Photos courtesy of Aniplex USA
Aniplex invited fans and special guests to join in on the 20th anniversary celebration of the birth of the wildly popular Fate/Stay night franchise. Featuring a full day of activities with guests such as the original voice actors for Fate/Stay night Ayako Kawasumi, Kana Ueda, and Noriko Shitaya, the 20th anniversary showcase hopes to commemorate the franchises humble beginnings to now a global phenomenon spanning books, games, and anime!
On the morning of the event, legions of fans lined up at the NeueHouse in Hollywood. Some even were lined up the in the middle of the night in order to be first in.
Before long the staff came out to greet the fans and guide them in. Attendees were able to receive some commerative swag along with a coveted autograph ticket for one of the many guest of honors in attendance. As fans entered the venue, a merchandising booth at the entrance selling many Fate goods including an exclusive Fate 20th anniversary commemorative pin set!
Aniplex and TYPE-MOON also graciously had some rare displays of the original PC games boxes dating back 20 years as well as some autograph boards bearing a message from Kinoko Nasu and Takeuchi Takeshi
Before long, fans shuffled into the seats and the president of Aniplex, Atsuhiro Iwakami, gave a speech about the company’s long relationship with TYPE-MOON and thanked all the fans for their support.
After a brief intermission, Ayako Kawasumi (Saber), Kana Ueda (Rin Tohsaka), and Noriko Shitaya (Sakura Matou), voice actors of the original Fate/Stay night, came on to the stage to share their stories and recollections of bringing to life all these characters. A little bit of banter and emotions emerged as they spoke about how landing their respective roles changed their lives!
After the talk, fans lined up to secure an special autograph board signed by them!
Moving on to the next panel, ADR Director Tony Oliver and Aniplex producer Shizuka Kurosaki shared their stories about working on the franchise. One funny recollection was Miss Kurosaki sharing her time starting out on the Fate/Zero adaptation to being thrusted into leading the production of Unlimited Blade Works anime at the whims of her senior.
Moving on, we were treated to behind the scenes talk with the production team working on the Fate/strange fake anime as well as the voice of Saber, Yuki Ono. Character designer Yukei Yamada was tasked with working on a live drawing while Shun Enkido and and Takahito Sakazume spoke about how they came to be involved with the project. Some fans may know them as the team behind the many beautiful commercials for the wildly popular Fate Grand Order smartphone game.
Finally, the event wrapped up with an exclusive world premiere of the first episode of Fate/strange Fake that the team brought with them. The fan’s vibrant energy served as fuel for the team to bring back to the team in Japan as they continue to finish the series.
All in all, a great event for fans to celebrate their love for a beloved franchise that hopes to continue to excite the old and new generation of fans.
About Aniplex of America Inc.
Aniplex of America, Inc. (Santa Monica, California) is a subsidiary of Aniplex, Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan), a division of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc., and a leading provider of anime content and music production and distribution in Japan. The company’s ever-growing lineup of shows includes: Sword Art Online, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD, the Fate series, KILL la KILL, GURREN LAGANN, Monogatari series, anohana -The Flower We Saw That Day-, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, and many more. The company released the English version of the popular mobile game, Fate/Grand Order, in 2017, as well the critically acclaimed mobile JRPG Disney Twisted-Wonderland in 2022.
Official Website: https://aniplexusa.com/
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TYPE-MOON
Official Website: https://typemoon.com/
X: https://x.com/tmitterofficial
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