March 31 was the last day to pick up something from Anna Sui’s line of Sailor Moon purses and accessories. The American designer hasn’t exhausted all of her Japanese animation and comic inspirations, though.
Next month Anna Sui pop-up stores are scheduled to open at six locations in Japan, where fashion fans can find exclusive bags, wallets, and pouches that take cues from some of Japan’s most famous manga creators, including Osamu Tezuka, Ryoko Ikeda, and Rumiko Takahashi.
The complete list of manga artists and series represented consists of Ryoko Ikeda (The rose of Versailles), Osamu Tezuka (Princess Knight, Yunico), Rumiko Takahashi (Urusei Yatsura), Ai Yazawa (Paradise Kiss), Akiko Higashimura (Princess Jellyfish), and Mineo Maya (Patalliro!).
Starting off with the most inventive pieces, the gallant uniform of The Rose of Versailles’ dashing Oscar has been turned into this extremely unique shoulder bag.
The same treatment has been given to Princess Sapphire, lead character of Princess Knight…
and Patalliro, the pint-sized monarch who stars in the gag manga of the same name that’s been in serialization for more than 35 years.
If you don’t need quite as much carrying capacity or attention as the shoulder bags will provide you with, Oscar, Patalliro, and Paradise Kiss’ Miwako will all stare back at you from these pouches with Anna Sui’s signature butterfly dangling from their zipper catches.
▼ Although, in the case of Patalliro, we’re not sure if what he’s doing can technically be called “staring,” since it’s not 100-percent certain whether his eyes are open or not.
The Anna Sui manga collection also includes two styles of wallets, these long types featuring Tsukimi of Princess Jellyfish and, once again, Lady Oscar.
More compact are these wallets featuring two princesses, Urusei Yatsura’s Lum of Planet Uru and a repeat appearance by Silverland’s Princess Sapphire.
Or, less regal but no less dolled-up, more characters from Princess Jellyfish (known in Japanese as Kuragehime) and Paradise Kiss.
Finally, the most eye-catching offerings are, well, eyes. Specifically, these pouches are fashioned after the eyes of Lum (with one of the lightning bolts she’s prone to throwing when she gets angry), Princess Sapphire (with the sword she uses when fighting evil), and baby unicorn Unico (with the horn that sticks out his forehead…all the time, really).
Pricing has yet to be announced for the items but the first place where they’ll become available is the Shinjuku branch of department store Isetan in Tokyo, where the Anna Sui manga shop will be open from May 6-10, followed by Laforet Harajuku, also in Tokyo, from May 15-28. The Anna Sui manga tour then moves to Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi (May 20-26), Nagoya Parco (May 20-31), and Osaka Lucua 1100 (May 20-June 2).
Your very last chance to get your hands on the lineup will be at the Hikarie shopping complex in Tokyo’s Shibuya, where the Anna Sui pop-up store will be open from May 28 to June 10. Make sure you don’t miss out, because who knows when your next chance to get an anime torso or eye bag will be.
Source: Comic Natalie
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