Anime Expo has announced a major guest for this year’s event.

Announced yesterday, visual artist Yoshitaka Amano will be a Guest of Honor at the popular Los Angeles anime convention. Amano has been a character designer for popular anime shows such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman, and Speed Racer. In 1987, they joined Square Enix to be a character designer for Final Fantasy. Since then, Amano has continued to work on the popular video game franchise as a title logo designer and for promotional artwork.

In 1999, Amano joined forces with author Neil Gaiman for the DC Comics novella The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, which earned a Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative. Light novel fans also know Amano’s work from the popular Vampire Hunter D series.

Badges for Anime Expo 2023 are on sale to the general public right now here. Anime Expo will take place from July 1 through July 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Check out our review and photos from last year’s event here.