New Convention Guests

Anime Expo has confirmed Hirotsuge Kawasaki as a Guest of Honor. Mr. Kawasaki is best know for his work on Akira, and his character design and animation direction for the “Stink Bomb” segment of the anime film Memories. His most recent work is Spriggin, which will be released by ADV this year. Also attending as a guest of honor is Yutaka Minowa, who has worked on a wide variety of shows, including Outlaw Star and Angel Links and the Escaflowne movie. His most recent work was as character designer for the new Vampire Hunter D movie. Anime Expo takes place in Anaheim, California from June 30 through July 3.

Otakon has announced that the English group Bôa will be attending the convention as guest of honor. The group is best known among anime fans for “Duvet,” the opening song for Serial Experiments Lain. The six member band recorded their first album, The Race of a Thousand Camels, in 1997 for Polystar Records. Bôa is: Jasmine Rodgers (vocals, percussion, guitar), Steve Rodgers (guitar, vocals), Ben Henderson (guitar, saxophone, percussion), Paul Turrell (piano, keyboards, string arrangements, guitar, percussion), Alex Caird (bass guitar), and Lee Sullivan (drums, percussion). Previously announced guests include Serial Experiments Lain creator/producer Yasuyuki Ueda of Production 2nd, and Lain character designer Yoshitoshi Abe.

Also attending Otakon will be several members of Production I.G, including Hiroyuki Okiura, an illustrator, designer and director best known for his work on Jin-Roh, Akira, and the City Hunter TV series, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, co-founder of the animation studios Production I.G. and Xebec (Martian Successor Nadesico, Steam Detectives, Bakuretsu Hunter), and their parent company, ING, and producer of Patlabor 2, Ghost in the Shell, Please Save My Earth (OAV), Blue Seed, Video Girl Ai, and the Neon Genesis Evangelion movies, and Hiroyuki Kitakubo, an artist, key animator and director who has worked on Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Jin-Roh, Golden Boy, Black Magic M-66, Roujin Z, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, the Robot Carnival short “A Tale of Two Robots”, and the opening animation for the Ghost in the Shell video game. Otakon will be held August 4-6 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland.