Anime Expo announced on Tuesday that it will host anime director Ryōsuke Takahashi and animators Tōru Yoshida and Moriyasu Taniguchi as guests.
Please welcome Ryosuke Takahashi to #AX2026 as a Guest! ✨
🖋️ A legendary anime director, writer, and one of the creators who defined the realistic mecha genre. 🤖 Since the 1970s, he has shaped Japanese anime through influential works including Fang of the Sun Dougram, Armored… pic.twitter.com/DQt2Ag3YmF
— Anime Expo (@AnimeExpo) April 28, 2026
Please welcome Toru Yoshida to #AX2026 as a Guest! ✨
🎞️ One of anime’s foremost creators of mecha action and effects animation. Since the 1980s, he has brought dynamic mechanical scenes to life in works including “Armored Trooper VOTOMS”, “Blue Comet SPT Layzner”, “Mobile… pic.twitter.com/y65m1yTXbf
— Anime Expo (@AnimeExpo) April 28, 2026
Please welcome Moriyasu Taniguchi to #AX2026 as a Guest! ✨
🖌️ Legendary animator and founder of Anime R who has helped shape Japanese animation for over six decades. One of the industry’s most influential key animators and animation directors, known for classics including “Armored Trooper VOTOMS”, “City Hunter”, and “Samurai Champloo”.
🔗 Register Now! https://showclix.com/event/ax26-gen
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Anime Expo 2026 | July 2-5, 2026 | Los Angeles Convention Center, CA
#AnimeExpo #AX2026 #AnimeExpo2026 #Anime #Japan #LosAngeles #Manga #Cosplay #Otaku #Gaming #RPG #AMV #Shoujo #Shounen #MoriyasuTaniguchi #Guest #CityHunter #ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS #SamuraiChamploo #Animator #AnimeR(@AnimeExpo)April 28
Takahashi directed and created the original concept for the 1981 anime Fang of the Sun Dougram, and the 1983 Armored Trooper Votoms anime. Both anime are iconic entries in the so-called “real robot” subgenre of mecha pioneered by Mobile Suit Gundam, characterized by robots as mass-produced military machines (with limitations in operation akin to real-life war machines) and gritty and grounded stories about war and its bitter costs. Throughout his career, Takahashi has continued to work on “real robot” mecha anime, including Panzer World Galient, Blue Comet SPT Layzner, Gasaraki, Flag, and OBSOLETE. He has also worked on non-mecha military stories, such as the “Knight of the Iron Dragon” short for The Cockpit anthology, and the Silent Service OVA.
Yoshida specializes in mecha animation and action effects, and worked as key animator and/or animation director with Takahashi on many of the anime he directed, and also worked on such anime as Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Fullmetal Alchemist, Zone of the Enders, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, IDOLM@STER: XENOGLOSSIA, Extreme Hearts, and Grendizer U.
Taniguchi has worked as an animator and/or animation director on numerous works, including Armored Trooper Votoms, City Hunter, and Samurai Champloo.
Anime Expo 2026 will take place from July 2-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Source: Anime Expo X/Twitter account (link 2)
