Did You Know: Masamune Shirou Designed A Mouse?
Wednesday 23 September 2009 @ 9:54 pm | By Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano 11 Comments
Anime merchandise is a dime a dozen (or several hundred dimes anyway), new stuff comes out on a daily basis. Figures, wall scrolls, posters, pillow covers, lets face it, most of it is pretty useless and rarely really carries the ingenuity of the artist. But there was once an exception to this rule a product that was both useful and carried the creativity of the artist! Masamune Shirou, of Ghost In The Shell fame, was commissioned to created a computer mouse back in 2002. The result was the MAPP1-SM from Elecom. This mouse you see above looks like it was brought out straight from GitS or Appleseed. At launch they sold for around $80, finding one now on resale would easily cost up to two or three times that amount.
Frankly I cant think of many more anime pieces of merchandising that are actually functional while still keeping with the aesthetic of the source material. Sure we’ve seen the Evangelion bike and headphones… and I guess Ona Cups, pillow cases and big breasted mousepads do serve some sort of purpose. But really, I challenge you right now to come up with 3 other pieces of merchandise which you might buy even if you had no idea it was anime related.
[Elecom]
If You Liked This... Share It!
Or share it by email or anywhere else with
Loading ...
Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
Sol
They are for sale at J-List…
In any case, meh, im not dishing out 80 schmakers for a mouse that makes nothing different, though i must praise the work on that.
I still want to see those Yoshitaka Amano calendars or calendar.
j-list still has them in stock? Wow, I saw some criminally overpriced used ones on Japanese auction sites.
All kinds.
God, that mouse looks so cool. Shame it’s so pricey. Also, since it’s from 2002, I don’t think it has five buttons (which is a must for me).
You mean those two side buttons for back and forward, right? Yeah, whenever I use someone else’s mouse it just feels weird not having them there.
Wow, I never knew what those side buttons were for! lol, they were with my school’s computers, but not mine D:
i always press at the sides of the mouse i use at the office and think a string of obscenities as i realize they’re not there xD
Wow… That’s actually a pretty friggin’ awesome mouse.
Elecom. Pretty good!
while it does look sweet, i wouldn’t fork over 80 smackers for the mouse… its just too pricey .. i would however, buy a cheaper one and mod it.
*whistles suspiciously*
It looks dangerous and smexy