Anime conventions are quite prevalent in the United States, and around the world, these days, with tons of fans flood exhibit floors almost every weekend at some venue or another. But the big difference between anime and comic or Sci-Fi conventions is that it is rare to see an original Japanese creator attend an anime con. While many such shows will have a few American dub voice actors, and on rare occasion see a few Japanese bands, voice actors, or anime directors, you just don’t see the manga creators coming out for a signing or panel very often. When these big name Manga-Ka do come out, it is normally for a very large convention, like San Diego Comic Con or Anime Expo. Pacific Media Expo (PMX) is a long running anime convention in the Los Angeles area of Southern California that hosts a few thousand people maximum at the LAX Hilton each year. While the show often has an impressive collection of J-Rock bands and TV show cast and crew, its manga guests are normally limited to US original manga creators. In fact, the last Japanese manga creator to attend the show was Chrono Crusade’s Daisuke Moriyama, back in 2005 when PMX was still in Long Beach, CA. That all changes this year.

This year, PMX proudly announced Izumi Matsumoto as one of their special guests. Matsumoto is mainly known as the creator of Kimagure Orange Road, a popular manga series from the 1980′s that spun off into anime, novels, and even radio dramas. He has also worked on many other short run manga series, such as the three volume Sesame Street (unrelated to the US Children’s series) and Graffitti (a manga anthology). While not much has been heard from the once highly revered manga artist in recent years, likely due to his fight against cerebrospinal fluid leak, he will be at PMX for their 10th anniversary as the show’s guest of honor. Considering the often intimate settings that PMX generally provides, this is a perfect opportunity for fans to meet and interact with the great manga-ka. For those curious to learn more about Matsumoto, I highly recommend viewing Dreux Richard’s 2011 piece on Matsumoto for the Japan Times.