FUNimation Directors & Voice Actors Appear at Anime Boston 2013

Press Release:

Anime Boston, the largest anime convention in the Northeast, announced its final round of guests today. Directors Christopher Bevins and Zach Bolton, as well as voice actors Monica Rial, Rachel Robinson and Micah Solusod will be attending Anime Boston at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Mass. on May 24 through May 26, 2013.

Since 2001, Christopher Bevins has recorded, cast, directed, produced, acted in and/or adapted scripts for over 100 anime series, movies and specials. His voice directing credits include King of Thorn, Princess Jellyfish, .hack//Quantum, Heaven’s Lost Property, The Sacred Blacksmith, Samurai 7, Speed Grapher, Mongolian Chop Squad (with Taliesin Jaffe), Witchblade, El Cazador de la Bruja, Burst Angel, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, and Dragon Ball GT. He has had the good fortune to direct his own scripts several times, including the feature-length movie Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century and Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings. Chris’ recent and upcoming voice directing work includes of Shakugan no Shana Second, Last Exile – Fam, The Silver Wing, and Michiko & Hatchin.

Bevins is also an accomplished voice actor, with roles such as Japan in Hetalia, Mercutio in Romeo x Juliet, Apollo in Aquarion, Hugo Housman in The Sacred Blacksmith, Fastener in Panty & Stocking, Kenji in Initial D, Peter Stevens in King of Thorn, Nicholas Wayne in Baccano!, Shishi Wakamaru in Yu Yu Hakusho, Lafitte and Shu Shu in One Piece, Bee the Puppy in Dragon Ball Z, and Beck the Dog in BECK. He has also played various characters in critters in Dragon Ball, Sgt. Frog, Soul Eater, Shin chan, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist (both series), Ouran High School Host Club, Desert Punk, Kodocha, School Rumble, Case Closed and many more. Chris has also worked on several video games, most notably as the English-language voice of Dhalsim in Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter x Tekken.

Zach Bolton has been a voice director with FUNimation for eight years. Prior to voice directing he served as an ADR engineer for two years and has also done work as a voice actor, script writer, and producer. His directing credits include: Eureka 7: AO, Soul Eater, Shin chan, Darker Than Black, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Desert Punk, Dragonball Z, Ga Rei Zero, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun, B Gata H Kei, Dragonaut, Strain, Rumbling Hearts, Peach Girl, and many more.

Micah Solusod is a professional voice actor and artist with FUNimation. Solusod made his debut in the world of anime as the timid Malek Werner in Blassreiter, and was cast as the cool Soul Evans in Soul Eater shortly after. Since then, he has had the honor voicing a number of characters in other FUNimation titles such as Toma Kamijo in A Certain Magical Index, Tsutomu Senkawa in Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Yukitaka Tsuitsui in Level E, Kazuki Makabe in Fafner: Heaven and Earth Movie, Kamui and Subaru in Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations, Liszt Kiriki in Okami-San and Her Seven Companions, and many others.

He can also be heard in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Darker Than Black II, Black Butler II, Deadman Wonderland, Shangri-La, Corpse Princess, Rideback, Sgt. Frog, Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Baka and Test, Shakugan no Shana, and Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing.

Solusod also works as a freelance artist. He is the lead illustrator for the group Painapple Teriyaki, and draws for the fantasy webcomic Ties That Bind.

Monica Rial has been working in the anime voice over industry for 14 years. According to Anime News Network, she is currently the most prolific anime voice actress in the USA. As an actress for ADV Films, Funimation Entertainment, and Sentai Filmworks she has lent her voice to over 275 anime including: Air (Misuzu), Baccano! (Chane), Black Butler (Mei Ren), Certain Magical Index (Index), E.F. a Tale of Memories (Chihiro), Excel Saga (Hyatt), Fairy Tail (Mirajane), Full Metal Panic! (Kyoko), Hetalia (Flying Mint Bunny/Belarus), High School of the Dead (Shizuka), Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (Treeya), Negima (Konoka/Kazumi/Satsuki), One Piece (Tashigi/Carue/Kuina), Ouran Host Club (Renge), Noir (Kirika), Panty and Stocking (Stocking), Princess Jellyfish (Mayaya), Sergeant Frog (Momoka), Shinchan (Ai), Tsubasa (Sakura), Witchblade (Maria) and many more.

She can be heard on the Cartoon Network in Deadman Wonderland (Shiro), Casshern Sins (Ringo), Soul Eater (Tsubaki) and FMA Brotherhood (May Chang). You can also catch her on Nicktoons and the CW as Bulma in Dragonball Z Kai. She has also appeared in several video games including Ms. ‘Splosion Man, Comic jumper and Borderlands 2.

