At this year’s Anime Expo, Aniplex of America celebrated its 20th anniversary. As part of their celebration activities, they hosted multiple panels and live performances with special guests, a special exhibition, and a mini-stage. One of the panels hosted by Aniplex was the “Aniplex of America 20th Anniversary Industry Panel,” where fans gathered to celebrate fan-favorite shows released by Aniplex over the past decade, as well as series slated for future release.
At the beginning of the panel, Aniplex showed a compilation video of anime series that they have been involved with throughout the years. Fans cheered upon seeing scenes from their favorite series, such as Gurren Lagann, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba-. Some fans even felt a sense of nostalgia for the series they had grown up watching.
After the video, Aniplex representatives reflected on their first few anime series distributed in the US: Gurren Lagann and the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The staff showed a memorable scene from Gurren Lagann and an opening theme from Fullmetal Alchemist.
Then they moved on to anime series released in 2010, highlighting Toonami’s role in Adult Swim, which featured the Sword Art Online franchise. Fans of Sword Art Online cheered loudly when the first opening was shown, showing their love and support for the franchise.
The discussion then turned to the renowned Fate franchise. Members of Aniplex’s localization team joined the conversation to talk about Fate. One member spoke about Fate/Grand Order and shared what drew him to the franchise, as well as how he was brought into Aniplex to work on it.
The panel continued with a look back at series that were released during the pre-pandemic period, including Your Lie in April, Anohana, and Blue Exorcist, showing trailers and scenes from each series. They then moved on to talk a bit about Puella Magi Madoka Magica. They showed a short scene from the series featuring Madoka and Kyoko fighting against Sayaka after her transformation into a witch.
Finally, the Aniplex staff moved on to Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba-. Fans cheered as soon as the staff started talking about the series and presented a special promotional video for those in attendance. The video highlighted the many events, such as orchestral concerts, and scenes from the series and movies. At the end, they reminded everyone that Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Movie: Infinity Castle will premiere on September 12, 2025.
Recent and upcoming releases were discussed toward the end of the panel. Some of the anime highlights of this year included UniteUp!, SK8 Infinity OVA, the Lycoris Recoil shorts, Wind Breaker Season 2, and Mono. Before ending the panel, the Aniplex team announced new titles set to premiere soon, such as Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus and Virgin Punk Clockwork Girl, which was previously revealed to be coming soon to theaters.
