These Custom Nike Shoes Honor Anime in the Best Way

One of the cruelest aspects of being an anime fan is noticing how fashionable characters can be in certain series. While some artists have managed to bring that part of the anime fandom to life through cosplay, seeing so many hype looks tap into what makes anime so special across various anime series is tough. But one way fashion forward fans have been able to show their love of the medium in fun new ways has been with shoes. There have been some official kick collaborations released over the years, but custom making concepts is where it’s at.

Artist @visionofviii (who you can find on Twitter here) has honored various anime projects with fun concepts depicting series such as My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, and more as special Nike shoes. These currently aren’t official collaborative releases, but if the staff at Nike were smart, they’d tap into this very powerful concept. Check them out:

Seeing how well My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Akira look when blended into a clean Nike design begs the question of why there aren’t more official releases in this vein. Surely there’s all sorts of complicated legal matters holding these kinds of collaborations back, but as anime becomes more enveloped into general pop culture the demand for cool shoes such as these will only increase.

This is especially true for the new hotness of My Hero Academia as fans have taken it upon themselves to custom make their own takes on Izuku’s now iconic red shoes through Nike. So while there might not be any kind of official release on the horizon, anime fans will always find creative new ways to tap into the best parts of every anime franchise. Even down to the cool looks for each new character.

What do you think of these anime designs? What series would you want to see get an official sneaker line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. If you wanted to check it out for yourself, you can currently find the series streaming on Crunchyroll and FunimationNOW. Funimation will also soon be bringing My Hero Academia’s second big movie, Heroes Rising, to North America on February