Anime Expo 2014

Anime Expo is an annual event held in Los Angeles, California State, US. In 2014, Kyoto Animation attended as an exhibitor for the first time. In addition to selling merchandise related to several franchises, Kyoani displayed CELs taken from season 1 of Free! and hand painted them in the traditional animation manner. This method served the animation industry, in general, for the first half of the 20th century. Kyoani, on the other hand, maintained the practice of hand painting from its inception in 1981 until 2004 when digital painting began to be used. Lucky attendees who filled out a particular survey received a hand-painted petit CEL of the Free! logo.