently KISS member Gene Simmons is a huge Astro Boy fan. Simmons said, “Astro Boy brings back fond memories of my childhood. I remember jumping up from the couch and imagining I was Astro Boy – fighting dastardly villains, flying through the skies…the little robot boy who defended all of us from evil.”
Fortunately, a certain Tezuka Productions board member can reciprocate the sentiment. Rumiko Tezuka, daughter of the late “God of Manga,” is a big fan of KISS and saw an opportunity for a collaboration.
Tezuka Productions supervisor and illustrator Nampei Kaneko created original art for the exhibit. He used jacket art from the KISS albums Love Gun and Destroyer to create original illustrations featuring Astro Boy characters. Kaneko’s art also features on some of the collaborative merchandise for the exhibit.
Aside from Astro Boy, the exhibit will also feature some Japan-inspired art such as this ukiyo-e piece:
Interested fans can check out the exhibit from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. during the event period. General tickets cost 1600 yen (about US$16).