Kawaii Kon 2012 Guests

Yoshitaka Amano

Kawaii Kon is proud to announce its first Japanese guest to our 2012 show, Yoshitaka Amano, a world-renowned artist and illustrator, known for his contributions to works including Vampire Hunter D, as well as the Final Fantasy series.

Amano-san began freelancing in 1982 after leaving the anime studio Tatsunoko Production, and went on to win the Japanese Seiun Award for Best Artist of the Year for four years straight, from 1983 to 1986.

Beginning in 1987, he began working as a character designer and visual concept designer for the Final Fantasy game series, while simultaneously working as an illustrator on series including Vampire Hunter D, Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and Guin Saga. Mr. Amano has held solo exhibitions in locations including Tokyo, Paris, New York City, Brussels, Los Angeles, Cologne, and Hong Kong.

Johnny Yong Bosch

Kawaii Kon is proud to announce the return of Johnny Yong Bosch to our 2012 show!  Johnny is best known for portraying Adam Park in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and being the English voice of Vash the Stampede in Trigun, as well as the voice of Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Itsuki Koizumi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kiba in Wolf's Rain, Renton Thurston in Eureka Seven, Emil Castagnier in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Shotaro Kaneda in Akira, and Nero in Devil May Cry 4. He's also a two time American Anime Award nominee.

EyeShine

Along with Johnny is his band, EyeShine!  EyeShine is a four piece, "edge rock" band originating in West Hills, California.  Eyeshine currently consists of members Johnny Yong Bosch (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Maurice Salmin (drums, backing vocals, piano), Crystal Mesina (bass, backing vocals), and Ji Ho "Daniel" Lee (lead guitar, backing vocals).. They are currently one of the most promising unsigned bands coming out of California playing shows all over the United States.

The origins of EyeShine date back almost a decade when Bosch and Maurice Salmin began playing together in a church band. Eventually deciding to take a shot at writing and performing their own music, the band went through many incarnations before deciding on the name EyeShine. Their full length debut album, Red Stripes/White Lights, was released in the early spring of 2008. My Paper Kingdom was released on June 5, 2009. Eyeshine has also released a third album, Tone of Echoes on December 16, 2010, a fourth acoustic album titled Afterglow on January 19, 2011, and is currently finishing a fifth instrumental album titled Sonosis.

Bosch got the name "EyeShine" from an episode of the Crocodile Hunter. Steve Irwin was rescuing crocodiles in the darkness and kept repeating that he could spot them by their 'eyeshine' from his lantern.

Vic Mignogna

Vic has been acting for stage and screen since he was 8 years old. But he started his career in anime a little over ten years ago as Vega in Streetfighter II. Since then Vic has been in more than a hundred and fifty shows and video games, known for such roles as Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Tamaki Suou in Ouran High School Host Club, Fai in Tsubasa Chronicle, Dark in DN Angel, Kurz in Full Metal Panic, Broly in Dragonball Z, Kougaijji in Saiyuki, Ikkaku in Bleach, Yukito in Air, Takanaga in Wallflower, Tatsu in Peacemaker, Luciano in Code Geass, Virgil Walsh in Trinity Blood,  Hikaru in Macross and many more. Currently Vic is playing Zero in Vampire Knight, and Yoshimori in Adult Swim's Kekkaishi. He is also back in the role of Edward for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, playing Death Scythe in Soul Eater, as well as Naruto, Bleach and several others. Vic has also voiced roles in a large number of video games including Soul Calibur, Disgaea, Persona III, Sonic Colours, Project Sylpheed, DBZ, Bleach, FMA and more. But even longer than his voice acting, Vic has been a professional music composer / singer / producer who has written and produced hundreds of songs for TV, radio and CD. He sings the themes for shows like One Piece & DBGT, and has produced several CDs of his own original music, all available on iTunes. And finally, in addition to anime and music, Vic has a degree in film and is deeply involved in the popular web Star Trek web series like “Star Trek Phase II” and “Starship Farragut” as an actor and director. Vic works regularly writing, producing and directing video and film productions of all kinds.

 
 

Lisa Ortiz

Lisa Ortiz’s career as a voice over artist began under the shroud of an attempted auto larceny gone awry. Luckily for her, and for her sibling the perpetrator in question, the car battery died. (No seriously, my brother tried to steal my car. That’s how I got into anime. Just ask me. I’ll tell you.). What followed was a string of serendipitous events that to led her to a career in voice acting that has spanned over a decade, includes dozens of animated series, films, video games, audiobooks, commercials and other voice work. A veteran voice actress holding a BFA in theatre from Hofstra University, she is perhaps best known in the anime world for her works as Lina Inverse in Slayers (a role she reprises in Slayers Evolution), Amy in Sonic the Hedgehog and Serenity Wheeler in Yu-Gi-Oh. She has appeared in a number of animation including Pokemon, Revolutionary Girl Utena (Shiori), Magic Users Club (Nanaka), Animation Runner Kuromi (Kuromi), One Piece, and Winx Club and a number of others including the role of Yuko in the film Exte. After an extensive time spent in front of the microphone, she has in the past few years stepped behind it to Direct, Produce and Adapt animation as well. She can currently be heard in Pokemon Black and White (Oshawott), on 4kidstv as Patina in Magical Do Re Mi, Bellino in Lil’ Chicks, as well as on the upcoming iphone app for the children’s audiobook, the Poky little Puppy..  A personal triumph is her work in the Game Grand Theft auto, which she believes stands as a symbolic homage to her illicit beginnings as a voice over actress. She currently resides in NYC, and does not own a car.

Ryo Horikawa

Ryo Horikawa is a Japanese voice actor from Osaka, Japan, most famous for his roles as Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z), Andromeda Shun (Saint Seiya), Heiji Hattori (Detective Conan), and Reinhard (Legend of the Galatic Heroes).  He is also known for his video game role as Captain Falcon (Super Smash Bros. series). Ryo has been doing voicework since 1984, when he debuted as the protagonist of the 1984 anime Yume Senshi Wingman.

Christopher Sabat

Christopher Sabat is an American voice actor, ADR Director, and Line Producer, from Washington D.C., most famous for his voice work in Dragon Ball as several main characters such as Vegeta and Piccolo. Other roles includes Ayame Sohma in Fruits Basket, Kiuchiyo in Samurai 7, Alex Louis Armstrong in Fullmetal Alchemist, Kazuma Kuwabara in Yu Yu Hakusho, Giroro in Sgt. Frog, and Roronoa Zoro in One Piece. Chris is also the founder and director at the OkraTron 5000 audio production facility in Dallas, Texas

Yuu Asakawa 

Yuu Asakawa is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan.  Asakawa-san provides the voice samples for the Vocaloid, Megurine Luka, also notable as the voice of Rider (Fate/Stay Night), Sakaki (Azumanga Daioh), Priss Asagiri (Bubblegum Crisis 2040), Motoko Aoyama (Love Hina), and Shiris (Record of Lodoss War). Currently, she is hosting a web show "Otaku-Verse Zero" 

Kenichi Miya

Kenichi Miya is a Japanese voice actor most noted for his roles as Dragan (Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s) and Entre ([C] – Control). He has also done voice work for Detective CONAN and Magic Kaito. In addition to his anime roles, Miya-san has also voiced characters in several video games, including Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 6 (PSP) and Xenoblade (Wii). Kenichi has also performed on stage and in voice dramas.