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California's FanimeCon to Host X Japan Band's Yoshiki
posted on by Egan Loo
The anime convention FanimeCon announced on Sunday that YOSHIKI, the co-founder of the Japanese rock band X Japan, will appear at the event "for only a few hours on Saturday, May 28" at the San Jose Convention Center in California. YOSHIKI will take part in a panel and an autograph session.
YOSHIKI has appeared at numerous anime events in the United States, in addition to performing concerts on tour throughout the country. In recent weeks, YOSHIKI has been involved in fundraising for relief efforts aimed at helping victims of March 11's Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster, including the auction of his custom "crystal" piano.
X Japan's most notable anime contributions were the songs in the X² music video collection and later X movie. The animation Studio Madhouse adapted both productions from CLAMP's X manga. The surviving band members — Toshimitsu "Toshi" Deyama, Yoshiki Hayashi, Tomoaki "Pata" Ishizuka, and Hiroshi "Heath" Morie — reunited in 2007, ten years after they first disbanded and nine years after the death of guitarist Hideto "Hide" Matsumoto.
FanimeCon will also host voice actor and singer Yūya Matsushita, Petit Evangelion designer Ryusuke Hamamoto, Trigun designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu, Fullmetal Alchemist/Gundam 00 director Seiji Mizushima, the Japanese pop band Flow, voice actor Tohru Furuya, and animator Fumio Iida (SUEZEN). Frequent guests Hiroyuki Yamaga (co-founder of Gainax) and Halko Momoi (voice actroess/singer) will also return the convention this year.
