NIS America has not only revealed that they will be at AnimeExpo this year to promote their release of The Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel III, but they are also bringing Falcom president, Toshihiro Kondo along as a special guest.
Panel #1:
Toshihiro Kondo, From Fan to President
Day 1 (July 4th), 4:30 – 5:30pm – Live Programming 5 (404AB)
In his youth, Mr. Kondo applied to work at, Nihon Falcom, initially in their financial department, but ended up working in their web services team due to a Falcom Fansite he had created. See how he grew to have a big hand in writing and producing their beloved game series like The Legend of Heroes and Trails in the Sky, and how he rose to become the president for Nihon Falcom!
[Editor’s Note: I suspect that this will be similar to the ‘Fan to President’ panel from AnimeExpo 2017. This was a great panel and I suspect that this one should not be missed!]
Panel #2:
Trails of Cold Steel III Voice Actors Panel
Day 1 (July 4th), 7:00 – 8:00pm – Live Programming 4 (411)
Sit down with some of the characters- er, voice actors/actresses from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III and discover what it takes to bring these character voices to life! Some hijinks may occur!
Panel #3:
Behind the Scenes with Trails of Cold Steel III
Day 2 (July 5th), 11:30am – 12:30pm – Live Programming 5 (404AB)
Take a look behind the scenes into the development process for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III with the President of Nihon Falcom and producer of the Trails of Cold Steel series, Toshihiro Kondo! Get an exclusive peek at just a little of all the work that goes into the development of this great title and see some English game play in action!
NIS America also has a booth arranged at the exhibit hall for AnimeExpo. You will be able to find them at 3306. They have included the image below as a map on their AX19 page to show where to find them.
Additionally, they will be running a special event at their booth that is similar to the 2017 scavenger hunt they did with Ys VIII. You follow clues on a card to track down a group of individuals in various booths at the exhibit hall to get your card stamped. Once you collect all the stamps, you will be given a prize, which appears to be a medal for the new Class VII from Cold Steel III.
There is also going to be a Falcom gathering for cosplayers and fans alike! This will be on day 2 (July 5th) at 10:30am located at Site 8. Site 8 is off of Chick Hearn street, on the west side of the Staples Center. (Pictured above.) The description of the location and directions from the AnimeExpo site are:
Stone art sculpture display. Suitable for small-to-medium gatherings. Only one gathering may be held at a time. Please do not climb on these sculptures. Directions: Exit West Hall Lobby front doors, turn left toward Chick Hearn Ct.
Come dressed as your favorite Falcom character and bond with fellow fans! Rean Schwarzer and Juna Crawford will be stopping by, plus a special guest might make an appearance!
NIS America’s description of the gathering on Day 2.
NIS America has also stated that Kondo will be holding signings as well. However, they don’t have any information or times on those yet. The way they worked at AX 2017 was that you could get a ticket for a signing at the NIS America booth in the Exhibit Hall. So make sure you keep in touch with their site, and if you’re at the convention, don’t forget to go see them. They will also have Cold Steel III among their playable demos, and you can get a pin for completing the demo.
If you aren’t going to be at AnimeExpo, NIS America has you covered as well. They will be having an AMA with /r/Games on Reddit, starting at 3:00pm Pacific on July 3rd, the day before the convention begins. They will also have a live stream on their twitch channel starting at 5pm.
You will want to pay attention to the NIS America AnimeExpo page for more updates and additional details.
On top of this, you can also find coverage of all of the AnimeExpo events on Endless History. If you don’t already, make sure you follow the site’s twitter, @EndlessHistory, for live tweets of panels and other events around the convention!
HNGHHH THIS IS AWESOME!! Sad I won’t be there this year but I hope the Falcom folks and the VAs enjoy their time there.