Nora Inu aka Stray Dog

Nora-Inu is such an interesting name to call your brand. What is the origin behind it the name, Nora-Inu? 

I’m interested in stories about misfits and outsiders. Characters that are a bit bizarre or unconventional or weird. Around the time when I was trying to come up with a name, I was reminded of this Kurosawa film that I love called “Stray Dog” or as it’s known in Japan, “Nora Inu”. I felt that the name “Nora Inu” conjured up the image of the offbeat weirdo lost somewhere on the outskirts of society and was the perfect fit for the stories I wanted to tell and a perfect description for the types of characters that would fill them.

How and why did you start up this brand? 

It’s all about the characters for me. I studied animation with a focus on character design, so my interest has always been in the characters. I love creating them, drawing them, crafting stories for them. With clothing, it was an interesting way to showcase these characters and get them out to as many eyes as possible. In stories, characters are the ones you invest in and follow on these adventures and I liked the idea that you’d see my characters pop up in random places, hopefully capturing peoples interests and inspire them to follow wherever these characters go. Maybe a comic or a cartoon someday. Or a short film.

I’ve noticed that a lot of your designs are Japanese inspired. What usually sparks the design? 

Definitely the cartoons and movies I’ve watched. Sometimes music. Sometimes paintings. Sometimes just everyday, boring stuff.

Like the samurai trio designs I did came from a love of samurai movies. The character of Pantsu Neko was meant as a parody of “My Neighbor Totoro”. And, in the case of the “Oishi, Nya!” design, it started from looking at a bowl of ramen and wondering how to draw the noodles. They’re all drawn from different things but it all comes back around to the character and the story.

The Japanese aspect of the designs comes from two things: One being that I’m half Japanese and the natural interest in my own heritage. The other being how much Japanese pop culture, like movies and anime, have influenced my interests and drawing style.

I’ve noticed that some of your designs has the same character. Is there names or stories behind each of the characters? 

Yeah, each character has got their own story. I like to think of each design as a different story or a different episode, placing the characters in a different scenario where something is revealed about them. The idea being that you can follow them on different adventures with each new shirt.

For example, there’s one character named “Pantsu Neko” who is featured on two different designs in the current collection. In the “Oishi, Nya!” design you see him drooling over ramen. In the “Pantsu Neko & Friends”, it reveals his lazy and selfish nature. And from there, you get a sense of what kind of character he is, from his interests to how he interacts with others.

It’s normal for me to ask this question. What is your favorite anime series and do you have a favorite character? 

Hard to narrow it down to one series, but I’ve been watching a lot of “Gintama” recently. That’s a current favorite. I love the irreverent humor. “Samurai Champloo” is also up there. Everything from the visuals, to the subject matter, to the character design, to the music, resonate with me. Anything by Shinichiro Watanabe, really. “Mob Psycho 100” is a more recent one. That was really funny and I like how it subverts your expectations. Anything with Lupin the Third I’m into. And there’s shows I grew up watching that aren’t usually brought up when talking about anime like “Doraemon”, “Crayon Shin-chan”, and “Anpanman”.

As a brand, it seems that your clothing stands out. It has a different art style, which is appealing. How would you describe your art style? 

Someone once described it as having a “Saturday Morning Cartoon-vibe” which I’m pretty happy with.

But, I would say my art style is equal parts Keith Haring, Fujiko Fujio, Takashi Akiyama, and Masaaki Yuasa. If you look at any of their stuff, you’ll see how much I’ve borrowed from them. With Fujio and Yuasa: it’s the designs of the characters. With Haring and Akiyama: it’s the energy and movement in their drawings. That’s something I want to bring to my designs.

We’ve all kind of grew up off of cartoons and anime and such. What were some of your favorite shows and games as a kid? 

I watched a lot of TV as a kid. Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Darkwing Duck, Spongebob, Pokémon, Digimon, Rugrats, Looney Tunes, Hey Arnold!, Doraemon, Shin-chan. The list goes on and on.

As for games, one of my early favorites was playing Earthbound on my cousin’s SNES. But the N64 was my first console so it’s stuff like Super Mario 64 that take me back. Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, and Kirby’s Air Ride were my favorite Gamecube games. I’ve got fond memories of summer vacations spent playing those.

If you were able to choose any anime, cartoon, video game, or show that you were able to create something with, what would it be? 

The Nintendo characters. I’d like to see Yoshi with the Nora Inu slashed eye or Kirby and Pantsu Neko both drooling over a bowl of ramen. Something with the Ghibli characters could also be really fun.

Anime and Clothing has become so hand and hand within the last couple of years. Do you have any brands that you would love to collaborate with? 

Uniqlo would be pretty great. I like what they did with the “Peanuts” characters and the collection they did with MoMA. The KAWS collaboration was cool too. It’d be great to have my work hanging with the likes of them.

This is the big leagues, but something with Bathing Ape, specifically the Baby Milo character, would be like a dream. I’ve seen them do crossovers with Spongebob, The Simpsons, Mario, Dragon Ball, Hello Kitty. Not a bad crowd.

What is your favorite piece that you guys designed? 

My favorite design that I’ve done is “Oishi, Nya!”. I think the orange of the cat looks great on a blue shirt. And I like the little Kappa in the design that no one seems to notice right away. It’s a nice surprise for anyone looking close enough.