Anaheim, California (May 9, 2008) — Anime Expo® 2008 announces the attendance of Masahiro Ando as an official Guest of Honor to this year’s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Born in Hokkaido, Masahiro Ando has played a key role in the creation of many popular animation features and TV series. He has also been involved in production, mainly with BONES. Mr. Ando is most well known for his involvement with such features as COWBOY BEBOP: KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR, JIN-ROH, METROPOLIS and GHOST IN THE SHELL. He has also worked on the storyboard and production of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (TV/Film)”.

Mr. Ando’s current work includes his debut as the director of SWORD OF THE STRANGER-a historical action animation set in feudal Japan five hundred years ago revolving around the friendship between two people with tragic pasts, a fiercely powerful warrior “No Name” (Ronin) who has vowed to give up his sword and a “boy” who has lost his parents and has a contract out on his life.

Masahiro Ando joins legendary American voice actor David Hayter, famed POKEMON director Masamitsu Hidaka, the dynamic duo known as Jyukai and the new Japanese “It-Girl” Shokotan in Anime Expo® 2008’s amazing line up of Guests of Honor.

Attendees that have pre-registered can also update their information and add on orders for main event tickets via the Anime Expo® 2008 Online Registration Area at www.anime-expo.org.

Free shuttle services for all hotel attendees will be provided. Regular non-hotel attendees will have access to utilize the free shuttle services during designated hours as well. All schedules and routes will be posted in the lobby of each shuttle hotel. Frequency of service is pending local traffic, road conditions and can change without notice. Also, no shuttle service provided to the Holiday Inn City Center and the Figueroa Hotel (both are within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center).

Attendees, Press and Industry Members are also encouraged to view the video coverage site of the 2007 convention at www.AXBackstage.org.

This year’s Red & Black Sponsors are FUNimation and ImaginAsian Television. Platinum Sponsor is Imagi Studios. Gold Sponsor is Digital Manga Publishing. Silver Sponsor is Gaia Online. Patron Sponsors are Central Park Media and COPIC Markers.

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Anaheim, California (April 29, 2008) — Bandai Collectible Games will be running an official Naruto CCG Kage Tournament at this year’s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3 - ­6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

The Kage is the leader of the Village and Naruto CCG Players are separated intodifferent Villages based on where they live. Anime Expo® 2008 attendees will be able to witness and participate in the Leaf Village Kage CCG tournament with winners receiving amazing prizes including the PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment systemand the PSP® (PlayStation ® Portable) systems, iPod®, booster packs, bragging rights as well as qualifications for the next ninja level tournament: Sannin (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin; "Legendary Three Ninja"). Best of all, the top finisher who lives inCalifornia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii or British Columbia will win freeairfare to the Sannin tournament held at GenCon Indianapolis.

Bandai Collectible Games will be running a Kage tournament on Saturday (July 5, 2008)with the finals on Sunday (July 6, 2008) at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC);Room 303AB.
Prizes awarded will include:

• 1st Place: Kage Pin, Sony PS3 and Sony PSP, 1 Booster Box, 1 Game Mat, Qualification for the Sannin tournament
• 2nd Place: 80GB Ipod, 1 Booster Box, 1 Game Mat, Qualification for the Sannin tournament
• 3rd -4th Place: Sony PSP, 1 Booster Box, 1 Game Mat, Qualification for the
  Sannin tournament
• 5th -8th Place: 1 Booster Box, 1 Game Mat, Qualification for the Sannin
  tournament
• 9th -16th Place: 12 Booster Packs
• 17th -32nd Place: 6 Booster Packs
• 33rd -64th Place: 3 Booster Packs

Registration opens at 10:00 AM on Saturday and the tournament begins at 11:00 AM inRoom 303AB (LACC).
The Top 8 Finals begin at 10:00 AM on Sunday in Room 303AB (LACC).

Attendees that have pre-registered can also update their information and add on orders for main event tickets via the Anime Expo® 2008 Online Registration Area at www.anime-expo.org.

Free shuttle services for all hotel attendees will be provided. Regular non-hotel attendees will have access to utilize the free shuttle services during designated hours as well. All schedules and routes will be posted in the lobby of each shuttle hotel.Frequency of service is pending local traffic, road conditions and can change withoutnotice. Also, no shuttle service provided to the Holiday Inn City Center and theFigueroa Hotel (both are within walking distance of the Los Angeles ConventionCenter).

Attendees, Press and Industry Members are also encouraged to view the video coveragesite of the 2007 convention at www.AXBackstage.org.

This year’s Red & Black Sponsors are FUNimation and ImaginAsian Television. Gold Sponsor is Digital Manga Publishing. Silver Sponsor is Gaia Online. Patron Sponsors are Central Park Media and COPIC Markers.

