Guests of Honor
FLOW
BAND
FLOW is a 5 member rock band consisting of dual vocalists (KEIGO and KOHSHI), a guitarist (TAKE), bassist (GOT'S), and drummer (IWASAKI). FLOW's music has been used for the theme songs of many popular anime series such as Naruto, Eureka Seven: Psalm of Planets, Naruto Shippuden, Code Geass, Eureka Seven AO, and most recently Samurai Flamenco.FLOW peformed for their first time outside of Japan at AnimeFest 2006, 8 years ago, and if you were there we're sure that you remember what an awesome concert that was!
Please welcome FLOW back for their 2nd appearance at AnimeFest and prepare for one of the most powerful performances you will ever experience!
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Flow will be performing on Saturday, August 16th at 8pm. An Autograph session will follow shortly after the concert and Autographs are free to all paid AnimeFest members.
Please note that the band will try to sign for as many as possible but autographs may be limited due to time constraints.
Additionally, 3 other Flow autograph sessions are also planned -- one each on Friday, Sunday and Monday.
Shingo Natsume
Director, Animator
Shingo Natsume was born in 1980 and is active as both an Animator and a Director. Mr. Natsume recently made his television series directorial debut with Space Dandy, the popular new show from Studio Bones that is being simulcast all over the world!As an animator, and in addition to animating on Space Dandy, Mr. Natsume has worked on projects such as The Tatami Galaxy, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Gurren Lagann, Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Welcome to the NHK, Corpse Princess, The Familiar of Zero, and many more!
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This will be Director Natsume's first appearance at AnimeFest!
Hiroyuki Aoyama
Animator
Hiroyuki Aoyama started working for Telecom Animation Film in 1983 and after 19 years, he made the jump to freelancing.Mr. Aoyama is an amazing animator with an impressive portfolio of projects to which he has contributed. Currently Mr. Aoyama is contributing as both a Key Animator (for episode 1) and an Animation Director (for episodes 2 and 10) on Space Dandy, currently simulcast worldwide.
Some of the other projects he has helped animate include titles such as Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Animation Director), , Summer Wars (Animation Director), The Wind Rises, Monster, Akira, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, Denno Coil - A Circle of Children, to name but a few.
And beyond Japanese animation, Mr. Aoyama has been instrumental in several popular US based cartoons.
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This will be Mr. Aoyama's first appearance at AnimeFest! We are thrilled to have him as our guest and hope that you are too!
Hiroshi Shimizu
Animator
Hiroshi Shimizu was born in 1965 and has worked in the animation industry for decades. His professional experience extends across illustration, character design, storyboarding, key animation, and animation direction.Mr. Shimizu is currently working as a the Animation Director, Key Animator, and storyboard artist for episode 8 - "The Lonely Pooch Planet, Baby" of Space Dandy. He is also participating in various capacities on a yet to be disclosed future episode from the same series. Space Dandy is currently simulcast worldwide!
Some other projects that Mr. Shimizu participated in include such well-known titles as Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Michiko & Hatchin (Character Design and Animation Director), Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, FLCL (Fooly Cooly), Fullmetal Alchemist TV & Movies, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Samurai Champloo, Monster, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to name just a few.
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This will be Mr. Shimizu's first appearance at AnimeFest!
Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Director, Animator
Director Kazuhiro Furuhashi was born in 1960 in Shizuoka Prefecture and grew up watching shows like Space Battleship Yamato and Future Boy Conan. Mr. Furuhashi got his start with inbetween animation but quickly gained the skills to become a key animator and contribute on works such as Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku . He started directing with Ranma 1/2 and has worked on countless titles since.Some of Director Furuhashi's major works include titles such as Rurouni Kenshin, Hunter X Hunter, Le Chevalier D'Eon, and most recently Mobile Suit Gundam UC (2010-2014)!
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This will be Mr. Furuhashi's first time at AnimeFest! He really enjoys meeting fans and attending conventions. We are excited to have him at AnimeFest 2014 and hope you are too!
Dai Sato
Writer
Dai Sato (born in Shimane, Japan in 1969) is a talented animation scriptwriter, with numerous projects extending beyond anime into music, television drama, video games, manga, and more.Some of Mr. Sato's most recognizable works he has been involved with include Cowboy Bebop (TV), Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV), Samurai Champloo (TV), Psalms of Planets: Eureka Seven (TV), Ergo Proxy (TV), FREEDOM (OVA), and Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine (TV). He is currently writing episodes for Shinichiro Watanabe's Space Dandy (TV), which is being simulcast worldwide!
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We are excited to welcome Mr. Sato back for his seventh appearance at AnimeFest!
Kimiko Ueno
Writer
Kimiko Ueno is originally from Yokohama, Japan, and graduated from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image. In 2009, Ms. Ueno made her anime debut as a script writer for a children's comedy television series, Gokyoudai Monogatari.Currently Ms. Ueno is a screenwriter on the popular Space Dandy series, having written 5 episodes thus far - including the much talked about zombie episode (ep 4), "Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby"!
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This will be Ms. Ueno's first appearance at AnimeFest!
Special Guests
Reuben Langdon
Actor and Producer
Reuben Langdon is a Los Angeles-based Actor/Producer/Activist/Truth Seeker and one of Hollywood and Asia’s most sought-after martial art/stuntmen. In recent years he has turned his physical discipline into a career as a noted actor and producer of game cinematics on AAA game titles as well as other high profile multimedia projects.Complimenting his success in the world of film and television, he has performed in and produced numerous motion capture shoots for interactive video games, most notability the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry franchises. His motion capture performances have made it to the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s and Peter Jackson’s, The Adventures of Tintin, and James Cameron's Avatar.
