Ever wondered how the Los Angeles Convention Center looks like without thousands of Anime Expo attendees? We went to the convention center early during the week of Anime Expo 2019 and captured some of the empty rooms and corridors.
Outside the convention center during Day -1, No lines. Day -1 was dedicated to setting up AX and badge pick up for exhibitors and guests.
As seen in the photos, AX staff were still setting up in preparation for Day 0. Empty, the convention center’s size and beauty really stand out.
We had the honor of interviewing actor Reuben Langdon and famed anime director, Hiroshi Nagahama during Ronin Expo 2019 in Little Tokyo, California. Ronin Expo is an annual anime festival located in the heart of the Los Angeles Japanese community, Little Tokyo!
Nagahama sketching for fans
Reuben Langdon signs a slice of pizza for a fan
Hiroshi Nagahama, began his career at Madhouse Studio as a mechanical designer for ‘The Cockpit’, after leaving Madhouse, he became a freelancer. He later went on to direct the highly acclaimed anime series, Mushishi. In recent news, Nagahama was working alongside writer Stan Lee to co-create, The Reflection an anime series surrounding individuals who have superpowers after coming in contact with a mysterious light. More on this in our interview with Hiroshi Nagahama below:
Reuben Langdon is known for voicing Dante (Devil May Cry series), Ken Masters beginning with Street Fighter IV various others. Aside from voicing characters, he’s also a well-known motion capture actor, doing motion capture for Chris Redfield in Resident Evil Code Veronica, 5 & 6. In addition, Langdon is also a stuntman, filmmaker and on-camera actor, working on well-known film titles such as, The Medallion, Spider-Man 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Night at the Museum 2, Ant-Man, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Avatar. In recent news, Langdon was involved in a life-threating armed assault, earlier this year, while filming a documentary in Guatemala, Mexico. This and more in our interview:
We would like to thank Ronin Expo staff for providing the services we needed to execute these interviews. Special thanks to Lisle Wilkerson for interpreting our interview with Nagahama.
AniFest is a yearly anime convention and festival dedicated to celebrating the arts and culture of Japanese animation. Cosplayers, vendors, partners, sponsors, performers, and event producers all come together in one day to bring you the best that an anime convention has to offer, but without the high price!
Why Should I attend?
Aside from special guests appearances by VampyBitMe, D-Piddy, キーング X KING!, and yours truly, AniFest will also feature musical performances by Stephanie Yanez, Tune in Tokyo, Phoebe Chan & Arcane Maid Cafe Idols. There’ll be many anime and fashion vendors, entertainment and photo ops during the event! As an added bonus, AniFest will be in partnership with Avex Pictures of Japan to host the veryfirst U.S. screening of Trinity Seven 2*!
There’ll plenty of activities to part take during this 8-hour event such as Anisong Dance Festival Event, AniFest Cosplay Showcase, Itasha Anime Car Showcase, Pine Wind Japanese Garden Experience & more. (See their official schedule here for more information). All this and more at AniFest! Held at the Torrence Cultural Arts Center in Torrence, CA on March 23rd 2019, in just 16 days!
…OR you can try your luck here! We are proud to announce that we are working alongside AniFest to bring you this special giveaway**, so enter for your chance to win a (1) ticket to AniFest 2019!
Voice actress, Cristina Vee will be joining this project as the led role of Haru-chan, bringing her to life as she ventures out onto the streets of Los Angeles serving Okamoto Kitchen dishes.
Watch Episode 0
Meet the team
Voiced by Cristina Vee
As stated in their Kickstarter page, “The food truck industry is a brutal world! Savage races for parking spots, epic shonen food battles, and lots and lots of VIDEO GAMES! The naive Okamoto Kitchen food truck team of Haru, Chizuru, Mickey, and Honey try their best to navigate their way around the unforgiving landscape of the Los Angeles food truck scene.”
Meet the other teams
Although they’ve reached their initial goal of $48,000
they’re still 3K short of reaching their ‘Strech Goal #1‘, producing a Japanese language version with English subtitles in addition to the English dub.
In total, they’ve got 4 more Strech Goals, which are as follows:
If you’d like to support this project, you can do so by clicking here, but hurry! This kickstart project ends in less than 40 hours, don’t miss out on getting the exclusive pledge rewards!
If you have any information pertaining to this particular story, you can contact The Kitsune Network at KitsuneNetworkProductions@gmail.com.
Ever wanted to see Japanese manga students at work? Are you a fan of anime art? Are you an artist anime yourself or just enjoy artist alley? Come and join the students from J.A.M. (or the Japanese Animation & Manga College) On Saturday December 1st at Little Tokyo’s Miyako Hotel.
