Crunchyroll announced the first round of guest announcements on Saturday for this year's Crunchyroll Expo event. Guests include The Legend of Zelda manga author duo Akira Himekawa, and No Game No Life anime director Atsuko Ishizuka.

In addition, the event will host director Atsushi Nishigori, character designer Masayoshi Tanaka, and producer Yūichi Fukushima from the Darling in the Franxx anime.

Akira Himekawa is a pseudonym for manga creator duo A. Honda and S. Nagano. The duo are best known for their manga adaptations of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda games, most recently The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess . Both creators appeared at Anime Expo 2017, where they announced a new a new manga project titled Kamdo (Kaze no Kamudo). The duo also attended New York Comic Con last October.

Ishizuka has worked on a number of titles at animation studio MADHOUSE since she joined the staff in 2004. She has directed episodes of Chihayafuru, Aoi Bungaku Series, MapleStory, NANA, and Top Secret ~The Revelation~. As series director, she helmed Hanayamata, Supernatural: The Anime Series, A Place Further Than the Universe, Prince of Stride: Alternative, and The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Most recently, she directed both the No Game, No Life television series and the No Game, No Life Zero anime film. Ishizuka attended Anime Expo last year.

Crunchyroll Expo is also collaborating with GKIDS to screen 15 animated features at the festival, including Mary and the Witch's Flower, Fireworks, Lu over the wall, and older films such as Napping Princess and Patema Inverted. GKIDS and Crunchyroll will also screen several Studio Ghibli films.

Crunchyroll Expo launched last year. This year's event will be held at the San Jose Convention Center in California from September 1-3.

Source: Crunchyroll (Cayla Coats)