On November 1, 2015 Aniplex premiered Anthem of the Heart - Beautiful Word, Beautiful World in North America and Los Angeles was the first place to see the film. Coming from the same staff that brought us Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, it’s easy to go into the film expecting all sorts of feels. However, before you go and buy tissues, just wait and keep reading.

On July 2, 2015 we attended a backstage interview and photo session with Momoiro Clover Z (Momoclo) and the group KISS. This was right before Momoclo took the stage for their concert and KISS would join them to receive the prestigious 2015 “Special Commissioner’s Award” from Japan’s International Short Shorts Asian Film Festival for their music video "Yumeno Ukiyoni Saitemina" in which Sushio from the anime studio Trigger worked on by designing the characters in the animated version of the music video.

At first sight you might think these girls are your every day idol group. In reality, these girls rock out on stage with their instruments as Gacharic Spin. Their upbeat and energetic music lead their song, "Don't Let Me Down" to be featured in the seventh ending theme song for Dragonball Kai. Hear what they had to say as we talk to them about their first appearance at J-POP Summit Festival in San Francisco.  

At this year's Anime Expo, Aniplex hosted a Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] special event.  A lot of guests from the series were invited and the prolific Ayako Kawasumi who voiced Saber in the Fate/stay night series was one of them. Some of her other well known roles include Mahoro Ando from Mahoromatic, Aoi Sakuraba from Ai Yori Aoshi,  Megumi Noda from Nodame Cantabile and many others. We had a chance to sit down for a few minutes and ask a few questions about her career.

During Anime Expo 2015, The-O Network had a chance to interview VisualArts/Key illustrator/character designer Itaru Hinoue whose extensive portfolio includes AIR, Rewrite and more recently her own project Holy Breaker! Famous for their heart-wrenching high school drama and magical endings, Itaru's amazing artwork has been prominently featured in Key's numerous anime and visual novels, and have been known to bring even the coldest of souls to tears. With the upcoming release of Key's CLANNAD this November on PC/Steam, find out what the multi-talented artist had to say in our sit down interview with her!

Along with Tomoyo Kurosawa, PONY CANYON brought up-and-coming high school voice actress Yumiri Hanamori to Anime Expo 2015. Known particularly for her roles as Sachiko Umemoto in Ace of the Diamond, Chiaya Misono in The Rolling Girls, and Uri-tan in Etotama, Yumiri has provided a breath of fresh air to the voice acting community in Japan through her considerable talents as she looks to leave her mark on the industry. Join us in this sit down interview as we find out about her roles in the Yuki Yuna video game, as well as who the "Matcha Green" is in her life!

As part of the upcoming tide of talent in Japanese voice acting, Tomoyo Kurosawa has played roles including Natsuki Koyama in Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW as well as Otome Arisugawa (Aikatsu!), Miria Akagi (The IDOLM@STER Girls), Kumiko Oumae (Sound! Euphonium) and Itsuki Inubozaki (Yuki Yuna is a Hero). Find out what the charming young voice actress had to say briefly about her first time in L.A., school life in Japan and about her role in Yuki Yuna!

While attending the Los Angeles premiere of Gen Urobuchi's latest film Expelled from Paradise our staffer, Salvador Mateos, had a chance to sit down and talk to the film's producer Koichi Noguchi to ask a little bit about the film and his role within production. With a background in 3D CG production, we speak with Kouichi about his thoughts on the animation industry in Japan along with what he wants audiences to take away from his critically acclaimed sci-fi film.

On December 13, 2014 Aniplex USA held the Los Angeles (LA) premiere of Expelled from Paradise (Rakuen Tsuiho) directed by Seiji Mizushima, written by Gen Urobuchi, and producer Koichi Noguchi. This movie has been playing in Japan and Japanese fans have been raving about it. Using a new 3D CGI technique called “cell look,” the computer graphics mimic the traditionally used cell art to the point that it looks really similar according to Mr Koichi Noguchi.

On Sunday, I was one of the few lucky people in Los Angeles to attend the premier screening of Aniplex's Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works, which was sold out. The location was the Downtown Independent Theater, next to Little Tokyo, and doors did not open until 12:15 PM. Since I had to drive and didn't want to risk getting stuck in LA traffic I left early, but to my surprise there was a long line of fans already in line once I had arrived. At first I wasn't sure if I was at the right place, but once I got closer I heard someone playing music from the Fate/stay series and saw a Rin cosplayer. I signed in and got in line and waited for the doors to open. Once they opened, we were allowed inside the lobby, which had posters of the Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works series and people were taking pictures with them along with the cosplayers who attended the event. Aniplex gave every attendee an exclusive "Unlimited Blade Works Memorial Record" lithograph which has Saber, Shirou, Rin, Archer and Kotomine on it along with the locations of the screenings and date at the bottom to commemorate the event.