JAM are bringing several of their students from their art college in Japan over to Los Angeles for a ONE DAY fundraiser event. If this is anything as their first fundraiser, last year’s, there’ll be freebies from JAM (Art samples books, DVD Animation demos, ETC) in addition, you’ll be able to purchase art, hangout with manga students, watch live drawings, get your a portrait drawing, photo ops and more!
Last year, we stumbled on their first fundraiser by chance and had so much fun, we figured we’d share this event for more anime fans to join the fun!
Inside Miyako Hotel – Ballroom
Self portrait from JAM student artist
Splatoon sketch made by JAM student artist
See you there! & as always, we’ll be bring coverage from the event.
DISCLAIMER: Before you read on, please beware this is a 18+ topic, if you do not wish to continue with this post, please check our other post from HentaiCon.
During HentaiCon we had the honour of interviewing former JAV (Japanese Adult Video) actress, Kaho Shibuya!
Photo Source: Shibuya’s Blog
Photo Source: Shibuya’s Blog
For those who wish to follow Kaho and her daily adventures, check her blog here. [KAHO HAS SINCE DELETED HER BLOG]
Missed Hentai Con? Take a look at our Hentai Con video showcasing the con’s exhibit hall (Video has been Age-restricted, youtube account required):
Check our Hentai Con Gallery
Kayli Mills & Me (Krystal)
Kayli Mills & Me (Krystal) during our interview
Elizabeth Rage & unknown cosplayer
Kayli Mills & Me (Krystal) during our interview
Dōbutsu Lounge
Jackie Lastra & Me (Krystal) during our interview
Kaho Shibuya & Me (Krystal) during our interview
Dōbutsu Lounge
Bunny Ayumi & Swimsuit Succubus
Kayli Mills & Me (Krystal) during the last day of Hentai Con
Jackie Lastra & Me (Krystal) during our interview
Kayli Mills & Me (Krystal)
Me Hentai Con founder, Richie Edquid & Me (Krystal)
Join AniPlex USA & SAO fans in this special exclusive screening of Sword Art Online: Alicization at The Montalbán!
The Montalbán located at: 1615 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028
In addition to this screening, SOA fan will be receiving a‘free gift and have the opportunity to purchase a variety of Sword Art Online merchandise, including new products of the upcoming season from Japan.’
Gudetama’s origins begin with a character design contest held by Sanrio back in 2013, coming in 2nd to Kirimi-chan.
Fastword to 2018, Gudetama’s creator/designer, AMY (Emi Nagashima) visits the Sanrio store in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, making this her first visit ever.
Gudetama fans stood in line to receive a signed drawing of Gudetama from AMY.
As AMY made a special appearance in Los Angeles, Aggretsuko creator/designer visited the Sanrio store in San Francisco for the continuation of Aggretsuko’s Den Of Rage event.
With Gudetama & Aggretsuko becoming instant stars & both characters getting their own TV series (Gudetama: TBS & Aggretsuko: Netflix), it’s only a matter of time before Sanrio develops yet another super cute and adorable character we can all be be obsessed with.
Here’s our photoset from AMY’s visit:
AMY at work
AMY signs a Gudetama book for a fan
AMY and I
Gudetama and I
Gudetama & my assistant, Vincent
Take a look at out video as well:
Who’s your favorite SANRIO character? Comment below!
For the 27th time, Anime Expo came back with full force from July 4th – July 8th drawing fans from 70 different countries. This year over 110,000 people attended Anime Expo, thats 2,342 more attendees than in Anime Expo 2017, making a local economic impact of $100 million to the city of Los Angeles.
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Although Anime Expo went off without a hitch, there were a few slight inconveniences.
Before Anime Expo even began, they were altered to a possible threat made against AX and its attendees. According to Anime New Network, the threat was made by a man who allegedly stated via text, “These cons are due for a high school shooting, by a high school kidd [sic]. I’m working on a case at the moment. Shit u [sic] not.” although he did not specifically stated Anime Expo as a target, Anime Expo responded by promptly by ‘alerting local law enforcement to take appropriate actions in accordance with their procedures.‘ in a statement the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) said:
“Just as in 2017, we are working with security teams and local law enforcement, including K9 teams and traffic control officers, to maintain the safety of our event. Additionally, as previously announced, we are utilizing RFID badges for AX this year and will have security checks at each entrance. We encourage attendees to check our mobile app and maps to get familiarized with the various designated entrances.”
Thankfully, AX came and went without incident. Although the seriousness of this threat wasn’t felt among con goers; With public shootings happening all over the country on a daily basis, ‘indirect’ threats such as these, should NOT be taken with grain of salt. Though it may be a slight inconvenience, security checks at AX do their job by preventing such incidents to ever happen. If you would like to read more details on this situation please read Anime News Network’s article here.
