This Thursday, the Los Angeles-based anime convention, Anime Expo, announced plans to host the U.S. premiere of the anticipated animated film based on the Blue Exorcist series. This popular anime is based on the ongoing manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by Japanese mangaka, Kazue Katō. By courtesy of the series North American contributor, Aniplex of America, the film will be shown at the July 4 -7th event. The film’s supervising animation director and character designer, Keigo Sasaki, will attend as a guest of honor.
The Blue Exorcist movie originally opened in TOHO theaters in Japan on December 28, 2012. Anime Expo promises that they will show the movie with English subtitles, leaving in the original Japanese voice track.
Aniplex of America has originally released the Blue Exorcist television series on subtitled DVD in North America, with Viz Media’s North American streaming service Neon Alley currently showing the series in dubbed format.
The star guest, Keigo Sasaki, worked as a character designer for both the Blue Exorcist movie and the aforementioned animated series, as well as on the anime series Night Raid 1931. He has also worked as an animation director and key animator on other anime series such as Reideen, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, and XXXHOLiC. Those who will be attending this event will get the honor of seeing Sasaki in his first convention appearance in the United States.
The Anime Expo event will also include guests like voice actor Kazuhiko Inoue, screenwriter Mari Okada, and character designer Noizi Ito. Others, such as host Danny Choo, DJ RAM RIDER, cosplayer Alodia Gosienfiao and voice actors Eric Vale, Christopher R. Sabat, Kyle Hebert and Johnny Yong Bosch have been included as attendees.
The film will continue the ongoing story of Rin Okumura, a teenager who discovers he is the son of Satan born from a human woman and inheritor of his demon father’s powers. Rin enrolls at the prestigious True Cross Academy, a front for the Japanese branch of an international world organization of exorcists, dedicated in the task of protecting the human world from paranormal enemies that invade it.
