Cars meet eyewear at the one-day Kia Asamiya Museum

Manga artist Kia Asamiya, known for Martian Successor Nadesico, Silent Möbius, Steam Detectives and his most recent series My Favorite Carrera, regularly holds events that range from collaborations with cafés, seiyuu (voice actor) events to raising funds for various charities. 

This time, Asamiya-sensei teamed up with eyewear brand FACTORY900 to bring limited-edition collaboration eyeglasses of the characters from his latest work My Favorite Carrera GT3.

What is My Favorite Carrera GT3?

My Favorite Carrera GT3 is the third installment of Kia Asamiya’s My Favorite Carrera series. Reina Todoroki, who inherited her father’s Porsche Carrera RS, suddenly returns to Japan from her long-term business trip to Germany. She starts driving again in her beloved Porsche 964 RS after enjoying reuniting with her car and friends. Reina is selected as the Editor-in-Chief of a new web-based magazine and meets voice actress Yuka Himenokoushi during an interview for a new section. This marks the start of a new chapter in the life of Reina.

FACTORY900 x My Favorite Carrera GT3 Collaboration

“It all started with Asamiya-sensei’s “like” on FACTORY900’s Facebook page,” shares TOKYO BASE Store Manager Toshihiro Hasegawa. “Our main designer, Yoshinori Aoyama is a big fan of Asamiya-sensei and has read all of his works.”

Asamiya-sensei himself wears FACTORY900, the self-owned brand of Aoyama Optical Co., Ltd. located in Fukui Prefecture. The brand was established in 2000 with the name originating from the company’s registration number 900 in the Optical Industrial Association. It has physical shops in Tokyo and Osaka. FACTORY900’s slogan “THE FUTURES EYEWEAR” summarizes the brand’s concept: “New form, new style, new value… Eyewear always born from the pursuit of something new.”

According to Mr. Hasegawa, FACTORY900 has had several collaborations in the past such as collaborations with car brand Lexus and popular voice actors Shinnosuke Tachibana and Jun Fukuyama. However, a collaboration with pop culture contents like My Favorite Carrera GT3 is a first for FACTORY900.

To commemorate the collaboration, two events were held in December 2019. The first event was a talk show dubbed “Impression of Your Eyes” featuring Asamiya-sensei, voice actor Hideki Ogihara, FACTORY900 designer Mr. Aoyama and TOKYO BASE Store Manager Mr. Hasegawa, was held on December 1st at The Momentum by Porsche. The collaboration eyeglasses were revealed at this event, which was also held to celebrate the release of the first volume of My Favorite Carrera GT3.

The second event was the Kia Asamiya Museum held on December 8th at the  FACTORY900 TOKYO BASE in Harajuku, Tokyo. The Museum was held for one day only.

KIA ASAMIYA MUSEUM

Fans gathered at the shop where manga copies and canvas art prints of Asamiya-sensei’s past works such as Silent Möbius, Martian Successor Nadesico, That’s My Space Opera, and Steam Detectives were put on display.

Illustration books and original goods were sold. Sketches made for the collaboration models could also be seen. Lucky fans who purchase Asamiya-sensei’s artbooks got their copies signed on the spot.

The collaboration models were also placed on the shelves for fans to try on. Those who purchase the collaboration eyewear will receive cases with autographs of Asamiya-sensei and designer Mr. Aoyama.

When asked how he came up with the designs of the eyewear, Mr. Aoyama said, “The models are not new, actually. They are existing models that we redesigned according to the personalities of the characters. For example, our FA-081 MASK model is quite bold, and we knew only Parco would be able to wear this comfortably.” Mr. Aoyama consulted with Asamiya-sensei several times to best represent each character’s personality in the collaboration models.

The live drawing session started at six in the evening. Mr. Aoyama first drew the eyewear and Asamiya-sensei drew the character.

Twenty minutes later, they presented the finished product: a drawing of Reina holding her FA-240.

On the second round of live drawing, Mr. Aoyama drew the FA-081 and Asamiya-sensei made a portrait of Parco holding the glasses.

Right after the drawing session, Store Manager Hasegawa started calling for bids for the Reina and Parco drawings, which sold for 18,000 yen and 52,000 yen, respectively. The same person won the bids for both drawings. All proceeds were donated to Japanese Red Cross Society to aid those affected by the typhoons.“It was a great honor for me to be able to collaborate with Asamiya-sensei,” Mr. Aoyama commented after the live drawing session.

Asamiya-sensei shared with Manga Planet that he’s been doing charity events for those affected by natural calamities, such as the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. “I honestly wasn’t sure how (this event) was going to turn out, but I’m relieved we were able to pull it off without any trouble,” Asamiya-sensei chuckled.

Asamiya-sensei also shared his thoughts on My Favorite Carrera being released in English. “I’m really happy. Up until now, there’s only been a Korean version of My Favorite Carrera. Through Manga Planet, overseas fans can read my work and at the same time, I benefit from it. With pirated versions, that is not the case. I’m really happy.”

Manga Planet thanks Asamiya-sensei and FACTORY900 for the opportunity to cover the event!

My Favorite Carrera is available in English in the Manga Planet Library. You can read Volume 1 for free: https://mangaplanet.com/my-favorite-carrera-ev/

My Favorite Carrera GT3 is available in Japanese on LEED Cafe: http://leedcafe.com/webcomicinfo/carrera-gt3/

You can purchase the FACTORY900 x My Favorite Carrera GT3 collaboration models at FACTORY900 TOKYO BASE or OSAKA BASE.

About FACTORY900

Official website: https://www.factory900.jp/en/

TOKYO BASE

Business hours: 12:00-20:00 (Closed on Wednesdays)
Address: 1F MOON-SITE, 5-21-21- Jingumae, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo 150-0001 JAPAN
TEL＆FAX: +81-3-3409-0098
E-mail: tokyobase@factory900.jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FACTORY900TOKYOBASE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/factory900/

OSAKA BASE

Business hours: 12:00-20:00 (Closed on Wednesdays, first and third Tuesdays of the month)
Address: 1-15-5 Kitahorie, Nishi-ku, Osaka 550-0014 JAPAN
TEL& FAX: +81-6-6539-0900
E-mail: world@factory900.jp

Asamiya-sensei holds events every month. The following events are scheduled for the 25th and 26th of January at the Kanocare Cafe in Nagoya. Regularly check his Twitter account @kia_asamiya for updates.

Kia Asamiya-sensei 2020 Commission Day

Date and time: January 25, 2020 10:00-17:00
Drawing fee: 30,000 yen

Kia Asamiya-sensei 2020 Fan Meeting

Date and time: January 26, 2020
Morning session: 10:00-11:30
Afternoon session: 14:00-15:30
Fee:　4,000 yen

For more information, visit http://kanocarecafe.com/ (in Japanese only)

If you are interested in manga and anime events in Tokyo, be sure to read our articles on My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising Exhibition!, Tamekou-sensei x GenAi Exhibit in AGF2019, Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work) Exhibition, Animate Girls Festival 2019, JUMP Festa 2019, DEVILMAN crybaby SABBATH SHIBUYA, Cheese!’s Ikebo x Shōjo Manga Genga-ten, Land of the Lustrous Exhibit at Yurakucho Marui, Kizu Natsuki at Manga10, Yoneda Kou’s Op: The Colourless Days of Yoake Itaru Book Fair@Shosen and Himouto Umaru-chan Exhibit.

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