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Anime Expo to Host Manga Artist Santa Inoue, Character Designers Takehito Harada & Eisuke Ogura, More

Anime Expo announced on Friday that it will host Nippon Ichi Software character designer Takehito Harada (Disgaea, Witch and the Hundred Knight, Labyrinth of Refrain) and SNK character designer Eisuke Ogura (King of Fighters XIV, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy) at this year's event. Both will participate in a panel and autograph sessions.

The convention further announced on Saturday that it will host Parisian-born Japanese manga artist Santa Inoue (pictured right), the creator of Tokyo Tribe. Inoue will have a booth in The Annex, a fashion and art showcase area adjacent to Artist Alley, and will participate in live art and portfolio review sessions.

acttil announced on Thursday that it will again host voice actress Yui Horie (Fruits Basket's Toru, Fairy Tail's Carla, Persona 4's Chie) as a guest at Anime Expo to help promote its upcoming idol manager game Showmaker.

Aniplex of America announced a series of guests for its various panels on Friday. The following guests will appear at the company's Sword Art Online panel:

• Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (voice actor, Kirito from Sword Art Online - Alicization -)
• Ai Kayano (voice actor, Alice from Sword Art Online - Alicization -)
• Tomori Kusunoki (voice actor, LLENN from Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online)
• Keiichi Sigsawa (Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, Kino's Journey author)
• Shinichiro Kashiwada (producer)
• Kazuki Adachi (producer)
• Kenta Suzuki (producer)

Aniplex of America will host a Fate/Grand Order panel to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the overseas version. Guests will include creative producer Yosuke Shiokawa and voice actors Ayako Kawasumi (Altria Pendragon) and Satoshi Tsuruka (Arash, Gilles de Rais, Caligula, and Spartacus).

Aniplex of America will host a Persona 5 the Animation panel with director Masashi Ishihama, producer Kazuki Adachi, and a "surprise guest."

Aniplex of America will hold an advance screening of the first episode of Cells at Work! at the convention. Voice actor Tomoaki Maeno (White Blood Cell) and producers Yohei Ito, Nobutaka Kasama, and Yuma Takahashi will appear at the event.

Finally, Anime Expo announced that it will host SCRAP's "One Piece Puzzle Hunt" escape game. Players can participate for $25 using an AR app for smartphones. All participants will receive a character card set and a folding fan. The first 5,000 participants will be entered into a lottery for One Piece merchandise.

Sources: Anime Expo's Twitter, acttil e-mail, Aniplex of America press release