LineCon, I mean, Anime Expo, is now upon us this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center and here’s a snippet of the things we are most excited about! From the countless activities, events, panels, and concerts that you can attend and all the endless artists & vendors you can support, there’s something for all the anime lovers guaranteed to swarm the halls:
The first ever live, anniversary concert for ATLUS in the West, Shin Megami Tensei™ 30th LIVE: Band of Shadows Concert celebrates the 30th anniversary of the legendary Shin Megami Tensei series with a night of music.
A pre-show VIP reception is scheduled and will feature early access to concert merchandise, a meet-and-greet with the show hosts, a themed autograph card signed by the show hosts, light hors d’oeuvres, and more. The concert will take place at The Novo (at LA Live).
Doors open at 6:30pm PT. Tickets to the 18+ event will be available exclusively to Anime Expo attendees and are available to purchase at the link here.
This year promises to be the largest Anime Expo yet, with over 400 exhibitors set to showcase their latest and greatest to attendees browsing both the Exhibit and Entertainment Halls, including the likes of:
AmiAmi
Aniplex of America
ATLUS
Bandai Namco
Crunchyroll
Good Smile Company
Hot Topic
Hypland
Kadokawa
Kodansha
SEGA
Toei Animation
VIZ Media
Vshojo
Additionally, during the four-day event, attendees can check out the Bushiroad, FigPin, Grand Archive, Hot Topic, SEGA and official Anime Expo merchandise booths to purchase special Anime Expo-exclusive collectible items from their favorite anime series!
AX has also partnered with Pokémon GO, bringing the rare Unown X Pokémon, along with new PokéStops featuring unique Photodisc artwork and special gameplay bonuses, to the Los Angeles Convention Center over the entire event weekend.
Anime Expo badge holders can search for the rare Unown X Pokémon around the entire event space, with extended three-hour Lure Durations to increase the chance of attracting the rare Pokémon. Upon entering the Los Angeles Convention Center, confetti will be displayed while playing Pokémon GO and Timed Research will activate, offering Red Party Hat Pikachu, one Incense and one Lure as potential reward encounters.
This year’s guests include an accomplished group of illustrators, voice actors, directors, producers and more who have made significant contributions to anime, manga and Japanese pop culture. The Guests of Honor will participate in a panel discussion sharing their recent works, autograph sessions and more! You can find all of the Guests of Honor listed below, with more information about each guest at the corresponding link:
- Acky Bright — Manga artist and illustrator who has worked for DC Comics, Hasbro, and BMW
- Atsushi Ohkubo — Creator of hit manga Soul Eater and Fire Force
- Hirotaka Kobayashi — The voice of Mammon in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Hiroyuki Seshita — Director of many CG animation films, including Knights of Sidonia and BLAME!. His next film is GAMERA -Rebirth- (2023).
- Jin — Versatile artist and creator, working as a composer, lyricist, novelist, and scriptwriter for manga adaptations and anime.
- Kafka Asagiri — Author and creator of Bungo Stray Dogs
- Kazuaki Terasawa — Director of The Ancient Magus’ Bride: The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm
- Kazutaka Kodaka — Scenario writer for Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE. Manga artist, novelist, and anime screenwriter.
- Kazuya Yamashita — The voice of Lucifer in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Kohei Tokuoka — Chief Animation Director for The Ancient Magus’ Bride SEASON 2
- Koichi Naruse — Animation producer for The Ancient Magus’ Bride SEASON 2
- Kotaro Takata — Creator of Hallelujah Overdrive, currently working on the Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead series
- Kyohei Yaguchi — The voice of Beelzebub in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Masahiko Minami — President and Producer of BONES INC. Formerly at Sunrise
- Masakazu Morita — Voice actor for Tidus in Final Fantasy X, and currently stars as Ichigo Kurosaki in BLEACH
- Miura Ayme — The voice of Asmodeus in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Satoshi Kada — The voice of Leviathan in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Satoshi Onishi — The voice of Belphegor in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Shinya Sumi — The voice of Satan in Obey Me! Nightbringer
- Takayuki Hirao — Director of Pompo the Cinephile, The Garden of Sinners, and the TV anime GOD EATER
- Toshihiro Kawamoto — Animator, Character Designer who worked on Urusei Yatsura, Cowboy Bebop, Noragami, and Blood Blockade Battlefront
- YOKO TARO — President of Bukkoro, game creator, manga author, and playwright. Creator of KamiErabi GOD.app.
- YOSHIKI — Composer, classically-trained pianist, rock drummer, and the leader of the rock groups X JAPAN and THE LAST ROCKSTARS.
- Yoshitaka Amano — Artist and character designer, internationally acclaimed for his unique art style and notable works such as the Final Fantasy series
- Yusuke Kozaki — Nintendo / Pokemon Go Character Designer
North American Premiere of LAIKA’s Kubo and the Two Strings in the Japanese Dub
(Presented with English subtitles)
Saturday, July 1, 2023 at 7pm | Room 411
I’ve always had issues with Kubo and the Two Strings and how they barely utilized any Japanese talent for such a heavily Japanese influenced story (George Takei’s one liner doesn’t count), so it gives us tremendous pleasure that Anime Expo and LAIKA will present the North American premiere of the Japanese dub… the way it should be watched! Unfortunately, all tickets for this event have been sold out so we can only hope there will be more screenings of this film presented in Japanese in the near future.
This is only the tiniest bit of offerings so for more, check out their schedule here. We’ll be present for as many of the events as possible so see you there!
