Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima showed up for a cameo role in a new animated short from legendary rock outfit My Chemical Romance.
That’s probably not the first sentence you expected to read heading into the Halloween weekend, but considering Kojima is known for his love of music, movies, games, and everything in between, it may not be too surprising. 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.
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. You can see the full text below.
“Astrid your Japanese homework is late again. This is unacceptab-” Kojima’s The Teacher can be heard saying before the recording is cut off.
Kojima is far from a stranger when it comes to cameos, but he’s been especially busy in this department lately. The Metal Gear Solid series, which Kojima created and orchestrated for years, features a few moments where he broke the fourth wall for a cameo. He also appeared in CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 for a role that he recently reprised in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2.
https://t.co/MjeYkDAgV5
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 30, 2026
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. After posting about some of his favorite merch in early 2022, he shared that he attended one of the band’s concerts in 2022. At the time, he said, “When I went to the venue, there were almost all teenage girls. I didn’t see any old men in my age. But as I was wearing the band T-shirt, people said to me ‘I like your T-shirt, Ojisan.’
Kojima also secretly teased his involvement in Prelude to The End when mentioning he had picked up the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Black Parade on vinyl just a few days ago. He then celebrated his involvement in the video with another post on X/Twitter.
Kojima is in good company when it comes to his My Chemical Romance cameo. Also featured in the list of Astrid’s missed voicemails are Lost Weekend songwriter Phoebe Bridgers and Hit Me Hard and Soft hitmaker Billie Eilish. 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.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).