Madhouse animator Hiromi Kato will make a rare appearance as an official guest of honor at this year’s Anime Expo, taking place July 3-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Other dignitaries lined up for the event include up-and-coming director Masahiro Ando, prolific American voice actor David Hayter, famed Pokemon director Masamitsu Hidaka, the dynamic duo known as Jyukai, veteran voice actor Toshihiko Seki and new Japanese ‘It girl’ Shokotan.
Inspired by the NHK TV anime series Mirai Shounen Conan (Future Boy Conan), Kato began his animation education at the age of 16, learning from renowned animator Yasuji Mori at Nippon Animation Co. LTD. He first worked as a key animator on Peter Pan no Bouken (Adventures of Peter Pan), and made his debut as an animation director with Trapp Ikka Monogatar (Trap Family Story). In addition, he worked as a character designer on Daisogen No Chiisana Tenshi Bush Baby (The Bush Baby), Ai to Yuuki no Big Girl Tonde Buurin (Super Pig Of Love And Courage), Hameln no Violin Hiki (Violinist Of Hameln) and other titles while at Nippon. At Madhouse, Kato is currently working as an animation director on the musical anime series Beck and Paradise Kiss, and as as a character designer for Clamp in Wonderland 2.
Organized by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), Anime Expo is the nation’s largest anime/manga convention. This years main sponsors of Anime Expo are FUNimation, ImaginAsian Television and Digital Manga Publishing. For more information and to register online, go to www.anime-expo.org.
