Anime Transportation

This is "Himiko" - a water bus that will start operations on the Sumida river in Tokyo at the end of March. 33 meters long, 114 tons. Here's a Flash presentation. It was designed by famous manga and anime artist Leiji Matsumoto. They wanted a "space ship motif", obviously. Certainly looks cool enough.

Speaking of futuristic cartoon-inspired design, how about this truck here on the right. Martin Roell saw one on the street in Karlsruhe yesterday. It was designed by Luigi Colani of Colani Design. It might even actually be quite practical.

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Regardless, there's something to say for design that succeeds in being art, freeing itself from how things are "supposed" to look, while still ending up being useful and not altogether silly.