Since everyone else has been requesting musical artists, I figured I would lend my voice to represent the visual side of anime with some animator requests. Having any of these fine men or women as guests of PMX would be a wonderful treat, and as none of them have come to the States so far this year for a convention, asking them over would I'm sure be an honor for them as well.

Kenichi Konishi

A respected character designer, animation director, and animator, he's worked on a wide variety of different anime throughout his career. He serves as a character designer on the currently airing "Bokurano" TV anime, as well as on the famed Satoshi Kon film "Tokyo Godfathers" (he also was an animation director and chief animator on this film). Besides these, he's been an animation director on the "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Individual Eleven" OAV, "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG," and the Studio Ghibli film "My Neighbors the Yamadas." He was an art supervisor on "Millennium Actress," and he's done key animation for "Digimon: The Movie," "FLCL," "Howl's Moving Castle," "On Your Mark," "Paprika," "Pom Poko," "Princess Mononoke," "Spirited Away," and "Whisper of the Heart."

Kumiko Takahashi

A well-known character designer who works with the equally famed Studio Madhouse, her list of credits is quick to draw the eye. She served as character designer and animation director for "Cardcaptor Sakura" (both the TV series and first movie), "Birdy the Mighty," "Call Me Tonight," "Mermaid's Scar," both "Tokyo Babylon" OVAs, "Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling," "Witch Hunter Robin," and "Ouran High School Host Club." She also did character designs for "DNAČ," animation direction for episodes of "Darker than BLACK," "Eureka Seven," and "Kurau: Phantom Memory," and was involved in the production of the "Fullmetal Alchemist: Conquorer of Shambala" movie.

Michiyo Suzuki

As an animation director, Suzuki-san's work has encompassed a number of different titles. Her credits include being chief animation director on the "NANA" TV series, animation direction for "Paranoia Agent" and "Tenchi Muyo Movie 1: Tenchi in Love," and assistant animation direction for "Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie" and "Roujin Z." Besides this, she's worked as a key animator on "Armitage III," "Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors," "Junkers Come Here," "Millennium Actress," "Paprika," "Perfect Blue," "Tactics," The Cat Returns," and "Tokyo Godfathers."

Takeshi Honda

Famed character designer and animation director, he's worked on a number of classic anime films and shows. His credits of serving as both character designer and animation director together include "Blue Submarine No.6," "The Animatrix - Beyond," "Denno Coil," and "Millennium Actress." Besides these, he was the EVA series designer and mechanical design director on "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion," mechanical animation director on the brand-new "Evangelion: 1.0 You Are Alone" movie, character designer for "Metal Fighter Miku," and animation director on "Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo" and the infamous "Otaku no Video." And on top of all this, he's also been a key animator for "The Animatrix - The Second Renaissance Part 1," "Giant Robo," "Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow," "Perfect Blue," "Roujin Z," "Macross Plus," "The Prince of Tennis: Two Samurais, The First Game," and "Neon Genesis Evangelion."

I hope that PMX might be able to invite some (if not all!) of these fine animators to this year's convention.