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Japan Expo USA to Host No More Heroes Designer Yusuke Kozaki
posted on by Joanne Mertz
The organizers of the new "Japan Expo, 1st Impact" convention announced that they will host manga creator and character designer Yuusuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes) as their first Guest of Honor in August in Santa Clara, California.
Kozaki published his first major manga series Kyoko Karasuma - Detective of the Asakusa Police Department in 2002 in the magazine Mystery B-Street. He is currently working on the post-apocalyptic animal science fiction manga Donyatsu, which he launched in 2012. In anime production, he created designs for Speed Grapher, which led to his role as character designer for Sunrise's Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. He also designed the virtual idol duo Meaw for the Starchild Records label.
In video games, he recently designed characters for Fire Emblem Awakening, which Nintendo released in North America on February 4. Other titles he worked on include the popular No More Heroes franchise and Osu! Tatakae! Oendan.
Kozaki won honorable mention in Young Magazine's 215th New Artist Prize at the age of 19. He was also a runner-up in the magazine's 40th Tetsuya Chiba Award. Shortly thereafter, the magazine published his debut short story "Mikakunin Higō Shōjo Kaoru."
"Japan Expo, 1st Impact" will be the first convention run by SEFA Entertainment, the United States subsidiary of SEFA Event. It will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center from August 23 to August 25. SEFA holds the main Japan Expo in France, where the event drew "219,614 certified attendees in 2012."
Update: Corrected studio for Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. Thanks, thelastgogeta and tangytangerine.
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