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Anime Expo Hosts Neptunia Franchise's Character Designer, Producer

The staff for Anime Expo announced on Monday that the event will host Neptunia series character designer Tsunako and Neptunia series producer Naoko Mizuno. In their first overseas convention appearance, the pair will participate in a panel, and will also have autograph sessions.

Tsunako is an illustrator at Idea Factory, the parent company of Neptunia developer Compile Heart. Apart from designing the characters of the Neptunia franchise, she also drew the illustrations for Koushi Tachibana's Date A Live light novel series, and is credited as the original character designer for the manga and anime adaptations of the novels. She is also a character designer for the Ange Vierge franchise.

Mizuno joined Idea Factory as a 3D designer. She produced Hyperdimension Neptunia, the first game in the Neptunia franchise, 10 years after she joined the company. She is also the producer for the Fairy Fencer F series.

The Neptunia franchise began with the Hyperdimension Neptunia PlayStation 3 game in 2010. The game series has since spawned multiple sequels and spinoff games, as well as manga adaptations and a television anime adaptation in 2013. The Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online (Cyber Dimension Neptune: 4 Goddesses Online) spinoff game is the series' latest incarnation. The game shipped for the PlayStation 4 in Japan on February 9, and will ship in North America and Europe this winter.

This year's Anime Expo convention will run from July 1 to July 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In addition, the convention will formally include a preview night a day before on June 30.

Guests at this year's convention include live-action Fullmetal Alchemist film director Fumihiko Sori and lead actor Ryōsuke Yamada, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? light novel series author Fujino Ōmori, Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma manga co-creator Yūto Tsukuda, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, designer and artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross singer and voice actress Mari Iijima, and The Legend of Zelda manga creator duo Akira Himekawa.

Musicians ☆Taku Takahashi, TeddyLoid, and Pa's Lam System will perform at the convention's Neon District concert this year. Ali Project, Minori Chihara, GARNiDELiA, Konomi Suzuki, angela, Mashiro Ayano, Wake Up, Girls!, Walküre's Minori Suzuki and JUNNA, Love Live! Sunshine!!'s Aquors, and The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls will also perform at Anisong World Matsuri. The virtual idol character Miss Monochrome will also host a concert at the event, and original character designer and voice actress Yui Horie will be in attendance. The convention will also host Lemona Design's "Lemon & Sugar" franchise.

The event will host the U.S. Preliminary for the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) during the masquerade on July 2. Additionally, the event will screen the world premiere of the live-action Tokyo Ghoul film on July 3. Toei Animation will also host a Dragon Ball Super-themed scavenger hunt.