Sword Art Online Cast & Crew Appear at Anime Boston 2013

Press Release:

Anime Boston, the largest anime convention in the Northeast, announced another round of guests today.  Director Tomohiko Ito, producer Shinichiro Kashiwada and voice actors Cherami Leigh and Bryce Papenbrook will attend Anime Boston at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Mass. on May 24 through May 26, 2013.

Tomohiko Ito works at A-1 Pictures and is most recognized as the director of the hit series Sword Art Online. He made his directorial debut with the animated series Occult Academy.

Ito’s long list of credits includes Death Note, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Summer Wars to name a few.

This will be Ito’s first time appearing at an Anime Convention here in the U.S. Mr. Ito is looking forward to share his thoughts on Sword Art Online and more, here at Anime Boston.

As Aniplex’s producer, Shinichiro Kashiwada is involved as a chief producer for the hit animated series Sword Art Online.

He has also been involved with numerous titles including Puella Magi Madoka Magica TV series and Oreimo Series as an associate producer.

Cherami Leigh is an on camera and voice actor from Dallas.

In the anime world, she is the female lead Asuna in Sword Art Online.  She has appeared as Road in D. Grayman, Sae in Peach Girl, Yuti La in Heroic Age, Elizabeth in Black Butler, Patty in Soul Eater, Ayano in Kaze no Stigma, Natsumi in Sgt. Frog, Naomi in Witchblade, Yoshika in Strike Witches, Elicia Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,  Setsuna and Akira in Negima, Mai in Ghost Hunt, Tamaki in Bamboo Blade, Himawari in XXXholic, Cecily in Sacred Blacksmith,  Liechtenstein in Hetalia, Lucy in Fairy Tail, Takeshita in B Gata H Kei, Kneesocks in Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, Sunako in Shiki, Suzuha in Steins;Gate, Shana in Shakugan no Shana, Gaige in Borderlands 2.

She has been in over 75 commercials, and was a live national on-air DJ for Radio Disney. She has appeared in many films and television shows, including the soon to be released Beyond the Farthest Star and in the hit webseries Throwing Stones. She was also in the Emmy-award winning Temple Grandin, and has appeared on various network television shows.

Bryce Papenbrook has been a professional voice over artist since the age of eight. He has also been announced as Kirito, the male lead of Sword Art Online.

Papenbrook was introduced to the voice acting scene by his father, Bob Papenbrook, and has continued the trade in his footsteps. Bryce has performed in numerous video games, cartoons, and television shows.

Some recent roles include Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Asbel Lhant in Tales of Graces F, Zidane Tribal in Final Fantasy Dissidia 012, Masaomi Kida in Durarara!!, and Guan Ping in Dynasty Warriors. Past leading roles include Shugo in .hack//Sign Legend of the Twilight, Jack in MAR, Jack Russell in Radiata Stories, Hanabusa Aido in Vampire Knight, and Isami Fujiwara in Noein.

Previously announced guests were Chris Ayres, Greg Ayres, Lauren Landa, David Matranga, ORIGA, Raj Ramayya, Stephanie Sheh, Tom Wayland, and Kari Wahlgren.

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 http://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 http://www.neanime.org.

Anime Boston 2013 Announces Next Round of Guests

Press Release:

Anime Boston, the largest anime convention in New England, announced another round of guests today. Musical guests ORIGA and Raj Ramayya, as well as voice actor David Matranga, will attend Anime Boston at the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Mass. on May 24 through May 26, 2013.

Olga Yakovleva, better known under the moniker ORIGA, is a Russian vocalist, born in a small town of Kochenevo in the Novosibirsk Region of Russia. Her music studies began when she was 5 and at age 11, she was invited to appear on a children’s TV program to perform a song she had written. From that time on, her studies of voice and composition have never stopped.

During her education at the Novosibirsk Musical College (1986-1990), she participated in various themed-based festivals and competitions, refining her own style as a popular singer on stage. In December of 1990, she went to Japan on a 3-month personal invitation and took part in several festivals in the City of Sapporo as a representative of Russian culture. At the same time, she signed a contract with the ROAD & SKY Company, and, in May of 1994, she went to Tokyo to record her first album and launch her career as a singer and composer.

Anime fans may recognize her as the vocalist for all three opening themes of the popular anime series “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, which allowed her to work with famed composer Yoko Kanno and perform together with her in several concerts. She is also known for recording songs for other anime such as “Fantastic Children”, and more recently the video game “Final Fantasy XIII-2”.

Raj Ramayya is an Indo-Canadian singer, composer and lyricist based in Marin County, California.