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Anaheim, California (April 18, 2008) —The Emmy Award winning and popular stop-motion animation sketch comedy show, Robot Chicken, which airs on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is slated to appear at this year’s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Attending Anime Expo® 2008 via an official Robot Chicken panel will be cast and crew members:

Cameron Baity
Cameron was born during a heat wave in Richardson, Texas. He has been drawing and writing ever since he figured out how his hands work. At eight years old he wrote and illustrated his first story about a confused wombat. Cameron attended the Arts Magnet High School in Dallas where he co-produced a half-witted cable access show called Fabrication Avenue. He won accolades for his early art including First Place in Painting at the 1996 Visual Arts Guild Exhibit in Dallas.

His obsessions with art and story collided when he discovered animation at Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He finished his animation degree at CalArts and with a couple films under his belt, he has screened at festivals around the world and won several awards including Best in Animation at the Angelciti Film Festival and Vuze Audience Favorites at Cinequest. Cameron has worked creatively in film and animation for the past nine years on a wide array of projects such as Spongebob Squarepants, Willard, Team America, and Robot Chicken. Cameron will sleep when he is dead.

Mike Fasolo
Mike Fasolo is a Writer, Voice Actor and Co-Creative Director on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken where he’s been since its inception in 2004. He began his illustrious writing career as a staff writer at Wizard Magazine back in 1994. He enjoys dog sledding, curling and Revolutionary War reenactments where he always plays Benedict Arnold.

Chris McKay
Picking up a Super-8 camera at age 10, Chris McKay has been making movies with toys for most of his life. In addition to his co-producing, directing and editing duties on Adult Swim’s Emmy Award-winning Robot Chicken, he is also a writer, director and co-executive producer on Adult Swim’s Moral Orel.  Robot Chicken is currently in production on its fourth season.

McKay studied Film at the "Harvard of the Midwest": Columbia College. He was once beaten up for wearing Luke Skywalker’s Tatooine outfit to school.

Jeanette Moffat
Jeanette Moffat has contributed to Robot Chicken from the first season as a Puppet Fabricator, creating many memorable characters including "The Nerd & Unicorn," "Composite Santa" and "Twinkie the Kid & Celery," to name few.  More recently she has been working as the Costume Designer and Supervisor for Robot Chicken and Moral Orel.  Her talents in the visual arts became apparent at an early age when she began designing clothes for her Barbie dolls, which makes her current position a childhood dream come true. A CalArts alumni, she combines her fine art background with her love of puppets to create costumes for stop-motion and live-action puppets.  Besides shows featured on Adult Swim, her puppet costumes have been seen on the My Name Is Earl episode, "Robbed A Stoner Blind" and in Norwegian band Maika’s music video for their song, "Desert Gold."  She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two rabbits that eat their furniture.

Tom Root
Tom Root is co-head writer and co-producer of Adult Swim’s Emmy Award-winning Robot Chicken, as well as a frequent director and recurring voice talent. Robot Chicken is currently in production on its fourth season.

Root was also writer and associate producer on Robot Chicken‘s predecessor, Sweet J Presents, a series of 12 animated episodes which ran from 2001-2002 on Sony Entertainment’s Screenblast.com.

From 1997-2001, Root was a staff writer at Wizard Entertainment Group, where he wrote for publications including Wizard: The Comics Magazine, ToyFare: The Toy Magazine, InQuest Gamer, Anime Insider and Toy Wishes. ToyFare’s “Twisted ToyFare Theatre” comic strip, which Root co-wrote for 90 issues, has been collected into several trade paperbacks available worldwide.

As a freelance writer, Root has also authored PPV: Pay-Per-View, a three-issue comic book mini-series for Antarctic Press. His first book, Writers on Comics Scriptwriting 2, a collection of interviews with comic creators he co-wrote with Andrew Kardon, was published by Titan Books in 2004.

Root holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Central Michigan University

In addition, exclusive anime/manga related Robot Chicken skits will be played along side other original Anime Expo® programming during the I-Show at the convention and at official Anime Expo® 2008 convention hotels on the official AX Dark Channels.

Attendees that have pre-registered can also update their information and add on orders for main event tickets via the Anime Expo® 2008 Online Registration Area at www.anime-expo.org.

Free shuttle services for all hotel attendees will be provided. Regular non-hotel attendees will have access to utilize the free shuttle services during designated hours as well. All schedules and routes will be posted in the lobby of each shuttle hotel. Frequency of service is pending local traffic, road conditions and can change without notice. Also, no shuttle service provided to the Holiday Inn City Center and the Figueroa Hotel (both are within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center).

