LLNN Coverage of Anime Expo 2002


Mr. Inoue (second left), Mamiko Noto (second right) announce their plans for the new Tenchi Muyou GXP series.	Maria Kawamura (right) at the Meet the Guests Reception.

Koichi Mashimo was pleased to catch an opportunity to his American cosplay fans at the Meet the Guests Reception.	Read or Die! Guests of Honor are all in hooplah after the SPJA Industry Awards.
Maria Kawamura: Maria Kawamura is one of the most popular voice actresses in Japanese seiyuu history with an extremely rich list of credits including: Cham Fau in Aura Battler Dunbine, Gau Ha Lessi and Lilith Fau in L-Gaim, Beltotica Irma in Zeta Gundam, Quess Paraya in Char's Counterattack, Lachesis in Five Star Stories, Jung Freud in Gunbuster, Usual in Sailor Moon S, Shadow GirlA in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Naga the White Serpent in Slayers. Her songs include the themes for El Hazard 2 and Kishin Corps. Hidenori Matsubara: The amazing Mr. Matsubara has served as Animation Director and Character Designer adapting Mr. Fujishima's designs for the Ah! My Goddess and Sakura Taisen anime as well as Animation Director for Otaku no Video anime. He is also credited as animator for Taiho Shichauzo OVA, Patlabor Movie, Blue Submarine No. 6, Fatal Fury Movie, Wings of Oneamise, Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Macross II. Mamiko Noto: As popular voice seiyuu, Ms. Noto is best known for her roles as Kotori Monou from X TV series, Yoshiko Yamada from Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Rin from Inuyasha, and Chocomon from Digimon Adventure 02 movie. She is also credited with various roles in Boogiepop Phantom, Angelic Layer, Gatekeepers, Comic Party, NieA_7, Ayashi no Ceres, Fruits Basket, Full Metal Panic, Mahoromatic, Aquarian Age, and Galaxy Angel. Hiroaki Goda: Mr. Goda is one of the most popular figures in the anime industry having served as Director of all the Ah! My Goddess anime OAV, Movie, and TV works, character designer for Onegai Teacher, and animator for popular series including Bubblegum Crisis, Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water, and Ranma 1/2. Toshiharu Murata: Murata’s credits include Mecha Designer and Animator for Taiho Shichauzo, Character Designer for Eat-Man, Animation Character Designer for Blue Submarine No. 6, Animation Director and Animator for Irresponsible Captain Tylor, EX Car Designer for EX-Driver, and Character Designer for Hellsing. Tsukasa Hojo: Mr. Hojo is one of the most acclaimed manga artists in recent times with smash hits such as Cat's Eye, City Hunter and Family Compo. Since 1979, many of Mr. Hojo's weekly manga titles have been collected in trade paperbacks and turned into anime, live action films and countless forms of merchandise. Mr. Hojo co-founded Gutsoon! Entertainment which will launch the first weekly manga anthology in North America, called Raijin Comics. Mr. Hojo's celebrated manga City Hunter will make its North American debut in Raijin Comics this Fall. Nobuhiro Watsuki: Mr. Watsuki is best known for being creator of the popular Rurouni Kenshin manga series that was first serialized in 1993 Weekly Shonen Jump. He received the 1987 Tezuka Award Honorable Mention and is also creater of Gun Blaze West first serialized in 2001 Weekly Shonen Jump. Koichi Mashimo: Mr. Mashimo is best known for being director of the popular Noir anime series as well as the new stylishly futuristic .hack//SIGN series. He was also director of Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Bakuretsu Hunter, Dirty Pair, Dominion, Weathering Continent, and several Gatchaman TV episodes. Hideyuki Kurata: Mr. Kurata is the Creator and Writer of Read or Die and was chief writer for such popular anime shows like Excel Saga, Battle Athletes OVA, Battle Athletes TV, Pretty Sammy 2 OVA, Pretty Sammy