Also known as "Urobutcher," Gen Urobuchi has penned some of the most notorious anime scripts for series such as Fate/Zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Famous for taking his audience on a journey full of unexpected twists and turns, Gen has worked on stories across multiple mediums including the live-action Kamen Rider Gamen along with some of Nitroplus' quintessential visual novels Saya no Uta and Phantom of Inferno. His upcoming anime film Expelled from Paradise is slated to open in Japan later this year on November 15. Together with Nihongogo, join us as we learn about the man behind some of the anime world's most nefarious villains, [contract anyone?], as he shares his thoughts on his craft and how he goes from pen to script.
With its excellent dystopian storyline, Wilt Studio's anime adaptation of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) is currently one of the most popular anime series out there. Sakura-Con invited several of the anime's production staff to Seattle in April 2014 for their annual convention. Members included the voice of "Mikasa Ackerman" Yui Ishikawa, character designer Kyoji Asano, animation producer Tetsuya Nakatake and series producer Tesuya Kinoshita.
Check out our exclusive sit down video interview with them and hear all about their favorite moments from working on the epic series along with other production notes and more!
Yoshinori Terasawa is the producer for NIS America's recently released critically-acclaimed mystery adventure title Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The sequel to the PlayStation Vita exclusive was announced last month as well, making 2014 a great year for fans of murder mysteries and visual novel alike. We sit down with the producer to ask him a few questions about the game and its history.
Noizi Ito is a popular illustrator and character designer. Probably best known for designing the characters in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Shakugan no Shana, we were lucky in 2010 to interview her during her first official visit to the United States. We caught up with her at this year's Anime Expo to talk a little about her first internationally released game, The Guided Fate Paradox.
At this year's Anime Expo, we got to speak briefly with Kazuchika Kise about his directorial debut with Ghost in the Shell: Arise. Mr. Kise has worked on a number of titles as a character designer and/or animation director on series including xxxHOLIC, Patlabor, Blood, and of course Ghost in the Shell. Hear what he had to say about some of the challenges working on Arise as well as the reasons behind the cosmetic change for of main character, Motoko Kusanagi!
One of the first exciting guest announced for Japan Expo was character designer and mangaka Yusuke Kozaki who also goes under the pen name of KYMG. Like most American fans, I had first noticed his uniquely stylish art from the 2005 anime Speed Grapher. Mr Kozaki's presence in America was solidified with his video game character design work for the over the top stylish No More Heroes series and more recently, the best seller Fire Emblem Awakening. Apart from his character design works, Mr. Kozaki has created several short mangaka series in during his career including his more recent title, Donyatsu.
In the short time we were able to speak with him, hear a little about his art preferences, where the story for Donyatsu came from along with an inside look at the character creation process for Fire Emblem Awakening!
Hosting its inaugural anime convention in the United States, Japan Expo USA treated its convention attendees to a number of high-profile Guests of Honor ranging from the video game industry legends to infamous mangaka from Japan. We had a special opportunity to sit down with the Art Director for the Ace Attorney series and Clover Studio's Okami, Tatsuro Iwamoto! Join us as we learn about which characters he loves to draw, what he thinks about his creations come-to-life and which character he identifies with the most!
Hosting its inaugural anime convention in the United States, Japan Expo USA treated its convention attendees to a number of high-profile Guests of Honor ranging from the video game industry legends to infamous mangaka from Japan. We had a special opportunity to sit down with Ace Attorney series and Lunar: the Silver Star Story composer Noriyuki Iwadare while he was here to perform a few concerts with his band in front of his many adoring fans. Find out what inspired the man's brilliant musical career and a little bit about his upcoming soundtrack for Ace Attorney 5: Dual Destinies, soon to be released in English later this year!
While at Anime Expo 2013, our incumbent editor-in-chief, Theodore Mak, got the privilege of interviewing renown anime director Makoto Shinkai to ask him a few words about his latest film Kotononoha no Niwa (trans. the Garden of Words). The film itself was recently released earlier this month by Sentai Filmworks in English on Blu-ray and DVD. Find out what the masterful visionary had to say regarding his newest forty-six minute film.
As the universal phrase goes, "Rome wasn't built in day." Although the idiom was first coined by the French during the late 1100s, the meaning behind it has made it an ubiquitous metaphor that the fruits of labor pays off through hard work, persistence and dedication; three values that drive the up-and-coming Japanese animation studio, P.A. Works. Meet one of the chief visionaries, producer Nobuhiro Kikuchi, as he thoughtfully shares his own perspective and opinions chronicling the humble beginnings of the company to their rise in fame and prominence with the anime series True Tears, Angel Beats! and the recently released, Hanasaku Iroha.