With Anime Expo 2023 just around the corner, the slew of special guests of honor announcements has begun! This year, we can anticipate the following special guests so far!

• Yoshitaka Amano – Renowned visual artist, illustrator, character designer most known for the Final Fantasy series
• Yusuke Kozaki – Character designer and illustrator most notable for Pokemon Go, Fire Emblem, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros, Xenoblade, etc
• Takayuki Hirao – Director of Pompo the Cinephile, also known for his work with God Eater, The Garden of Sinners, etc
• Masakazu Morita – Prolific Japanese voice actor for Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Marco the Phoenix from One Piece, Thoma from Genshin Impact, etc
• Kotaro Takata – Mangaka for Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead
• Kafka Asagiri – Bungou Stray Dogs manga author and novelist
• Masahiko Minami – Studio BONES co-founder, production coordinator for Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, etc
• Toshihiro Kawamoto – Studio BONES co-founder, animator & character designer for Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Noragami, etc
• Kohei Tokuoka – Chief animation director for The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2, animation director for Noragami, Bungou Stray Dogs, Fate/Apocrypha, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, Sword Art Online: Alicization, etc
• Koichi Naruse – Animation producer for The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2, founder of Studio Kafka, previously producer at WIT STUDIO
• Kazuaki Terasawa – Director for The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2, storyboard/episode director for Overlord II and III, Card Fight!! Vanguard, etc
• YOKO TARO – President of Bukkoro, game creator, manga author, playwright. Known for Drakengard and NieR series
• Jin – Composer, provides music for VTubers, scriptwriter for manga and anime adaptations
• Hiroyuki Seshita – Director for various CG animated films such as Knights of Sidonia, Ajin, BLAME!, GODZILLA: Monster Planet, Lupin III vs Cat’s Eye, etc, producer for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within 
• Atsushi Ohkubo – Mangaka of Soul Easter and Fire Force, character designer for KamiErabi GOD.app
• Kazutaka Kodaka – Scenario writer for Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, previously game designer/scenario writer for Danganronpa series

More to come!

Registration for Anime Expo 2023 (July 1-July 4) is open! Purchase your tickets here.