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UPDATE: Mr. Langdon will be attending ALL FOUR DAYS of AnimeFest!
Amelie Belcher
Artist
Amelie "Ami-Chan" Belcher was born in Baton-Bloody-Boring-Rouge Louisiana where the combination of chemical plant fumes and river water did major damage to her fragile little mind at an early age. By all accounts, she started drawing at the age of five (when she figured out that the pencil goes on the paper and not up your nose) and didn't stop drawing until she ran out of paper...twenty years later.Read More...
Please welcome Amelie back to AnimeFest!
Tara Platt
Actress
Actress, author, producer and business woman, Tara’s traveled the globe as a speaker, attending conventions, and has also performed internationally in film, TV, animation and theatre. She also co-produced and starred in the award-winning feature film Tumbling After, mockumentary Con Artists and irreverent web-comedy Shelf Life (now in its 4th season) with Yuri Lowenthal and their production company Monkey Kingdom Productions.In the world of voice work she’s worked on numerous video games, animation titles and more, including: (Wonder Woman - DC VS MK), (Temari -Naruto), (Eastern European Player - Saints Row: The Third) and (Marida Cruz – Gundam Unicorn) to name a few.
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Please welcome Ms. Platt in her first appearance at AnimeFest!
Ms. Platt will be at the convention August 16-17
Yuri Lowenthal
Actor
Born with a D20 in one hand and a six-gun in the other, Yuri Lowenthal is a writer, actor and producer.Best known for his voice acting work in such roles as Superman (Legion of Superheroes), Jinno/Kuma (Afro Samurai), Lagoon Boy (Young Justice) and Ben Tennyson (Ben 10: Alien Force/Utimate Alien/Omniverse) as well as popular VG titles including the Persona series, .//hack series, Saints Row series and lots of anime. He has appeared in one incarnation or another in possibly every CoD title since Big Red One.
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Mr. Lowenthal will be at the convention August 16-17
Alexis Tipton
Actress
Alexis Tipton has been working in the dubbing industry since 2008 and has loved every minute of it. She can be heard in almost 100 titles so far with more announcements on the way.Alexis is thrilled and honored to have been cast as Honey for the world premiere of Space Dandy currently airing on Toonami. Some of her other roles include Moka Akashiya (Rosario+Vampire), Mizuki Himeji (Baka and Test), Mina Caroline (Attack on Titan), Kumajiro/Chibi Japan (Hetalia), and many more.
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This will be Ms. Tipton's second appearance at AnimeFest.
Todd Haberkorn
Actor
Todd Haberkorn has been on stage, on set, and behind a mic for many years. Not only is Todd an actor in LA, he works as a producer, writer, and director as well. And he's even been an action figure or two. Haberkornmobile sold separately.In the world of anime, Todd got his first major start in Suzuka as Yamato Akitsuki. From there, he went on to voice roles such as Italy from Hetalia, Ling Yao from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Keiskuke from Initial D, Allen Walker from D. Gray Man, Hikaru Hitachin from Ouran High School Host Club, Death The Kid from Soul Eater, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, Pokemon and many others. As far as video games go, you'd recognize his voice many popular titles. His voice makes sure to get its marathon training in as an award winning narrator for audiobooks.
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This will be Mr. Haberkorn's first appearance at AnimeFest.
Mr. Haberkorn will be at the convention August 15-17
Ian Sinclair
Actor, Director
Ian Sinclair has been voice acting for FUNimation since he was a sophomore in college, where he studied theatre. Since then he's been working in the Dallas area as a professional actor in a multitude of arenas. He's performed on stage, on camera, and, of course, behind the mic.In addition to the recently announced Space Dandy in Space Dandy, a few of Ian's more popular anime roles include Brook in One Piece, Toriko in Toriko, Ryner Lute in Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Bardroy in Black Butler, Romano in Hetalia, Chuck in Panty and Stocking and many more.
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Please welcome Mr. Sinclair on his first visit to AnimeFest.
Kristen McGuire
Comic Artist, Voice Actress
Kristen McGuire is a future famous artist and voice actress with an itchy drawing hand and an overactive imagination. Armed with a Wacom tablet and a degree in Visual Art and Communication, Kristen has managed to self-publish six different comic books since 2008. Her comic titles include Enchanted (chapters 1-5), A Day in the Life of a Cat Girl, and her newest weekly web comic is Chibi Zombie Slayer.Read More...
This will be Kristen's second appearance at AnimeFest.
Eric Wile
Game Designer
Eric Is a Game Designer who worked for both Verant Interactive and Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego, California. He has also worked with Big Idea Interactive and SCEA (Sony Computer Electronics America).In his career he received back to back Team Member of the Month, as well as awarded the Sony Achievement award for his work on EverQuest Macintosh Edition. While at SOE, Eric worked on the development of several games including PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest II and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
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This will be Mr. Wile's first appearance at AnimeFest.
Dance Party DJs
DJ StarrLight
DJ
Lacey Stars, or "DJ StarrLight," is former member of the tag duo The HitStarz. She got her start as a weekly resident of Hotel Capri's "Taking Back Tuesday" in April 2010. Soon after establishing herself as half of the tag duo "The HitStarz," ...Read More...
DJ Nativus
DJ
DJ Nativus been DJing electronic dance music for over ten years and has held an FM radio show, a club residency, and his own weekly event in Austin.Read More...
DJ Melee Max
DJ
My name is Jay.Q ,but when I am behind the turntables my name is Melee Max.My love for electronic music started back in 2008 when I was still shuffling at lunch time. I started DJing around 2009, but didn't get my first turntables until 2011. Since then I have been DJing at parties and events across the DFW area, and even started ...
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