His claim to anime fame would be his musical collaborations with famed Japanese composer Yoko Kanno as a member of The Seatbelts. Raj sang the opening credits song “Ask DNA” and wrote the lyrics for “Cosmic Dare (Pretty with a Pistol)” from the fan favorite feature film Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, and both sang and wrote the lyrics for “Strangers” from the anime series Wolf’s Rain. Not limited to music in anime, he has also worked on songs for video games from the likes of Konami, Sega, and Capcom.

Ramayya has been featured as a guest vocalist/composer with several distinguished artists, ranging from talented composers Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain) and Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk, Hotei), to gifted lyricists Chris Mosdell (Eric Clapton, YMO) and Ron Sexsmith, and everyone in-between. His work has won him multiple awards and critical acclaim from around the world.

Among his other projects are the electronic Indian fusion music project “Bhang Lassi”, the alternative Indian-influenced folk rock band “The Beautiful Losers”, and session singing for products ranging from Asahi Beer and KFC, to Toyota and Coca-Cola. He is also a guest vocalist with three different Japanese electronic music groups; Captain Funk, Akakage, and Studio Apartment, with SA’s song “Strawberry Rainbow” (which Raj both sung and wrote lyrics for) hitting #1 on the iTunes Japan charts.

David Matranga is delighted to be attending Anime Boston this year. He has been working as a voice artist for 12 years voicing over a 50 roles including Starship Troopers: Invasion, Halo Legends, Appleseed, Appleseed Ex Machina, Appleseed The Series, Saiyuki, Orphen, Le Chevalier D’Eon, Clannad, Gilgamesh, Colorful, 5 Centimeters Per Second, High School Of The Dead, and Super Milk Chan to name a few.

Previously announced guests were Chris Ayres, Greg Ayres, Lauren Landa, Stephanie Sheh, Tom Wayland, and Kari Wahlgren.

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 their website.

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 their website.

Anime Boston 2013 Welcomes Back Kari Wahlgren

Actress Kari Wahlgren returns for an appearance at Anime Boston 2013!

Anime audiences were first introduced to Kari Wahlgren as the Vespa-riding, guitar-bashing Haruko in FLCL. Since then, she has played a number of anime roles, including Celty in Durarara, Kagami in Lucky Star, Saya in Blood+, Robin in Witch Hunter Robin, Fuu in Samurai Champloo, Tsuruya in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cher in Wolf’s Rain, Lavie in Last Exile, Anemone in Eureka 7, Tayuya in Naruto and Blue Rose in the upcoming Tiger and Bunny.

Wahlgren also provided the voice of Ariel in the movie Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, Scarlett in the anime feature Steamboy and the Princess in the movie Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. She’s also voiced Emma Frost in Wolverine and the X-Men and currently plays Tigress on Nickelodeon’s Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

Wahlgren has also done voicework for over a hundred video games, including the Jedi Female Knight in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man, Elika in Prince of Persia, Ashe in Final Fantasy XII, Shelke in Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerebus, Vicki Vale in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Barbara Johnson in Bioshock II.

Wahlgren occasionally steps out from behind the microphone to do on-camera work. She had a recurring role as Helen in the Wizarding Office on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place and played Tink in the indie film Neverland. She has also appeared in commercials for Swiffer as the Mud Girl, T.J. Maxx, Lexus and Rolling Rock.

Anime Boston is a three-day convention held annually in Boston, Massachusetts, USA under the supervision of the New England Anime Society. Its focus is to celebrate and promote Japanese animation, comics, and pop-culture. This year’s convention will be held on May 24-26th at the Hynes Convention Center. For more details and tickets please visit the website: www.animeboston.com

CA – Voices For the Shores

Tom Kenny hosts an all-star reading of “A Christmas Carol” featuring voice over legends including: Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Jess Harnell, Rob Paulsen, Tara Strong, Kari Wahlgren, Billy West…..and MORE special guests! They are raising moeny to donate to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief. For additional donations the entire cast will sign autographs plus there will be a silent auction. Don’t miss it!

When: Sunday 12/09/12 3:00 PM

Click here for Tickets $40

18 & over

Two items minimum per person
Seating First Come First Serve
All Shows Have Adult Content
Door Time: 02:15 PM

Jon Lovitz Comedy Club
1000 Universal Studios Blvd #222, Universal City, CA 91608

CA – Animated Voices of Christmas

Rachael MacFarlane (Hayley Smith on American Dad!) hosts a holiday musical revue to benefit Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 7:30 pm. Special guests include: Dee Bradley Baker, Alex Borstein, Corey Burton, Grey DeLisle, Anna Graves, Seth Green, Scott Grimes, Jennifer Hale, Jess Harnell, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tara Strong, Cree Summer, Kari Wahlgren and more!

$50.00 tickets available at the link.

Catalina Jazz Club
6725 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: 323.466.2210