Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga celebration, will present the U.S. debut concert of Maon Kurosaki, the latest singing and dancing pop star to break out from Tokyo’s Akihabara scene. She will be performing live on Sunday, July 3rd at the world renowned Club Nokia. In addition, Kurosaki will be a Guest of Honor participating in a meet-and-greet, autograph signing and focus panel at Anime Expo, when it returns to the LA Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011.
Kurosaki honed her singing and dancing skills by performing at Dearstage, a famous Akihabara club, and made her major label debut at Geneon Universal in 2010 with the album H.O.T.D., a collection of ending theme songs for “Highschool of the Dead,” a smash hit anime series. Many of her songs have risen to the top of the Japanese Oricon charts including “Magic World,” the end theme for the “Toaru Majutsu no Index II” series which debuted in the top 20 and “Memories Last,” which rose as high as number 14.
Kurosaki will be one of the top featured artists for Animelo Summer Live 2011, the largest anime music event in Japan. Her next album, scheduled for release in August, is a collection of ending theme songs for the latest installment of the fan-girl favorite anime series, “Hakuouki OVA.”
Kurosaki joins the roster of Anime Expo 2011 Guests of Honor that includes Japanese pop trio Kalafina, Japanese TV Host and blogger Danny Choo, voice actress and singer Miyuki Sawashiro, voice actor Vic Mignogna, stars of the Power Rangers series and movies, video game developer Sohei Niikawa and Crypton Future Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh and Producer Wataru Sasaki. In addition, Hatsune Miku will be Anime Expo’s first ever Virtual Guest of Honor. Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion. Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July.