February 22, 2009
News for San Japan 2009:
San Japan announces first round of guests for 2009 convention
Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey and OverClocked ReMix among the highlight guestsSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Februrary 20th, 2009 – San Japan, San Antonio's major Japanese Culture and Anime Convention, has announced the first round of guests for its August 2009 convention. San Japan is proud to announce that voice actors Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Chris Patton, Wendy Powell, Clarine Harp, Troy Baker, and Carrie Savage will be making their first time appearance in San Antonio along with returning guests Chris Ayres and Josh Grelle. San Japan is also proud to announce the Texas music debut of the video game remix group OverClocked ReMix and Capcom-signed hip-hop artist Mega Ran along with the return of the popular anime-remix DJ Katsuhiko Jinnai.
Travis Willingham has worked in stage, TV, and film, but is best known in the anime world for his character ‘Colonel Roy Mustang' in Fullmetal Alchemist - one of his very first roles in anime. Laura Bailey is the voice behind the lovable character ‘Tohru Honda' from Fruits Basket and ‘Shin-Chan' from the series Shin-Chan. Bailey has also voiced ‘Lust' from Fullmetal Alchemist, ‘Alv' from Kiddy Grade, and ‘Henrietta' in Gunslinger Girl.
Chris Patton started acting in theatre, opera, improv and such as a little kid. In his 20s, he discovered the art of Voice Over and fell in love with it as an acting medium. Since first working with ADV, and then FUNimation, Chris has added over 140 Anime titles to his resume. Christopher Ayres has been working professionally in theatre, television and film since the age of 6. He currently works as a voice actor for ADV and FUNimation. Chris is also an A.D. R. Director for ADV and Amusement Park Media.
Troy Baker, has quickly became a mainstay voice actor of the Anime community with such roles as Frank Archer in Full Metal Alchemist, 'Abel Nightroad' in Trinity Blood, 'Gennosuke' in Basilisk and 'Action Bastard' in Shin Chan. Wendy Powell has been a professional voice actress for Funimation Entertainment for over 7 years. She is probably most well known for a little villain named ‘Envy' on Fullmetal Alchemist. She was most recently in a new role in "Claymore" where she plays the character ‘Ilene'.
Clarine Harp was first cast by FUNimation Entertainment in 2003 to give life to the character of ‘Tweedledee' in Kiddy Grade. Since then, Clarine's talents have been featured in a broad range of roles. Carrie Savage has voiced many anime characters: from California she has voiced such characters as ‘Fuko' in I, My, Me! Strawberry Eggs, ‘Rakka' in Haibane Renmei, ‘Hakufu' in Ikki Tousen, ‘Nancy Makuhari' in R.O.D. the TV series and ‘Maromi' in Paranoia Agent. A native Texan, Josh Grelle was raised on stage and in the art studios of Central Texas. He performed on stage for over 15 years prior to starting work for A.D.V. Films at the start of 2004. Since then he has worked for ADV and Funimation on numerous projects.
Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. OverClocked ReMix was proud to work with Capcom to develop a new, remixed soundtrack for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. This can be downloaded at the official ocremix.org webpage.
Hip-Hop music artist Random, also known as Mega Ran, released the fun filled video-game tribute album titled Mega Ran, which continues to reach new heights after video game corporation CAPCOM offered Random an exclusive licensing agreement, leading to movie soundtrack placements and press coverage in Blender, Wired and several other magazines. Mega Ran will be following up his debut with Mega Ran 9 based on the recently released Mega Man 9 game. Since 2000, Katsuhiko Jinnai has been entertaining anime conventions, mixing anime songs while incorporating his Electronic Music talent and DJ artistry. Jinnai has built a loyal fan following while making a name for himself as a pioneer remixer.
San Japan will be happening will on the weekend of August 14th – 16th, 2009 alongside the famous Riverwalk at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium and the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel. Pre-registration is currently open for $35 for a discount 3-day weekend pass. Hotel rooms will be available at the El Tropicano Riverwalk for a special convention rate of $114 per night. Pre-registration and the discount hotel rates are available until July 15th. For more information on registration along with streaming music tracks of the performing music guests can be found at the official San Japan website at www.san-japan.org.
ABOUT SAN JAPAN
San Japan, LLC, is a not-for-profit organization devoted to bringing an appreciation of Japanese culture "state-side" through a variety of high-quality educational activities and entertainment events. In addition to the planned annual convention, San Antonio's first major Japanese culture and Anime convention, San Japan also participates throughout the Alamo City in a number of events such as the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures Asian Cultural Fair and the Mizuumi-con (previously Zero Day Anime) event hosted at Our Lady of the Lake University.
