ANIME EXPO REVEALS 2013 PROGRAM GUIDE COVER ART

LOS ANGELES, CA, April 22^nd, 2013 – Anime Expo proudly reveals the cover to our 2013 program guide! Max, the official mascot of Anime Expo, is depicted in a boldly energetic piece illustrated by our artists in Japan and evokes the exciting experience awaiting attendees at our annual convention.

Our current Guest of Honor lineup for AX 2013 includes:

Voice Actors Eric Vale, Kyle Hebert, Christopher Sabat, and Johnny Yong Bosch with his band Eyeshine, Screenwriter Mari Okada, and Japanese electro/club scene DJ Ram Rider. We also welcome as industry guests J-Pop group Starmarie. Be sure to follow us on our social media channels, because we have more guest announcements on the way!

Fan favorites such as Masquerade, AX Dance, Karaoke, Table Top and eGaming, and Battle of the Bands will be coming back this year. The Fashion Show also returns for its second year, featuring “Gal” fashion straight from Shibuya.

At AX 2013, attendees can connect with their favorite artists, voice actors, and musicians from Japan; share the amazing cosplay, art, and AMVs that they create; and enjoy the best in Japanese anime and pop culture. This July, join us at the Los Angeles Convention Center for our twenty-second year!

Connect. Create. Culture.

About Anime Expo 

 Hosted annually in Los Angeles, SPJA event Anime Expo is North America's largest celebration of Japanese culture. Anime Expo 2013 will be held July 4 - 7, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To register, or for more information, please visit the Anime Expo website.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation 

The SPJA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about Japanese entertainment culture, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. For more information, please visit the SPJA website.

SOURCE Anime Expo

ANIME EXPO “MEET THE GUESTS” TICKET GIVEAWAY AND AX2013 PREVIEW!

LOS ANGELES, CA, December 27th, 2012 – Anime Expo, North America's largest anime and Japanese pop culture convention, presents a new offer for AX2013 registrants! Everyone who purchases a four-day badge before January 1st, 2013 will be entered in drawings for tickets to our “Meet the Guests” event at the convention! Three winners will be selected, each receiving a pair of tickets. All 2013 registrants who have already purchased their badges will automatically be entered in the drawings, as well.

Anime Expo 2013 is coming to the Los Angeles Convention Center July 4th – 7th, 2013. We have a variety of activities and special events lined up, and would like to offer a preview!

Voice actors Eric Vale, Kyle Hebert and Christopher Sabat are joining us as Guests of Honor, and will appear as part of our Dragonball Z panel! We are also welcoming Johnny Yong Bosch as a Guest of Honor, and he will be holding a free concert with his band Eyeshine! Anime Expo 2013 will feature an all-new Masquerade! Look for big changes and an exciting new format for the cosplay competition! We'll be announcing the full details in the spring!

Anime Expo presents the best in Japanese music entertainment, featuring concerts from major J-Pop, Ani-Song, Japanese rock, and Idol Performers. Attendees have the opportunity to see the hottest acts straight from Japan in the Main Events hall in the company of thousands of enthusiastic fans. We'll have announcements on AX2013's concert lineup coming winter – spring 2013.

Other returning activities include AXDance, Concerts, Panels, Karaoke, Lounge 21, Charity Auction, Artist Alley, eGaming, Table Top Gaming, Battle of the Bands, AMVs and AMV Chef, AX Maid Café, AX Fashion, Manga Lounge, Otaku Parliamentary Debate, and more! This is your last chance to register for a four-day pass for $55. Be sure to act now, as prices increase January 1st, 2013. Registration is open at www.anime-expo.org.

The “Meet the Guests” tickets are offered as a complimentary registration upgrade to selected winners, who will be notified by email on or after February 1st, 2013. To be eligible for the drawings, entrants must purchase an Anime Expo 2013 four-day registration prior to 11:59 PM, December 31st, 2012. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the drawings.

About Anime Expo

Hosted annually in Los Angeles, SPJA event Anime Expo is North America's largest celebration of Japanese culture. Anime Expo 2013 will be held July 4 - 7, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To register, or for more information, please visit the Anime Expo website.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation

The SPJA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about Japanese entertainment culture, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. For more information, please visit the SPJA website.

Anime Expo (AX) Welcomes Record Number of Attendees to Los Angeles Convention Center

LOS ANGELES (September 19, 2012) – Anime Expo (AX), North America’s largest anime, manga and Japanese pop culture expo, celebrates its most successful event in its 21-year history with a record 49,400+  unique attendees and a turnstile attendance of over 130,000 during its four days at the Los Angeles Convention Center, June 29th – July 2nd, 2012.

Anime screenings, the enormously popular AMV contest, karaoke rooms, Maid Cafe, and AX's new central players' hall featuring table top, console and arcade gaming welcomed the near fifty thousand visitors to the convention while colorful cosplayers flitted across the convention center for photos, meet-ups, and to participate in Anime Expo's annual masquerade competition.

Anime Expo 2012 continued the convention's tradition of bringing noteworthy Guests of Honor to its attendees, creating a roster of amazing talent featuring Ryo Horikawa, Steve Blum, Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial, Tatsuo Sato, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Rikiya Koyama, Hikaru Kondo, Ei Aoki, Joel McDonald, Ian Sinclair, Madhouse, and Master of Ceremonies Danny Choo, along with memorable concerts from Yuki Kajiura / Fiction Junction, breakout star LiSA, and AniMetal USA.

