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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Anime Inspires Converse Shoes
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime and American shoe company CONVERSE are collaborating to create exclusive JoJo Chuck Taylor All Star high-top shoes. As reported on the website of the manga's creator Hirohiko Araki earlier this month, this is the first such collaboration ever between the two.
The "ALL STAR HI /JO" shoes feature various references to the television series. The classic CONVERSE "All Star" logo is colored blue to resemble the Joestar family's birthmark, and the shoes feature a print with stars and ancient stone masks. Leather patches read "Phantom Blood," the title of the anime and manga's first arc.
The shoes will be available in both men's sizes (25.5-29.0 centimeters or US sizes 6.5-10) and women's sizes (22.0-24.5 centimeters or US sizes 3-5.5). Customers who pre-order will receive a "stone mask — limited gun-metallic color version" keychain with light-up eyes. Each pair of shoes retails for 10,290 yen (about US$101). Pre-orders are being accepted at select shops in Japan and online from May 20 to June 20. Orders are expected to ship in early December.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is not the first anime or manga to inspire footwear. Lacoste is releasing shoes based on Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga. Neon Genesis Evangelion inspired shoes by K-Swiss and adidas. Adidas also created Captain Tsubasa running shoes and was credited for product placement on the Honey and Clover anime. Tiger & Bunny character shoes were sold by Premium Bandai last year, and Sanrio and Doc Martin's teamed up to make high-top boots in 2010.
The 26-episode JoJo's Bizarre Adventure television anime, which covered both Part 1: Phantom Blood and Part 2: Battle Tendency of Araki's original manga, premiered this past October.
Source: Comic Natalie
Images © Hirohiko Araki/Shueisha, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Production Committee