Moving on to more lighter but heated topics:
Los Angeles suffered a huge heat wave during day 2 & day 3 of Anime Expo with temperatures reaching up to 108°. Although the convention center had functioning air conditioning, outside the heat was unbearable. Mailing AX badges eliminated “LineCon” or the long tedious, on-site registration line. Attendees were still not happy about waiting in line to get inside the convention center due to bag checks. Attendees also took to social to suggest that Anime Expo should cap their tickets due to overcrowding.
Do agree that Anime Expo should cap their badges? leave a comment below, we’d love to hear your opinions.
Be as it may, the heatwave was no match for hard working, determined cosplayers, whom in the middle of the scorching sun, went all out in their cosplays. Check these awesome cosplays:
Photo credit: Mystic Taku
Photo credit: Mystic Taku
Best cosplay of AX 2018?
We interviewed some of these wonderful cosplayers and this is what they had to say, about why they attended Anime Expo 2018 and how we dealt with the heat weave:
Before I jump on to a different topic, a HUGE shoutout to these guys at Alove yogurt, who, in the middle of the scorching sun, passed out these delicious yogurts to con goers
Thanks guys! (Peach Flavor was the best!)
In addition to the 110K attendees, over 150 guests and industry made appearances including, Go Nagai, Hiromi Wakabayashi, Mari Okada, Sean Danconia, Santa Inoue, and SUSHIO. Booths also held guest appearances as with, Project Sekai who had Nekopara’s creator, Sayori in attendance for fan autographs.
Since taking photos of Sayori was prohibited, here’s her signature dedicated to me, Krystal.
The Exhibit & Entertainment Halls also featured more than 524 Exhibitors (74 Exhibitors more than AX 2017) Among them was AnimePls, a new Anime brand that is dedicated to bringing you exclusive merchandise from various anime series including: Hatsune Miku, Attack On Titan, Yugioh, My Hero Academia & Aggretsuko! Check their booth from AX 2018.
Check them out at: Animepls.com
AnimePls has licensed all these series, so far!
Near the end of Anime Expo; Funimation and LootCrate collaborated on an AX Afterparty held at the Globe Theater in Downtown Los Angeles during the night of Day 3.
FunimationXSonicBoomBoxXLootCrate AX After Party!
Attendees able to receive a free goodie bag which contained Loot Crate exclusives
There were so many things that went down at this year’s anime. From newly produced anime series to exclusive Anime Expo events and merchandise. If you missed out this year, don’t worry, Anime Expo will be back in 2019! Tickets are now on sale! For now enjoy our entire Anime Expo 2018 photoset:
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day -1 of Anime Expo 2018
Day 1 of Anime BrExpo 2018
The Entertainment Hall
The Entertainment Hall – OVERWATCH booth
FATE: Grand Order VR booth
FATE: Grand Order VR booth
Feel like playing Kingdom Hearts III?
Feel like playing Kingdom Hearts III?
Brought to you by, Arby’s
Brought to you by, Arby’s
Brought to you by, Arby’s
Filming for our AX video
Brought to you by, Arby’s
My assistant, Vincent
My assistant, Vincent
Back to you, buddy.
BTS – Deku Inter.
Mystic Taku as Casual Deku
BTS – Deku Inter.
Interviewing Aggretsuko
Why would you toss fapping paper away?
Not really that packed…
…or maybe…
………
……..
FunimationXSonicBoomBoxXLootCrate AX After Party!
SWAG BAGS!
Me in my Astolfo Cosplay. Check out my cosplay page here: Facebook.com/ThaTrapArtist
Me in my Astolfo Cosplay. Check out my cosplay page here: Facebook.com/ThaTrapArtist
Me in my Astolfo Cosplay. Check out my cosplay page here: Facebook.com/ThaTrapArtist
Me in my Astolfo Cosplay. Check out my cosplay page here: Facebook.com/ThaTrapArtist
Ronin-Expo was held on June 02 of 2018, at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.
So what is Ronin-Expo, you may ask? Ronin-Expo is a celebration of Asian culture, this includes anime, video games, movies, & even a bit history of Japan itself. What makes this expo so interesting though, is the fact that it’s in the center of Little Tokyo district in the city of angels (Los Angeles). This makes it a diverse spot for Ronin Expo to be in, as attendees can further explore Little Tokyo by visiting the surrounding museums and local restaurants.
Here are some more pictures from the event including: cosplayers, event guests, attendees and staff members.
Felt like you missed out? Don’t worry, Ronin Expo will return spring 2019, so mark your calendars and take a trip to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles & make sure to stop by Ronin-Expo!