New for 2012, popular Japanese Lolita model Misako Aoki and Danny Choo hosted Japan Fashion Mix, a global fashion show featuring designs by Galaxxxy, Kapi-Bara-San, and dolldelight, a progressive Lolita label wildly popular among anime and street fashion fans created by another of Anime Expo's Guests of Honor, Cyril Lumboy.

Anime Expo continues to be grateful for all the fans that made AX 2012 an outstanding success and is already working hard to create new and exciting programming for 2013!

About Anime Expo (AX)
Held annually in Los Angeles, Anime Expo is North America’s largest celebration of Japanese culture, giving fans the rare opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most famous anime, manga and musical artists from Japan and get into the action through everything from cosplay, karaoke and video competitions to exclusive screenings, video gaming competitions and the wildly popular Masquerade,  a costume contest in which fans transform themselves into their favorite characters and put on their own show before an audience of thousands.

Anime Expo 2013 will be held July 4 – 7, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  To register, or for more information, please visit www.anime-expo.org.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA)
Since 1991, the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) has presented North America with premiere events highlighting the best in Japanese animation, manga, music, fashion and pop culture.  The SPJA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment properties, Anime Expo®, Anime Conji, and Project Anime. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

SOURCE Anime Expo (AX)

Anime Expo Will Feature Voice Actor Steve Blum As An Official Guest Of Honor

LOS ANGELES (April 6, 2012) – Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime, manga and Japanese pop culture celebration, today announced popular voice actor Steve Blum as an Official Guest of Honor. One of anime’s most prolific voice actors, Blum will participate in a meet-and-greet, autograph signing and focus panel at Anime Expo when it returns to the LA Convention Center from June 29 – July 2, 2012.

With literally hundreds of credits to his name, Steve Blum is well known as the voice of “Spike Spiegel” from “Cowboy Bebop,” “Wolverine” from several incarnations of X-Men (animated movies, games, the Wolverine and the X-Men TV Series, The Super Hero Squad Show and X-Men Anime) and “Orochimaru,” “Zabuza,” and others from “Naruto” -- to name a few. His has also lent his distinctive deep voice to 7-11 television and radio ads, dozens of Digimon and a gigantic list of other characters from anime, video games, TV and film. Currently fans can catch him on the new super-charged CGI series “Transformers: Prime,” playing the sometimes delusional but always deadly Decepticon “Starscream”, as “Heatwave” on the brand new kid-friendly, “Transformers: Rescue Bots!” and joining the cast of “Avatar: The Legend of Korra” as the evil “Amon.”

About Anime Expo

Now in its 21st year, Anime Expo is North America’s largest celebration of anime, manga and Japanese pop culture. Anime Expo gives fans the rare opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most famous anime, manga, musical, game and fashion artists from Japan. AX 2012 will feature an exciting schedule of exclusive screenings; artists’ panels; live concerts; cosplay, dance parties, karaoke and video competitions; non-stop video gaming and unsurpassed shopping from more than 300 vendors. AX 2012 takes place June 29 – July 2, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To register or for more information, please visit www.anime-expo.org. Connect with Anime Expo on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

ANIME EXPO PRESENTS U.S. DEBUT CONCERT OF JAPANESE POP STAR LiSA

LOS ANGELES (April 2, 2012) – Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime, manga and Japanese pop culture celebration, will present the U.S. debut concert of Japanese recording artist LiSA, whose chart-topping single “Oath Sign” is the theme song for the wildly popular anime series Fate/Zero.  In addition, LiSA will be a Guest of Honor participating in a meet-and-greet, autograph signings and focus panels at Anime Expo, when it returns to the LA Convention Center from June 29 – July 2, 2012.


LiSA burst onto the Japanese music scene with her role on the hit anime Angel Beats! as the singing voice for Yui, one of the vocalists in the in-show band “Girls Dead Monster.”  Beyond being chosen as the theme song to Fate/Zero, her first single entered the Japanese Oricon weekly charts at #5, and went on to capture the #2 spot on the daily charts.  In advance of her Anime Expo appearance, Aniplex of America will bring four of LISA’s releases to the US including her full-length album and Special Edition combos on Blu-Ray or DVD giving fans an exciting preview of this engaging singer.

“Anime Expo has a long history of introducing the hottest, new musical acts to North American audiences by presenting their debut performances on our stages,” said Marc Perez, CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the non-profit that produces Anime Expo. “This tradition continues in 2012 with LiSA who promises to thrill the Anime Expo attendees.”

The date and time of the LiSA concert will be announced shortly.  For more information, visit www.anime-expo.org.

About Anime Expo
Now in its 21st year, Anime Expo is North America’s largest celebration of anime, manga and Japanese pop culture.  Anime Expo gives fans the rare opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most famous anime, manga, musical, game and fashion artists from Japan.  AX 2012 will feature an exciting schedule of exclusive screenings; artists’ panels; live concerts; cosplay, dance parties, karaoke and video competitions; non-stop video gaming and unsurpassed shopping from more than 300 vendors.  AX 2012 takes place June 29 – July 2, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To register or for more information, please visit www.anime-expo.org.  Connect with Anime Expo on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation
The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®.   For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

SOURCE Anime Expo