TV, and Brigadoon: Marin and Meran. Masashi Ishihama: Mr. Ishihama is credited as being Character Designer for Read or Die and Tenamonya Voyagers. He was also Mecha Designer for Space Cruiser Yamamoto Yohko and New Hurricane Polymer. Koji Masunari: Mr. Masunari served as Director for large number of popular anime shows such as Read or Die, Photon, Kokoro Toshokan (Spirit Library), Android Announcer MAICO 2010, Omishi Magical Theater Risky Safety, Lamune and 40 EX, and Saber Marionette R. He also worked on Storyboards and Episode Direction for the Ah My Goddess! OVAs. Also joining the Anime Expo 2002 celebration were a good number of special guests for fans to enjoy their weekend with: Yoko Ishida: Ms. Ishida was discovered when she won the 4th annual Columbia Anime Singer Contest and made her musical debut in 1993 with the Sailor Moon R Ending Theme "Otome no Policy". Ms. Ishida was soon signed to the Pioneer LDC music label and was featured on all the "Ultra Anime Eurobeat Series - Para Para Max" CDs. She has continued her anime music career by singing the Opening Theme songs to "Shin-Shirayukihime Densetsu Pretear", "Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar" and "Ai Yori Aoshi". Puffy AmiYumi: Since bursting on the scene in 1996 with their million-plus-selling single "Asia No Junshin," Yumi Yoshimura and Ami Onuki (a.k.a. Puffy in Japan) have become one of Japan's hottest musical duos. Puffy's unique sound mates analog instrumental timbres and songwriting reminiscent of '60s and '70s rock with J-Pop flourishes and the girls' enthusiastic singing. Puffy AmiYumi's US debut album SPIKE was listed in Billboard's Critics Choice for top 10 albums of 2001. Akira Kamiya: Mr. Kamiya has worked in the industry as a voice actor for about 20 years, and in addition to doing voice acting, he does commercials, narration, movie dubs, radio shows, and has released a CD single. His most famous voices includes Ryo Saeba from City Hunter, Shutaro Mendo from Urusei Yatsura, Roy Fokker from Macross, Ashuram from Record of Lodoss War, Natsume Kyusaku from Super Cat Girl NukuNuku, Shun Mitaka from Maison Ikkoku, Professor Tomoe from Sailor Moon, and Dr. Kisaragi from Cutey Honey F. Noboru Ishiguro: Mr. Ishiguro, one of the "honored grandfathers" of Japanese animation and esteemed pillar of the anime industry, has worked in the anime industry for a very long time and brings with him a well-known history of being Director of Spacecruiser Yamato (a.k.a. Starblazers), Legend of Galactic Heroes, Megazone 23, Macross TV series and Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie, and countless other popular anime titles. Kunihiko Ikuhara: Mr. Ikuhara has long been active in the anime industry. After years of working his way up the ladder, he was given the job as director of Sailor Moon. In 1996, he founded the creative collective BePapas. As a part of BePapas, Mr. Ikuhara created and directed the TV show Revolutionary Girl Utena and the 1999 Utena Movie, Revelation of Adolescence. His latest work includes the book co-authored with Mamoru Nagano, Schell Bullet. Yukio Kikukawa: Mr. Kikukawa has worked in the industry as a producer of anime titles such as Battle Royale High School and Big Wars. He's currently best known as the executive producer for Legend of Galactic Heroes. Hiroaki Inoue: Mr. Inoue has worked as a producer on a variety of anime projects, ranging from films like Perfect Blue and Wings of Honneamise to OAVs like Macross II and AD Police. He is currently working as the producer for Tenchi Muyo! GXP. Takumi Yamazaki: Mr. Yamazaki has voiced many characters for numerous anime titles such as Mappy (Dragon Half), Hans Kleif (AD Police TV series), Tatsuhiko Shido (Nightwalker), and Ferio (Magic Knight Rayearth). He's probably best known for his role as Isamu Dyson (Macross Plus).