Shopping Guide
The big name guest artists for North America’s biggest Japanese anime event, Anime Expo 2013, have now been announced. Big name rock band Porno Graffitti will be visiting during the event to perform a live concert.
Although Porno Graffitti are more than popular and well known inside Japan, the truth is that this will be their first live show overseas. It will be a new challenge to turn toward the whole world. About this live performance, Porno Graffitti eagerly said, “If we can connect with people and music from distant countries, we think new scenery will become visible to us. We think we want to try and really enjoy such a big challenge.” The live show will be on the evening of July 6 at Club Nokia, which has seen performances by many big name acts in the past. Adjoining the convention center, it is a large-scale concert space accommodating about 2,300 people. Tickets from $45 - $65 will be available, but Anime Expo 2013 official guests will need a separate admission pass.
Porno Graffitti made their major debut in 1995 and after that gained popularity with the big hits “Saudade” and “Swallowtail Butterfly.” They have also been active in various tie-ups - including the opening theme to the TV anime Fullmetal Alchemist, “Melissa,” the opening theme to Bleach, “Anima Rossa,” and more, and so are well known to anime fans as well. Through such work, they’ve also become familiar to American fans. What sort of storm Porno Graffitti will whip up in LA will be noticed.
Anime expo is a huge event themed after anime, manga, and music which is visited by more than 100,000 people during its duration. Its special feature is its fantastic guests from Japan. About a month before the opening, the names are announced one by one. The guests are of various backgrounds too. Director of the recent short anime Kick-Heart, which has become a hugely hot topic, Masaaki Yuasa’s participation has been announced and the North American premiere of Kick-Heart will be held on site. Director of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, will also be a guest.
Other guests include animators such as Keigo Sasaki, character designer and chief animation director of Blue Exorcist, and Mari Okada, scriptwriter of such works as Anohana and Hanasaku Iroha; illustrators such as Noizi Ito, whose past works include the series Shakugan no Shana and Haruhi Suzumiya; and voices actors such as Kazuhiko Inoue and Megumi Han.
Also, unique guests from the realm of producing have been announced, including P.A. Works’ Nobuhiro Kikuchi and WIT Studio’s Joji Wada. P.A. Works is well known for several high quality works including Hanasaku Iroha. WIT Studio, on the other hand, were only just founded in 2012 and have recently been working on the much talked-about big hit Attack on Titan. Active participation from producers well versed in anime is also hoped for at this year’s Anime Expo.
Anime Expo 2013:
http://www.anime-expo.org/
Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2013/06/07/14318.html (Japanese)