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Anime Expo Hosts World Premiere of Welcome to the Ballroom Anime

Pony Canyon announced on Thursday that will present the world premiere of its Welcome to the Ballroom anime at the Anime Expo convention on July 2. The anime's director Yoshimi Itazu, animation director Takahiro Chiba, and producer Tetsuya Kinoshita will participate in a Q&A session and giveaways.

Pony Canyon began streaming an English-subtitled version of the fifth promotional video for anime on Wednesday. The video previews rock band Unison Square Garden's opening theme song "10% roll, 10% romance."

The anime adapts Tomo Takeuchi's Welcome to the Ballroom manga. The series will premiere on MBS on Saturday, July 8 at 26:08 (effectively Sunday, July 9 at 2:08 a.m.), and will premiere on Tokyo MX, BS11, and Gunma TV on July 9.

The anime's cast includes Shimba Tsuchiya, Ayane Sakura, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Kentarō Tomita, and Sumire Morohoshi. Yoshimi Itazu (Pigtails director, animation director for Paranoia Agent, Miss Hokusai, Den-noh Coil) is directing the series at Production I.G. Kenichi Suemitsu (K, Tōken Ranbu, Isobe Isobee Monogatari ~Ukiyo wa Tsurai yo~ stage plays) is handling the series composition, and Takahiro Kishida (Haikyu!!, Puella Magi Madoka Magica) is the character designer.

Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga series in North America, and it describes the story of the series:

Feckless high school student Tatara Fujita wants to be good at something - anything. Unfortunately, he's about as average as a slouchy teen can be. The local bullies know this, and make it a habit to hit him up for cash, but all that changes when the debonair Kaname Sengoku sends them packing. Sengoku's not the neighborhood watch, though. He's a professional ballroom dancer. And once Tatara Fujita gets pulled into the world of the ballroom, his life will never be the same.

Takeuchi began the series in Monthly Shonen Magazine in 2011, and Kodansha published the eighth compiled volume in October 2015. The ninth volume will ship in Japan on June 23. Kodansha Comics published the fifth volume in North America on May 23.

This year's Anime Expo convention will run from July 1 to July 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In addition, the convention will formally include a preview night a day before on June 30.

Guests at this year's convention include In This Corner of the World anime film director Sunao Katabuchi, Dragon Ball's Vegeta voice actor Ryo Horikawa, Neptunia series character designer Tsunako and producer Naoko Mizuno, live-action Fullmetal Alchemist film director Fumihiko Sori and lead actor Ryōsuke Yamada, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? light novel series author Fujino Ōmori, Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma manga co-creator Yūto Tsukuda, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, designer and artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross singer and voice actress Mari Iijima, and The Legend of Zelda manga creator duo Akira Himekawa.

Musicians ☆Taku Takahashi, TeddyLoid, and Pa's Lam System will perform at the convention's Neon District concert this year. Ali Project, Minori Chihara, GARNiDELiA, Konomi Suzuki, angela, Mashiro Ayano, Wake Up, Girls!, Walküre's Minori Suzuki and JUNNA, Love Live! Sunshine!!'s Aquors, and The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls will also perform at Anisong World Matsuri. The virtual idol character Miss Monochrome will host a concert at the event, and original character designer and voice actress Yui Horie will attend. In addition, the convention will host Lemona Design's "Lemon & Sugar" franchise.

Kodansha Comics will present the world premiere of the Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card-hen Prologue: Sakura to Futatsu no Kuma (Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc Prologue: Sakura and the Two Bears) video anime on July 1. Additionally, the event will host the U.S. Preliminary for the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) during the masquerade on July 2. The event will screen the world premiere of the live-action Tokyo Ghoul film on July 3. Toei Animation will also host a Dragon Ball Super-themed scavenger hunt.