News

Animation Director / Episode Director

TRIGUN STARGAZE Director.
An animation director and episode director with extensive experience in both television and theatrical productions, she has served in a wide range of roles from episode direction to series director. Her notable works include HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP.

Sato began her career at Studio Ghibli as an animator, working as an in-betweener on Spirited Away, key animator on TALES FROM EARTHSEA and PONYO, and storyboard assistant on THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA. She later became a freelancer and moved into directing.

In television series, she has handled opening and ending sequences, storyboards, and episode direction for many titles, including THE APOTHECARY DIARIES, CHIIKAWA, WELCOME TO THE BALLROOM, DANCE DANCE DANSEUR, AND JELLYFISH CAN’T SWIM IN THE NIGHT

Sato’s appearance at Sakura-Con with TRIGUN STARGAZE marks her first time attending the event.

Most known for voicing Gyutaro (the Upper Six demon) in Demon Slayer, Sir Nighteye in My Hero Academia, Apollo in EPIC: The Musical, Mafuyu in Given, Alear in Fire Emblem: Engage, Finral Roulacase in Black Clover, Gen in Dr. Stone, and Lawrence Bluewer in Black Butler: Public School Arc, Brandon McInnis is an LA-based voice actor, singer, and translator with over 160 roles in anime and video games, and a prolific TikTok account (>600k followers).
Having collaborated musically with content creators such as Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyles, he regularly posts both cover songs in English and Japanese on YouTube (https://youtube.com/branmci) and Spotify (https://ffm.bio/branmci). His most recent releases include covers of Burn from Hamilton, Popular from Wicked, a Japanese cover of Welcome to the Black Parade, and a full EP of English covers from the anime Given.

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The time has come! 

Mark those calendars and set those alarms, our 2026 schedule is now LIVE! 

Check out all events and get your schedule made: https://sakuracon.org/programming/schedule

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Tournament Video Gaming has launched our start.gg page, where Sakura-Con attendees can view the tournament schedule and sign up for events. It can be found at https://www.start.gg/sakuracon 

We’re running over 30 brackets, so there should be something for everyone!
We’re located in Tahoma 3 on the 3rd floor of Arch at 800 Pike.

By participating in a tournament, attendees can win prizes from the prize room if they place high enough. Signups are first come, first serve. However, if signups are full on start.gg, we are reserving some space for people to sign up at the convention itself.

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MASAKO SATO
Animation Director / Episode Director

TRIGUN STARGAZE Director.
An animation director and episode director with extensive experience in both television and theatrical productions, she has served in a wide range of roles from episode direction to series director. Her notable works include HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP. [Read More…]

NAOYA NAKAYAMA
Director / Animation Director / Storyboard Artist

A rising animator and visual director gaining strong recognition in the Japanese animation industry. Building on his animation background developed at Kyoto Animation, he brings a versatile skill set spanning key animation, storyboarding, and directing. He is known for expressive character acting and visually driven direction that blends music, rhythm, and dynamic camera work. [Read More…]

YOSHIHIRO WATANABE

Producer behind LEVIATHAN, associate producer on BEASTARS and TRIGUN STAMPEDE.
Born in 1982, Japan. Nabe is a producer at Orange, and currently working on TRIGUN STAMPEDE as its business producer. Nabe grew up in Los Angeles and after graduating from college, he joined the US branch of the animation studio Madhouse. Throughout early years in anime industry, under legendary Masao Maruyama’s mentorship, Nabe gained unique international production experience ranging from live-action to international collaboration projects [Read More…]

The Extremely Hard Take-Home Anime Quiz 2026 is now available at:

Extremely Hard Take-Home Anime Quiz 2026

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Director / Animation Director / Storyboard Artist

A rising animator and visual director gaining strong recognition in the Japanese animation industry. Building on his animation background developed at Kyoto Animation, he brings a versatile skill set spanning key animation, storyboarding, and directing. He is known for expressive character acting and visually driven direction that blends music, rhythm, and dynamic camera work.

His notable credits include the dance animation in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, full direction and storyboards for the ending sequence of OSHI NO KO, director and storyboard artist for YOASOBI’S “IDOL” MUSIC VIDEO, and live performance direction for Uma Musume: Pretty Derby – New Era’s Door. He is widely praised for delivering high emotional impact and strong storytelling even in short-form works, balancing pop energy with visual sophistication. He is currently active across music videos, ending sequences, and live performance visuals.

As an animator, his credits include FREE!, THE PROMISED NEVERLAND, MISS KOBAYASHI’S DRAGON MAID, A SILENT VOICE (FILM), AND DARLING IN THE FRANXX.

His latest works include directing the ENSEMBLE STARS!! “MELLOW DEAR US / DEAR WORLD” MASTERPIECE MUSIC VIDEO and handling storyboard and direction for the live performance segment of Chō Kaguya-hime!. Sakura-Con marks his first appearance at a U.S. anime convention.

Cosplay Chess Applications will close this Saturday, 02/28/26 at 11:59PM Pacific. There’s still time to be a part of this annual event and help to grow our community of cosplayers! The only thing you need to qualify for Cosplay Chess is a cosplay and we welcome fandoms from all over!

For all ages, we have the first-ever Cosplay Chess Arena! Join our two mad scientists as they attempt to engineer the most powerful being in the multiverse! What could possibly go wrong? Okay, a lot could go wrong, but we’ll have fun finding out! Cosplay Chess: Arena 

For ages 18+, we have Cosplay Chess After Dark! Be a part of the battle of Mankind vs Monsters and help your team dominate the chess board! Hilarity and action meet in this tale as old as time and we encourage all newcomers and veterans alike to apply! Cosplay Chess: After Dark 

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