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N. Carolina's Animazement to Host Mecha Director Ichiro Itano
posted on by Kimberly Grace
Animazement, a convention which will run during the May 25-27 holiday weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced on Friday that it will host animator Ichirō Itano, as well as voice actors Toshio Furukawa and Fumiko Orikasa.
Itano was the mechanical animation director for The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and many other mecha anime. His signature touch is the aerobatic display of pirouetting missiles and smoke plumes that became famous throughout anime circles as "Itano Circus." He has over 30 anime and live-action projects to his credit, including Gantz, Megazone 23 Part II, and Blassreiter.
Furukawa is best-known for voicing Piccolo on Dragon Ball, Ataru Moroboshi in Urusei Yatsura, and Portgas D. Ace in One Piece. Tokyo-native Fumiko Orikasa is the voice of Rukia Kuchiki in Bleach, Shirley Fenette and Ayame Futabe in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and Kyuubei Yagyuu in Gintama'
The organizers of the convention had announced that it would host pop singer KOTOKO and manga artist Mayu Shinjo earlier this week. Other Japanese guests will include Madhouse anime studio co-founder Masao Maruyama and anime director Hiroshi Nagahama (Detroit Metal City, Mushi-Shi). The American anime voice actors and English dub production staff members Chris Cason, Kara Edwards, Clarine Harp, Shelby Lindley, Spike Spencer, and Cristina Vee will also appear at Animazement 2012.
The director Noboru Ishiguro (Space Battleship Yamato, Astro Boy, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross) was scheduled to attend this year's Animazement before he passed away in March.
