On what would be the 100th birthday of ASICS founder Kihachiro Onitsuka, we launched “Sole of Kobe,” an animated series telling stories of the man, his philosophies, his company’s history and its aspirations. In the first episode “Hope,” Onitsuka-san decides he needs to inspire the youth in order to build a better Japan after the war. With “A Shot At The Title,” a traditional Japanese salad inspires a new type of basketball shoe—a shoe that will help win the title for Kobe High School. And finally in “Future Moves,” we look forward to the future to see how ASICS engineers tackle design and innovation.Each episode is animated in its own art style, giving them a unique look and personality fitting their stories.
To bring “Sole Of Kobe” to life, we collaborated with the talented artists over at Hello Savants and Brand New School. Below is a (small) peek behind the curtain at a few work-in-progress style frames and sketches that we made along the way.