Rachel Robinson’s voice spans the arenas of national commercials, animation, video games, narration and now, most recently, anime. She is likely best known for her indelible role as Oerba Yun Fang, of Final Fantasy XIII, reprising it in Final Fantasy XIII-2. She has recently voiced two diabolical and soulless villainesses: the tattooed, chainsmoking Nazi vampire Zorin Blitz in Hellsing Ultimate and Empress Megaria, Lord of the Darkness Realm, in Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters.

She is proud to announce playing the lead role in the upcoming Q.U.B.E.: Director’s Cut, due out soon this year, and a major role in the upcoming DLC of Guild Wars 2. She has roles in many other games coming out this year, none of which she’s allowed to speak of.

Previously announced guests were Chris Ayres, Greg Ayres, Lauren Landa, Cherami Leigh, IBI, Tomohiko Ito, Shinichiro Kashiwada, Yasuhiro Koshi, David Matranga, ORIGA, Bryce Papenbrook, Raj Ramayya, Stephanie Sheh, Tom Wayland, Kari Wahlgren, Shinichi Watanabe (aka Nabeshin), and Yousei Teikoku.

About Anime Boston: With more than 22,000 attendees in 2012, Anime Boston is an annual three-day Japanese animation convention held in Boston, Mass. Anime Boston 2013 is scheduled for Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel. More information about Anime Boston can be found at www.animeboston.com.

About New England Anime Society: The New England Anime Society was founded in 2001. Based in Massachusetts, The New England Anime Society, Inc. is an organization dedicated to furthering public education and understanding of the Japanese language and culture through visual and written media. More information about The New England Anime Society is available at www.neanime.org.

Anime Boston 2011 Adds More Guests

Voice actors Richard Epcar and J. Michael Tatum join industry guest Tom Wayland at Anime Boston 2011, at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston Mass. on April 22-24th.

Tom Wayland is proud to have made a long and successful career out of his most favorite things – acting, directing, and making raucous, loud rock and roll music. Wayland has produced and/or directed hundreds of anime programs such as Now & Then, Here & There, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Alien Nine, The World of Narue, Ichi the Killer, Mew Mew Power, Magical Do Re Mi, GI Joe, and currently serves as the voice director on the hit series “Pokemon”.

Wayland is also a very busy voice actor having appeared in hundreds of titles currently airing on Cartoon Network, Fox, WB, Nickelodeon or available on DVD including Yugi-oh 5Ds as Crow, Lester, and Nervin, GI Joe as Storm Shadow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Jammerhead, Pokemon as Flint, Reggie, Arceus, and numerous creatures, and Ikki Tousen as Kakuton. Keep an ear out for his latest work as one of the lead characters – Finn in Tai-Chi Chasers.

Wayland’s work can also be seen or heard on various commercials, feature films, and audiobook projects including narrating Heavy Metal legend Dave Mustaine’s autobiography – Mustaine: a Heavy Metal Memoir.

J. Michael Tatum will be attending Anime Boston for the second year in a row. Discovered by Funimation warhorse and visionary ADR director Christopher Bevins, who cast him as Rikichi in 2005’s Samurai 7, Tatum’s inexplicable luck has held long enough to see his flag hoisted on a slew of dream roles, most notably Kyoya Otori in the hit English language dub of Ouran High School Host Club and suave, demonic Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler.

Other characters the he has played include: Doumeki in XXXHolic, Jiro Mochizuki in Black Blood Brothers, Isaac Dian in Baccano!, Both God Eneru and Dalton in the new dub of One Piece, Komui Lee in D-Gray Man, Dororo in Sgt. Frog, the titular loveable savage of Heroic Age, Ryosuke Takahashi in Initial D, Lawrence Kraft in Spice and Wolf, Zarbon in Dragon Ball Z Kai, and Scar in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Richard Epcar has done over 300 characters and is well known to animation, game and anime fans. He started with major roles in Robotech, in which he played Ben Dixon, Lunk and Grel. To continue the tradition, he played Captain Vince Grant in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, which he also holds director credits.

Most famously, he is the voice of Batou in all things Ghost in the Shell, including Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, which he also adapted and directed into English. Most recently, he can be heard on a brand new series from Nickelodeon, Airbender: The Legend of Korra and as Koga and Zangetsu in Bleach. He has also appeared in Gundam Unicorn, Ghost Slayer Ayashi, Blue Elephant, Blaze of Glory, Monster and Bobobo-bobobobo.

About Anime Boston:
Anime Boston is an annual three-day Japanese animation convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. Anime Boston 2011 will be held Friday, April 22nd through Sunday, April 24th at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel.

Anime Boston 2011 will once again be presenting popular events which include a masquerade, an anime music video contest, video programming rooms, an artists’ alley and art show, karaoke, game shows, video games, manga library, dances and balls, and much more…