Think of the two greatest animation achievements in history least likely to go together, and you might come up with an incongruous mishmash of The Simpsons and Akira.

Perhaps precisely because of the way these two animated works (with the exception of “Treehouse of Horror”) couldn’t be further apart from each other in style and execution, the “Bartkira” project – which mixes characters from the series and anime film into each others’ universes and animation styles – has been a huge success.

And it’s coming to Tokyo’s Gallery Hakusen on March 7 and 8; this very weekend at time of writing.

The whole thing sounds almost too crazy to be real, but it was supposedly born out of the organizer’s friend’s sketches of Simpsons characters acting out scenes from Akira. The idea, for some reason, stuck with organizer James Harvey, who decided to go whole hog with it.

That’s right: this isn’t just some collection of cool and/or hilarious artworks. The goal is to actually recreate the entirety of the Akira series with Simpsons characters because, why not?

The official website even acknowledges that they’re not even sure if this whole thing is legal, but seeing as they’ve officially made it all the way out to Tokyo with no apparent repercussions, we think it’s safe to say that Akira‘s original creators appreciate the homage. And artists the world over are getting excited about it too, judging by the fact that the project has apparently amassed submissions from over 500 artists worldwide.

Can’t make it out to Tokyo this weekend? Well, keep an eye out for an exhibition in your town. Otherwise, satiate yourself with these photos for now and go check out the official website.

Source: Comic Natalie

All images: bartkira.tumblr.com