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Anime Expo to Host Dragon Pilot Anime's Episode 2 International Premiere (Update)

Anime Expo announced on Monday that it will screen the first two episodes of Dragon Pilot (Hisone to Masotan). The film's executive director Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla co-director, Gainax co-founder) will appear at the convention for the screening, as well as a panel discussion and Q&A. The screening will take place on Friday, July 6, and it will mark the international premiere of the second episode.

The show premiered on April 12 on Tokyo MX, BS Fuji, and Gifu Broadcasting. The show is streaming on Netflix in Japan. Netflix is hosting a placeholder page under the title Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan outside of Japan but has not yet announced an international release date.

In the show's story, straightforward and innocent Hisone Amakasu is a Self-Defense Force rookie stationed at the Air Self-Defense Force's Gifu Base. She struggles with the fact that she sometimes hurts people unintentionally by her innocent words and decides to join the Air Self-Defence Force, hoping to maintain a certain distance from people. This decision leads her to a fateful encounter that profoundly changes her life. Hisone meets the "OTF" (Organic Transformed Flyer) dragon hidden in the base, and it chooses Hisone as its pilot. When it soars into the sky with Hisone, her fate as a dragon pilot is decided. It is said that dragons have a key to the future of the world...

Hiroshi Kobayashi (Kiznaiver) is directing the anime at BONES, and Mari Okada (The Anthem of the Heart, anohana) is writing the anime. Higuchi noted that he, BONES, and Okada created the original story concept together.

This year's Anime Expo will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 5 to July 8, with a pre-show event on July 4.

Source: Anime Expo website

Update: The first episode has previously screened at U.S. conventions, so it is only the second episode that will have an international premiere.