Local events organizer Cosplay.ph has announced on Friday that Yuri!!! On Ice director Sayo Yamamoto and anime studio MAPPA producer Fuko Noda are set to grace this year’s Cosplay Mania event as special guests.
For the first time in its nine-year history, the organizers of the annual event has invited an anime director and producer in what could be an expansion of the country’s biggest cosplay-centric event.
The special guests are set to hold a talk and to meet the fans of the hugely-popular figure skating sport anime.
Sayo Yamamoto
Sayo Yamamoto first started working as an animator for renowned anime studio Madhouse, working on several anime titles like the television anime adaptation of X as storyboard artist in 2001. She eventually landed her directorial debut, working on several episodes of the action adventure anime Samurai Champloo in 2004.
Her first full directorial project was with the action adventure anime series Michiko & Hatchin in 2008, which was followed a few years later in Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine in 2012.
Yamamoto moved to the anime studio MAPPA and created the anime series Yuri!!! On Ice with manga artist Mitsuro Kubo in 2016. She also served as the series director of the popular anime.
In an interview posted on the pop-culture website Otaquest, which was conducted by her frequent writer and collaborator Dai Sato, Yamamoto says that she was overwhelmed when fans suddenly took ice skating as a result of them watching Yuri!!! on Ice.
“I was completely overwhelmed with joy when I realized that people were starting to take interest in the sport of figure skating because they watched Yuri!!! on ICE,” Yamamoto said. “I’m sure you’re aware, but I’m not necessarily promoting the wearing of cosplay at figure skating tournaments. We wouldn’t want to distract the competitors, would we?”
Fuko Noda
Fuko Noda first worked as the Chief Production Manager of the Original Video Animation (OAV) series Halo Legends, which was released in 2010.
She has eventually became a staff for the first part of the Berserk movie trilogy, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I – The Egg of the King, which was released in cinemas in 2012. The movie was produced by Studio 4°C.
Noda moved to the anime studio MAPPA and became involved in the popular mystery drama anime series Terror in Resonance in 2014 as one of the producers of its opening theme song.
She became the animation producer of Yuri!!! on Ice together with Takahiro Ogawa.
Yamamoto and Noda’s appearances on the event are not yet scheduled as of posting time, including the panel talk.
They will be in addition to previously announced guests, including voice actors Wataru Hatano and Kotaro Nishiyama, as well as music guests Konomi Suzuki, Shiena Nishizawa and kradness.
Cosplay Mania ’17 will be held at the Function Rooms 2-5 of the SMX Convention Center – Manila at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.
For more details, visit their official website at cosplaymania.com or visit their official Facebook and Twitter pages.
