Greetings from Anime Expo 2008! Starting oddly on Thursday this year, Friday had a decent attendee turnout. Definitely tomorrow (Saturday) it will be packed and we hope to bring you tons of photos of more cosplayers, and events. (Today we took around 500 photos.) 

We were able to attend Jyukai and Yoko Ishida's joint concert. At first, there appeared to be some mix up, but eventually we were notifed that press were allowed to take photos of the band. We'll have those up later after the convention. 

Quite a few panels we visited today including Dark Horse, Bandai, and ADV. In Bandai's corner, they pretty much listed each new title they would be releasing in the future with a short clip of each. (more details on that later) In ADV's case, mostly answered what happened to the company in their few months of withdrawl from the anime world.

For tomorrow, we've scheduled ourselves to visit David Hayter's (voice actor of the American version of Solid Snake from the video game series Metal Gear Solid) press panel. We will also be attending Shoko Nakagawa's concert, and will be bringing you pictures and video coverage if Anime Expo allows for it. 

We'll also be taking pictures of the Masquerade, again if allowed to do so by Anime Expo. The rules and regulations this year at Anime Expo have changed a bit and a lot of confusion has ensued especially for the industry and press.  

Regardless, don't forget we will have our one on one interview with character designer Takehito Harada tomorrow!

The staff is pretty much pooped, and we'll have a few full length reports ready in the next few days. 

A quick update, NIS America has released character designer Takehito Harada's schedule at Anime Expo.

Autograph sessions (@ NISA booth, #311)
Thursday, July 3rd: 4pm - 5pm
Friday, July 4th: 10:30am - 11:30am & 4pm - 5pm
Saturday, July 5th: 10:30am - 11:30am & 4pm - 5pm
Sunday, July 6th: 10:30am - 11:30am

Full release after the jump.

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So apparently the Nia artbook from Gurren Lagann is out, and pictures of the book has surfaced online. Knowing the community, expect larger scans in the next day or two. Definitely picking up a copy of this book.

Pictures inside after the jump!

Akibahobby today posted preview shots of figure maker Wave's 1/8 scale space Yoko. The paint job and sculpt looks really clean, a definite plus, but I am not a real fan of the figure's proportions. Wave will also be releasing a limited edition version with Yoko's cape being clear. Both versions will retail for 6,600 yen and be released in late October 2008.

As you can guess, hobby news are back!

In a newsletter sent out by NIS America on Friday May 30, character designer Takehito Harada will be coming to Anime Expo this year held at the L.A. Convention Center from July 3rd, to July 6th! Harada is most famous for his work on designing the characters from the hit tactical RPG series Disgaea. Harada will also be holding an autograph session most likely in our guess at NIS America's booth #311 in South Exit Hall. I'll take a stab at guessing that there probably will be a raffle ticketed sketch session. Definitely "Love Freak" Flonne for me if I get lucky. Anyone care to name their favorite character?
 Offficial statement from NIS America after the jump.

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Yes I know, we haven't done any figure news in ages, but I couldn't let this slip by. Eye Up, formerly a figure producer and contractor, announced they would be starting their own figure line. Their first figures shown were a 1/8 scale Kamina with detachable glasses and cape, and a 1/8 scale Yoko with what a appears to be bullet accesories and a detachable Boota from her bosom. Eye Up has recently posted pictures of a their next products, including Simon riding the Lagann! They will also be making various keychain items you can hang off your phone such as one of Boota , and of Darry's stuffed animal. Their last figure annouced appears to be Darry wearing her pilot suit. You can bet that we will be reviewing the full set of figures. Kamina will be released in August 2008 for 8,190 yen, while Yoko will be released a month later in September for the same price.  

Read more for more pictures! 

A few updates on how Fanime is going. The Masquerade was amazing this year, with a lot more fun skits than dull ones. Recorded every skit on film, and took pictures of every skit from the front row. Those should up ready by the end of ths week hopefully.

Incredibly I must note that the level of cosplayers have exponentially jumped this year compared to previous 5 years. Everywhere I go, I see costumes that really make my head turn with the amazing detail work involved. I've probably took around 200 photos so far and will have them up within the end of this week after resizing, white balancing, and watermarking.

Was unable to make it to the first Gainax Panel on Friday, but will be attending the Meet the Guests (Gainax) event and the "Animating and Unlocking Gurren Lagann" panel.

I was late about 15 minutes into Maika Netsu's panel, but we will be doing a one on one interview with her later today. Oddly enough, I was one of the winners for the raffle sketch session for Netsu-sensei. Will have pictures and scans up of it afterwards. 

Troy, our Chief Photographer injured himself on Friday, and ended up returning home on Saturday morning. I apologize as the Head of The-O Network Online to all the cosplayers that had scheduled a photoshoot session with us. I will still be roaming around on Sunday and Monday doing my best to fill in for him.