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Anime Expo 2019
Anime Expo 2019 will run from July 4 to 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with a Pre-Show Night on July 3.
Here is the full list of games-related panels:
(All listed times are Pacific Daylight Time.)
Wednesday, July 3 (Pre-Show Night)
- 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. – Developing Action Games With Lots of Characters – Inti Creates has been developing 2D action games for over 20 years, and their recent series like Azure Striker Gunvolt and Blaster Master Zero are filled with fully-developed characters with more personality and lore behind them than your typical 2D action experience. Learn how they make it happen!
- 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. – JAST USA New and Upcoming Titles – Join us as we talk about our newest games and reveal our upcoming projects, followed up with time for you to ask our staff questions about the industry. Plus, you might get lucky and win some free loot!
Thursday, July 4
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – Official Spike Chunsoft Panel – Spike Chunsoft unveils its upcoming lineup (two new Mages title localizations and one new Spike Chunsoft title localization) with special guests CRYSTAR director / producer Fuyuki Hayashi and character designer Riuichi!
- 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Little Witch Academia: VR Project Panel – The new project of Little Witch Academia will start! Join this panel to see the guest talk and special announcements! Check out how you are going to dive into the world of Little Witch Academia next year!!
- 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Get Down With The Get Down: Idea Factory International Marketing – The marketing team at Idea Factory International is back for another year at Anime Expo to introduce all the great 2019 titles Idea Factory International will offer! Join David, Zanda, and Robbie as they discuss what makes Idea Factory International fans keep coming back for more!
- 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Toshihiro Kondo, From Fan to President – In his youth, Mr. Kondo applied to work at, Nihon Falcom, initially in their financial department, but ended up working in their web services team due to a Falcom Fansite he had created. See how he grew to have a big hand in writing and producing their beloved game series like The Legend of Heroes and Trails in the Sky, and how he rose to become the president for Nihon Falcom!
- 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Visual Novels with Sekai Project – Come meet the team behind Los Angeles based licensing and publishing company, Sekai Project! We will talk about the current state of visual novels in the west including information on our upcoming releases, a Q&A session, and many surprises! Come check us out!
- 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Crunchyroll Games Industry Panel – Crunchyroll presents its current and upcoming game library. Exclusive gameplay, guest speakers from Japan, announcements, reveals, and more.
- 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – Trails of Cold Steel III Voice Actors Panel – Sit down with some of the characters—er, voice actors / actresses from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III and discover what it takes to bring these character voices to life! Also a little bit of hijinks may occur!
- 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. – Denpasoft: Erecting A Market & The Rise of Adult Gaming (18+) – Join us as we go through the rise and legitimization of adult gaming in the west. We will be looking at the games we brought to fans around the world, the services we provide and our upcoming plans for the future! With plenty of announcements and surprises!
Friday, July 5
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – AI: The Somnium Files Community Panel – Join the Spike Chunsoft team for the live premiere of internet idol A-set’s weekly video with AI: The Somnium Files director Kotaro Uchikoshi and a special appearance by the voice cast!
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – NIS America Community Panel & Red Moon Day, dood! – Discover how you can get involved with us, win prizes, exclusive gifts, and how your feedback is shaping the future of NIS America! Also calling all prinnies gather here for our annual “Red Moon Day” gathering!
- 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Behind the Scenes with Trails of Cold Steel III – Take a look behind the scenes into the development process for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III with the President of Nihon Falcom and the co-creator of the Trails of Cold Steel series, Toshihiro Kondo! Get an exclusive peek at just a little of all the work that goes into the development of this great title and see some English game play in action!
- 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. – Azur Lane Behind the Scenes – In this panel, you will meet with Azur Lane‘s voice actors and artists. We will answer your questions regarding our game. We will have live voice acting and live painting at this panel. And there will be six lucky attendees that will receive our autographed drawings.
- 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – Level-5 Presents: Inazuma Eleven Ares and More! – From the creators of Yo-kai Watch, Ni no Kuni, and Professor Layton, take it to the top with the super dimensional, action soccer series, Inazuma Eleven Ares! Join the Level-5 team to celebrate, learn, and discuss everything about this epic franchise from the anime to the games! You never know what other surprises we’ll have in store.
- 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. – Aksys Games Panel Of GLOBAL DOMINATION! (Live Stream) – We’re back, and better than ever! Come join Aksys Games as we talk about past triumphs, upcoming releases, and our plans for spreading the joys of Aksys Games… games… throughout the world! And always, we’ll have a Q&A session at the end of the panel, so ask us (almost) anything!
