Back in 2002, Masamune Shirow, along with Hajime Katoki, designed computer mice for Elecom in Japan, and after 23 years, the Shirow mouse is getting an upgrade.
I actually still have both these mice from 2002, and they work fine. Admittedly, they are wired, but they look fantastic and do the job more than fine, even after all these years.
If you are unfamiliar with Shirow, he is the manga creator behind classics such as Appleseed, Dominion Tank Police, and, of course, Ghost in the Shell.
There was also a really nice Shirow exhibition in Tokyo back in the Summer, so it makes sense that Elecom would be resurrecting his mouse around now.
This is also a new mouse design, coming in three colors: black, blue, and white (shown above). It also looks like this time they’ll be wireless. They will also have a new thumb button on the side and a smoother roller, as per Shirow’s request.
Currently, not much is known about how much they will cost, but we do know that they will make only 3,300 mice and that they will be released in Spring next year.
My only hope here is that if these mice sell well, we’ll see the Hajime Katoki mouse design given a similar update.
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