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NY Anime Fest to Host Hatsune Miku Creators, Producers
posted on by Egan Loo
The organizers of New York Anime Festival will host three Japanese guests central to the Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid phenomena during the October 13-16 event at New York Comic Con in New York City.
As the CEO of Crypton Future Media, Hiroyuki Itōh oversaw the launch and rise of the virtual idol character Hatsune Miku. Crypton Future Media originally created Hatsune Miku to personify a synthesized vocal music software package, and she has since become a star in her own right. Itoh also launched the Vocaloid website Piapro and the music aggregation service ROUTER.FM.
Toshihiro Fukuoka is the Chief Executive Editor of Weekly ASCII, Japan's leading computer magazine. In addition, he is an editor and writer of popular Japanese anime trends and events for Tokyo Kawaii Magazine, a digital magazine for the iPhone app market. Fukuoka served as the director for Anime Expo's "Mikunopolis in Los Angeles" concert in July.
Masataka P is the creator of several popular dance videos featuring Hatsune Miku. Masataka P posted a selection of those videos on a dedicated YouTube channel.
Fukuoka and Masataka P will lead a "Hatsune Miku: Beyond the Character" panel on October 15 to discuss Miku's character, songs, and music videos, as well as the MikuMikuDance software that makes Masataka P's videos possible. Itoh and Fukuoka will then hold the first screening of a 30-minute Mikunopolis concert film at their "Hatsune Miku: After Mikunopolis" panel, which will cover the future plans for the idol. All three guests are coming on behalf of The Japan Foundation.
The three new guests join writer Dai Sato, Tekken project director Katsuhiro Harada, director Makoto Shinkai, voice actress Junko Takeuchi, manga author Hiro Mashima, producer Hideo Katsumata, Aniplex president Kōichirō Natsume, and producer Masayuki Ozaki at New York Anime Festival this year.
