Just when you thought Asia Pop Con 2025 couldn’t cram any more cult icons into the Starling Exhibition Hall without it spontaneously combusting, they’ve only gone and done it again. Brace yourselves — Hiroshi bloody Kanatani is coming.

Yes, that Hiroshi Kanatani.

The man who’s drawn more kaiju than a 5-year-old with a Godzilla lunchbox. The guy whose pen has graced the scales of Ultraman, Godzilla, and more Japanese monstrosities than you can shake a radioactive tail at. He’s officially joining the guest lineup this 8 & 9 November 2025 in Petaling Jaya, and it’s safe to say… things just got monstrous.

The announcement came from Pop-kun, Asia Pop Con’s eternal hype gremlin, reporting from “Monster Island” — presumably somewhere between Toho Studios and a fever dream.

“RAWR-some News! The mighty pen behind the monsters, the kaiju comic king himself — Hiroshi Kanatani!”

This is the bloke who’s been stomping through pages of G-FAN, Famous Monsters, and Monster Attack Team like it’s a Tuesday. He’s the creator behind Kaiju Cooking (yes, a cookbook for monsters), Coaraptor, and the manga reboot of Dinosaur War Izenborg, which sounds like something you’d get if Godzilla mated with Voltron during a power outage.

And if none of that rings a bell — here’s the kicker: he’s an official artist for Ultraman and Godzilla. You know, the two titans who taught entire generations that rubber suits and model cities were peak cinema.

This is no run-of-the-mill guest artist doing lazy sketches of Pikachu with abs. No, this is a true monster maestro — a kaiju kingpin who has turned colossal carnage into fine art. The kind of guy who doesn’t just draw creatures — he summons them.

Whether you’re a die-hard tokusatsu fan, someone with a suspicious number of Godzilla figures on your shelf, or just curious about what kind of person invents a dish like “Kaiju Cooking,” Kanatani’s booth is going to be the place to be. Bring your sketchbooks, your questions, and maybe a reinforced clipboard, just in case a T-Rex tries to sign it.

So, to recap:

• Charlie Kraslavsky? Check.
• The OG Resident Evil gang? Check.
• Kaiju royalty? Big flaming check.

Asia Pop Con 2025 isn’t just shaping up to be the biggest pop culture convention in Malaysia this year — it’s rapidly mutating into a full-blown monster mash. See you there. And maybe bring earplugs. Kaiju tend to roar.