RightStuf and Nozomi Entertainment announced a while ago that they had acquired the North American rights to the series Maria Watches Over Us. Now they've revealed that its first official screening is to take place on Saturday, July 5, at Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

RightStuf will actually kick off their convention involvement on Friday afternoon, the second day of the convention, at 3:00 p.m., when President and CEO Shawne Kleckner participates in an industry panel. He expects to talk about Nozomi's upcoming release (July 29) of the Season One DVD set of Maria Watches Over Us, their September 30 release of Aria the Animation, and the anime adaptation of Emma: A Victorian Romance, which is now available for purchase. Word is that Kleckner will also discuss upcoming projects, so there could be some interesting new information at this panel.

Emma will be premiering at the convention along with Maria, so fans can get a good look at these new productions. In fact, RightStuf plans a lot of screenings, and advises convention attendees to keep a close eye on the Anime Expo video schedule so they won't miss anything they want to see. A small sampling of the RightStuf titles that will be screened: Astro Boys, Boys Be..., Ninja Nonsense, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, and The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye. But there are many more to see. Who needs to sleep, at a time like this?

To get more information about Anime Expo in general, fans can download RightStuf's latest Anime Today podcast (Episode 69), in which Liyin Liang, committee chair for Anime Expo 2008, previews the convention. And anyone who wants to catch breaking news during the convention itself can visit the forums at Anime Today, or stay in touch via web, cell phone, or IM using Anime Today's Twitter connection.

Among all the events at Anime Expo 2008, RightStuf/Nozomi are providing lots of goodies for fans to enjoy.