- 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. – Gundam 40th Anniversary Panel – The Mobile Suit Gundam series, which was launched in 1979, marks its 40th anniversary in 2019. We would like to look back at the history of Gundam up to now and talk about Gundam‘s future by inviting its creator and producer from Sunrise as guests. We offer raffle giveaways at the end. (Editor’s Note: It is currently unknown whether or not this panel will feature anything games-related.)
- 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Japanese game creativity with new game from CyberConnect2 – CyberConnect2 is known for the .hack series, the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, as well as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, and Asura’s Wrath. In our panel we will provide insights into the environment of game development, as well as some of our creative secrets. On top of that, we will unveil new information on Fuga, the first game from our self-published Trilogy of Vengeance series that is currently in development!
- 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – Play Anime! with Bandai Namco Entertainment America (Live Stream) – Don’t just watch anime, play anime! Join Bandai Namco as they talk about their upcoming titles, show off brand new trailers, artwork, and give away some exclusive swag! They will also be making some amazing new announcements, so you definitely don’t want to miss this!
Saturday, July 6
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – AI: The Somnium Files Panel with Uchikoshi and Kozaki – Zero Escape series director Kotaro Uchikoshi and Fire Emblem series character designer Yusuke Kozaki have teamed up for the most anticipated adventure game of the year! Go behind the scenes of Spike Chunsoft’s AI: The Somnium Files.
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – The Future of Digimon – Come to a digi-monumental panel presented by Toei Animation and Bandai Namco Entertainment America! Join us as we talk about the Digimon brand, watch new trailers, Q&A session, giveaway prizes, and more!
- 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – *New Game Premiere* by Former-CTO of Square Enix – Only today! Yoshihisa Hashimoto (former CTO of Square Enix) creates a fun, interactive educational GAME!! Don’t miss the secret information!
- 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Neon Tide: A Cyberpunk Visual Novel – Skyride Studios will be showcasing our latest visual novel, Neon Tide, and discussing our past experience in movie / games, how we made our visual novel, and the tools we used. Crew will be present at the panel. Q&A afterwards along with giveaway.
- 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – Dive into the World of Granblue Fantasy – Hey, fellow skyfarers! Want to hear all about the hit mobile game from Japan, Granblue Fantasy? The producer and director of Granblue Fantasy, Yuito Kimura and Tetsuya Fukuhara, will talk about the franchise to fans in the United States for the first time! Don’t miss the chance to hang out with Kimura and Fukuhara!
- 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – Arc System Works Presents: Kill la Kill: IF Live Drawing Session featuring Studio Trigger (Live Stream) – Join Arc System Works producer Takeshi Yamanaka as we explore how an idea goes from concept to paper through the video game Kill la Kill: IF. Featuring a live drawing session with Studio TRIGGER guests, Hiromi Wakabayashi and Shigeto Koyama, this is a panel you DO NOT want to miss. We heard there might also be a very special secret guest…!?
- 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – MangaGamer: The Now & Future of Visual Novels (18+) – Through pictures and prose, visual novels have become one of the fastest growing storytelling mediums within anime and manga. Please join us, MangaGamer, as we explore this growing literary format with our guest Q-Gaku (waffle), and see just what the future will bring at MangaGamer.com.
Sunday, July 7
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – A Look Into the Otome Game Localization Process – Ever wonder what it takes to bring your favorite otome games to English speaking audiences? Join otome game developers to learn how otome games are adapted for the western market. They’ll share stories on the fun and challenges of working on some of their most popular titles and hottest characters. What’s more, the audience will also get the chance to “develop” an otome game with the team and see what the process is like!
- 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – Making Doki Doki Literature Club – Dan Salvato, the creator of Doki Doki Literature Club, talks everything Doki Doki Literature Club, including the development process, character design, and inspiration from other games and anime. Learn interesting details about the game, story, and characters that you may not have known. Q&A session at the end.
- 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Funimation Presents: One Piece 20th Anniversary Panel – Set sail with One Piece as we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the anime. Join us as we discuss this epic anime with voice actor Patrick Seitz (voice of Franky), VIZ Media, Bandai Namco, and other special guests. Plus, we’ll show never-before-seen videos, have Q&A with guests, giveaways, and more.
- 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Dive into the World of VR Anime! VR Mystery Visual – Tokyo Chronos is a VR visual novel project by leading Japanese anime creators. The project team includes Kazuma Miki, the producer of Sword Art Online. With crowdfunding projects all over the world, the team has raised more than US$150,000 from 1,662 backers.