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Otakon to Host Manga Creator/Designer Yuusuke Kozaki, Eminence Concertmaster Hiroaki Yura

posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Kozaki worked on Donyatsu, Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes, Speed Grapher

The organizers of Otakon announced on Thursday that manga creator/character designer Yuusuke Kozaki and Eminence Symphony Orchestra founder Hiroaki Yura will appear at the August 8-10 convention in Baltimore.

Kozaki is the creator of Donyatsu, a surreal manga about animal/snack hybrids in a post-apocalyptic world. The manga inspired a series of anime shorts. He is arguable best known outside Japan for his design work in the Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes, Short Peace's Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day, and Osu! Tatakae! Oendan games. He also created designs for the Speed Grapher anime, which led to his role as character designer for Sunrise's Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. He designed the virtual idol duo Meaw for the Starchild Records label.

Kozaki published his first major manga series Kyoko Karasuma - Detective of the Asakusa Police Department in 2002 in the magazine Mystery B-Street. He appeared as a guest at the "Japan Expo, 1st Impact" convention in California last year.

Yura collaborated with musician Hiroki Kikuta and singer/songwriter Shihori on Otakon 2010's opening animation, produced by the Production I.G anime studio. Yura composed the video's theme song, "Shackles of Night."

Yura is planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign for his anime project "Under the Dog" in August. His Creative Intelligence Arts company successfully funded the Japanese role-playing game Project Phoenix and it is slated for release next year.

A violin soloist, Yura is the founder of Eminence Symphony Orchestra and the Eminence Artists. He has directed orchestral recordings for works including The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk. Eminence Symphony Orchestra also performed music for the anime Romeo × Juliet. This is Yura's third appearance at Otakon.


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