Apart from the impressive official guests at this year's Anime Expo, English visual novel publisher MangaGamer brough their own all star line of guests including Akio Watanabe. Watanabe has provided character designs for series including Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko, Magical Canan, Nurse Witch Komugi, and Popotan. He is probably most well known for his recent work as Animation Director and Character Designer for the highly successful anime adaptation of Bakemonogatari. Each DVD release in Japan has seen a rough average of 40,000 copies sold the first week of its release! See what he had to say in our brief interview with Watanabe!
Amongst some of the all star artists and character designers that MangaGamer brought to Anime Expo 2010 who were available to accept commissions on sketches, there were a few lesser known illustrators to the American public including Yuki Takano, a relatively new artist working for the popular visual novel company, CIRCUS.
One of Japan's most proliferic voice actress, Yui Horie was in attendance with her fellow voice actress Eri Kitamura at Anime Expo 2010. Apart from their individual panels and autograph sessions, a press conference was held behind closed doors for them and we have provided a transcription of the event.
Anime Expo 2010 was over before I knew it! And with the conclusion of a convention, I wanted to share my loot to everyone. Probably not as impressive as some people, but I think I got some good stuff. Luckily all of the items fit in one image, which is included inside. As you can see, it's all sketches from various artists! From the left, we have Hitagi Senjougahara by Akio Watanabe, Nanael by Kuuchuu Yousai, Kirari Shiino by Shinji Katakura, and Mitsuki Hayase by Himukai Kyousuke. Thanks for viewing!? If you attended Anime Expo, show me your loot in the comments