July brought with it another Anime Expo — the largest celebration of anime pop culture in North America.  Nearly 350,000 fans descended on the Los Angeles Convention Center and devoted themselves to celebrating Japanese pop culture for five days, as represented in video games, film, tv, cosplay, animation, music, and traditional arts.

Industry panels were once again held by a number of anime distributors and streaming platforms such as ELEVEN Arts, Pony Canyon, Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, and Aniplex, premiering numerous new titles coming to theaters and monitors near you.

Here are just a sampling:

“Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day”

“Dr. Stone”

“In/Spectre”

“Kingdom”

“Cannon Busters”

“Rilakkuma and Kaoru”

“Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note”

Of the previews I saw, “Promare,” the first animated feature from Studio Trigger, was a fun standout.   The film tells the story of the Burnish — a segment of the population afflicted with a mutation that gives them barely controllable pyrokinetic abilities.  While initially regarding them as renegade terrorists, the mecha-firefighting team Burning Rescue eventually come to see the flipside of persecution and discrimination they suffer.  Ultimately, the firefighter Galo and the Burnish leader Lio must come together to combat a plot that could threaten the safety of Earth itself.

Full of vibrant color, fluid stylized animation, and send-ups of any number of anime tropes, the film is funnier than any movie about discrimination and arson has a right to be.  If it sacrifices a little character development in favor of continuous breakneck action, it does it with enough finesse to make it a fair trade.

“Promare”

“Great Pretender” is an anime currently in production by WIT Studios for airing in 2020.  We were shown the first episode which introduced con men Makoto Edamura and Laurent Thierry, and promised to follow their exploits all over the world.  The jazzy feel to this, combined with the cosmopolitan international locales give it a feel similar to the old Culp and Crosby series “I Spy.”

“Liz and the Blue Bird,” a spin-off from the “Sound! Euphonium” series, actually debuted last year at Anime Expo, but was brought back and screened this time as well, for those of us who missed it then.  A beautifully drawn slice-of-life film, it follows two side characters from “Sound! Euphonium” in their last year of high school whose musical discord playing together in their school’s concert band mirrors the disharmony present in their real-life relationship.  The music, as you’d expect, is integrated perfectly with the story and reflects both the subtle hesitancy and grand movements of the girls’ adolescent life.

“Liz and the Blue Bird”

Next time: We hit the Exhibit Floor and attend some panels, including one moderated by frequent Disney contributor Charles Solomon.

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