Attendees, Press and Industry Members are also encouraged to view the video coverage site of the 2007 convention at www.AXBackstage.org.

This year’s Red & Black Sponsors are FUNimation and ImaginAsian Television. Gold Sponsor is Digital Manga Publishing. Silver Sponsor is Gaia Online. Patron Sponsors are Central Park Media and COPIC Markers.

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Anaheim, California (April 15, 2008) —Anime Expo® 2008 is proud to announce the attendance of Jyukai-the musical duo consisting of Manami (vocals) and Dewa Yoshiaki (composition) to this year’s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Jyukai, formed in the summer of 2004 and began performing live around Osaka. On March 15th, 2006, they had their TV anime debut with the ending theme for “Fate/Stay Night.” Their song, “Anata ga Ita Mori” (The Forest in Which You Were), ranked 16th on the March 27th Oricon Chart in its first week of release. Since then they have released songs for various anime and movies including the opening song for “Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy,” the ending theme for “Buso Renkin,” and the opening theme for the live action movie "Shin - Onna Tachigui Retsuden" directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence). Last fall they released "Ai no Hoshi" (Love Star) and "Hanamuke no Melody" (Farewell Melody) as well as a cover of the opening and ending themes for "Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings," a special commemorative program for the 20th anniversary of "Ah! My Goddess." They recently released their second album, "Harvest," on December 12, 2007. Their album has received favorable reviews for having such high quality songs.

Jyukai’s songs are usually composed and arranged by Dewa, while the lyrics are written and sung by Manami.  With his policy "never forget the pop parts in any song," Dewa creates delicate music with a sense of sorrow. His songs are easy to listen to and fascinate people time and time again. Manami’s lyrics possess their own realistic and unique vision, often unlocking stories and memories deep within everyone’s heart. Manami’s emotional vocals strike a chord in the hearts of the listeners, touching them deeply.

Jyukai joins legendary American voice actor David Hayter, famed POKEMON director Masamitsu Hidaka and the new Japanese “It-Girl” Shokotan in Anime Expo® 2008’s amazing line up of Guests of Honor.

Attendees that have pre-registered can also update their information and add on orders for main event tickets via the Anime Expo® 2008 Online Registration Area at www.anime-expo.org.

Free shuttle services for all hotel attendees will be provided. Regular non-hotel attendees will have access to utilize the free shuttle services during designated hours as well. All schedules and routes will be posted in the lobby of each shuttle hotel. Frequency of service is pending local traffic, road conditions and can change without notice. Also, no shuttle service provided to the Holiday Inn City Center and the Figueroa Hotel (both are within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center).

Attendees, Press and Industry Members are also encouraged to view the video coverage site of the 2007 convention at www.AXBackstage.org.

This year’s Red & Black Sponsors are FUNimation and ImaginAsian Television. Gold Sponsor is Digital Manga Publishing. Silver Sponsor is Gaia Online. Patron Sponsors are Central Park Media and COPIC Markers.

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Anaheim, California (April 10, 2008) — Attendees registered as guests within the official Anime Expo® 2008 Hotel Room Blocks will be able to access the 24-hour complimentary shuttle service which will provide transportation from all official convention hotels to this year’s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Shuttle service is provided between the Los Angeles Convention Center and the following hotels:

• Kawada Hotel Los Angeles
• Hilton Checkers Hotel
• Los Angeles Athletic Club
• Los Angeles Marriott
• Millennium Biltmore
• Omni Hotel Los Angeles
• Sheraton
• Westin Bonaventure
• Wilshire Grand

Shuttle information signs, including scheduled hours of operation, will be posted in the lobby of each shuttle hotel. Hotel attendees will be able to enjoy this convenience with free shuttle services arriving at their hotels every 7-12 minutes during peak hours of operation. Only official Anime Expo® 2008 hotel attendees will have access to this free Anime Expo® 2008 service. All shuttle bus riders will be required to present their badges for identification as official hotel guests (all Anime Expo® 2008 hotel attendee badges will have markers identifying them as hotel guests).

Please note: Frequency of service is pending local traffic, road conditions and can change without notice. Also, no shuttle service provided to the Holiday Inn City Center and the Figueroa Hotel (both are within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center).

Attendees that have pre-registered can also update their information and add on orders for main event tickets via the Anime Expo® 2008 Online Registration Area at www.anime-expo.org.

Attendees, Press and Industry Members are also encouraged to view the video coverage site of the 2007 convention at www.AXBackstage.org.

This year’s Red & Black Sponsors are FUNimation and ImaginAsian Television. Gold Sponsor is Digital Manga Publishing. Silver Sponsor is Gaia Online. Patron Sponsors are Central Park Media and COPIC Markers.

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