Anime Midwest, a three-day convention celebrating Japanese animation, video games, music and more has announced its lineup of featured guests at this year’s convention from July 4-6 in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel.
This talent-heavy lineup of guests provides fans with in-person interactions with their favorite anime actors and entertainers. These featured guests will sit on Q&A panels and participate in autograph sessions, where fans can get up and close and ask questions.
“This is a remarkable chance for fans to get a rare opportunity to ask questions and meet their favorite stars in the anime world,” says Ryan Kopf, organizer of Anime Midwest. “We selected a wide variety of guests to appeal to fans from across all anime genres.”
Featured guests at the convention include:
- Greg Ayres has an extensive resume of anime voice acting, including Son Guku in Saiyuki, Heihachi in Samurai 7, Chrono in Chrono Crusade and Yuki in The Wallflower. He is excited to add the roles of Uesugi Kenshin in Sengoku Basara, Seikechi Tayama in Oh Edo Rocket and Abe in Big Windup to his list of new roles.
- Sonny Strait is a voice actor with a large repertoire of both anime voice acting roles and illustrating. He is best-known for his roles as Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist and Arsène Lupin III and Krillin in DBZ. Sonny is also an illustrator for the highly popular independently published comic book series Elfquest.
- D.C. Douglas is infamously known as the dark and sinister voice of Albert Wesker from Resident Evil. He has a well-rounded variety of other roles in leading video games including The Master in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, AWACS in Ace Combat 6 and Geth as Legion in Mass Effect 2 & 3. He has also had recent television appearances in Castle, Workaholics, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles and 2 Broke Girls.
- Caitlin Glass is both a voice actress and ADR director, most famous for her role of Winry Rockbell in Fullmetal Alchemist. A veteran in the anime industry, Caitlin is well known for her voice acting roles including Cammy in the Street Fighter IV games, Evergreen in Fairy Tail, Hannah Annafellows in Black Butler II, Phryne in Fractale, and Hiyono in Spiral. She was also the director of the popular Ouran High School Host Club.
- Alexis Tipton has worked in the anime industry for more than six years and can be heard in over 80 titles. Highlights of her work include Saya Kisaragi in Blood C, Moka Akashiya in Rosario+Vampire, Inori Yuzuriha/Mana Ouma in Guilty Crown, Rika Shiguma in Haganai and Julia Crichton in FMA: The Sacred Star of Milos.
- Chris Patton is an anime voice acting legend. Most famously he has voiced Sousuke Sagara in all the Full Metal Panic series, Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist, Asura in Soul Eater, Keima in The World God Only Knows, Sho in Guyver, Fakir in Princess Tutu, Nishi in Gantz, and Turles in Dragonball Z: The Tree of Might.
- A Chicagoland native who now resides in Los Angeles, Laura Post’s best-known voice roles include Ahri in League of Legends, Valentine in Skullgirls and Rosalia in Sword Art Online. Her other voice roles include Queen Azshara and Shademaster Kiryn in World of Warcraft, Aero in Firefall, Bosbos in Redline and Cindy Campbell in Squid Girl. Laura has also provided voices for characters in Guild Wars 2, Planetside 2, Heroes of Newert, Ragnarok Online 2 and Lord of the Rings Online.
- Johnny Yong Bosch’s largest role was that of Adam, the Black Ranger on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, where you can hear his voice in over 200 episodes and movies of the series. His other work includes Vash in Trigun, Kaneda in Akira, Reiji in Gate Keepers, Claus in Last Exile, Clair in Heat Guy J and Sakaki in Witch Hunter Robin. When not voice acting, Johnny also plays in an alternative rock band called Eyeshine.
Over 8,000 people are expected to attend the fourth annual Anime Midwest Convention. For information on attending, visit www.animemidwest.com.
