Hideo Kojima Makes Surprise Cameo in New My Chemical Romance Animated Short

Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima showed up for a cameo role in a new animated short from legendary rock outfit My Chemical Romance. Still, fans of his work as a creative powerhouse were probably shocked to see him appear in the credits for the band's new animated short film, Prelude to The End. The seven-and-a-half-minute project, which arrived as a surprise drop yesterday evening, is a stop-motion, dark fairytale based on director Lauren Tsai's The Dying World. Serving as a vehicle for a 20th anniversary music video for My Chemical Romance's "The End." – the opening track for the New Jersey group's seminal rock record, The Black Parade – the video also enlisted Kojima for a quick voice role. Hideo Kojima, Phoebe Bridgers, and Billie Eilish featured in the credits for My Chemical Romance and Lauren Tsai's Prelude to The End. Just as main character, Astrid, retreats to her room to parse through a few missed calls, we get Kojima's My Chemical Romance music video debut. He's credited simply as The Teacher, and can be heard scolding Astrid about late work in her third voicemail: "Astrid your Japanese homework is late again. This is unacceptab-" Kojima is far from a stranger when it comes to cameos, but he's been especially busy in this department lately. He also appeared in CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 for a role that he recently reprised in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. Kojima's collaboration with My Chemical Romance might have been especially exciting for the game creator, though, as his love for the band's music is well-documented. With both Grammy-Award-winning artists sharing a few seconds with Kojima, the moment definitely made sure to pack in as many heavy hitters as it could.

Kojima will seemingly continue to show up in side projects as he stays focused on other projects, including OD and Physint. Last night, we also got the first trailer for the anime spinoff series, Death Stranding Isolations. We know the Kojima Productions mastermind will appear in one live-action cameo , too, though what it will be has yet to be revealed.