TBWA\HAKUHODO takes Space Brothers into orbit with ‘Mission: SPACE COMIC’
TBWA\HAKUHODO has released of the complete documentary film capturing the full journey of ‘Mission: SPACE COMIC’ – an unprecedented initiative to draw manga in outer space, marking the conclusion of the iconic manga series Space Brothers, published by Kodansha. TBWA\HAKUHODO led the strategic planning and creative production for the project.
Executing a first-of-its-kind mission required the use of the paid commercial utilisation scheme (*1) for “Kibou”, the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station (ISS) provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Over two years in the making, the ground control team successfully operated a robotic arm aboard “Kibou” in microgravity to remotely draw “Episode 425.5” – a phantom chapter never before revealed in the main series.
Since its launch in 2007, Space Brothers has inspired millions over its 18-year run. Rather than treating the series finale as a conventional conclusion, TBWA\HAKUHODO applied its proprietary Disruption® methodology to transform the moment into a springboard for the future. The agency asked a radical question: What if we connected fiction with reality by literally drawing manga in space?
The resulting initiative brought together top experts across creative industries, software development, and robotics, including Kodansha, Cork, Celsys, and specialized robotics partners, to prove how artistic expression and modern space engineering can intersect.
Masatoshi Usami, Senior Creative Director, TBWA\HAKUHODO, said: “Space Brothers isn’t just a story about two brothers reaching for the stars; it’s a narrative that has empowered readers with the courage to tackle real-world challenges. That’s why a standard retrospective felt fundamentally wrong for its finale. We wanted a disruptive challenge worthy of the work itself: creating an unreleased chapter of Space Brothers live in space.
“Bringing the near-future world depicted in the manga together with today’s real-world space technology felt like the ultimate send-off.
“It was an exceptionally tough road. Yet whenever we hit a wall, we drew strength from Mutta’s iconic line: ‘Let’s try doing something that feels just a little impossible.’ That mindset kept pushing us forward. In the end, this project was about letting the story inspire us to make its future a reality.”
The full-length documentary details the technical proof-of-concept: transmitting creator Chuya Koyama’s brushstroke data 400 kilometers above Earth to the ISS/”Kibou” robotic arm. The film documents how the team navigated extreme physical and technical constraints-including microgravity-induced mechanical shifts, communication delays of up to six seconds, tight astronaut operation schedules, and strict equipment limits-to turn an “impossible” vision into a historical reality.
Credits
Senior Creative Director: Masatoshi Usami (TBWA\HAKUHODO)
Senior Art Director: Yuhei Ito (TBWA\HAKUHODO)
Art Director: Rin Okuno (Hakuhodo)
Copywriter / Planner: Junji Tokuoka (Hakuhodo)
Planner: Tsukasa Shimamoto (Hakuhodo)
Motion Graphics Designer: Eiki Kurokawa (TBWA\HAKUHODO)
Editor: Nobuo Mita (TBWA\HAKUHODO)
Producer: Takao Yanagi (Hakuhodo)