GUEST OF HONOR: REUBEN LANGDON

Actor, producer, director and stuntman, Reuben Langdon is coming to Anime Conji! Unknown to some, Reuben’s latest appearance has been one of epic proportions. Although you may not recognize him, Reuben graces the screen in James Cameron’s blockbuster movie, Avatar as a stunt double for the movie’s main character, Jake Sully. He also performed many stunts for various CG and live action characters in the film using motion capture technology.

In the past Reuben has lived an exciting life providing performance capture and coordinating motion capture shoots for video games including  Resident Evil 5, The Bourne Conspiracy, Tao Fang, Star Wars Jedi Knight II, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and Dead Rising. In the widely-popular Devil May Cry series he both the motion capture actor and the voice actor and the English voice of Dante in the third and fourth installments of the game series.  He is also the voice of Ken from Street Fighter IV as well as Dante from the anime series Devil May Cry (credited as Justin Cause).

Reuben’s career began in Japan as a series regular of the Japanese superhero TV series B-Fighter Kabuto (also known in the US as Beetleborgs Metallix). Later he moved on to Hong Kong to work among the most famous names in the Hong Kong film industry. Most specifically this included Jackie Chan in Jackie Chan: My Stunts, Gen Y-Cops, and the internationally renowned fantasy adventure The Medallion. Currently back in the United States, Reuben continues to share his talent on-screen. In the past he has appeared alongside Sammo Hung in the Martial Law series and has worked regularly on the hit TV show, The Power Rangers. Reuben has also worked with respected directors such as Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, and he is co-founder of Just Cause Productions, an international multimedia production house pioneering stereoscopic 3D techniques.  He has also worked on the live action adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which was released in August 2010.

Music Guests of Honor: Steam Powered Giraffe

Steampunk and Futurism mesh together with mime and music to create a breathtakingly imaginative act. Hydraulics hiss and motors hum as three robots begin to snap into mechanical movement. Their instruments ring and the automatons begin to belt out in three part harmony. The robots of Steam Powered Giraffe are like nothing you’ve ever seen. The malfunctioning joke-spewing metal men play a collection of original Vaudeville inspired tunes fused with modern flare and executed in a super-sleek, one-of-a-kind performance. More than just a band, Steam Powered Giraffe is an experience that must be seen and heard by the entire family.

 Artist Guest of Honor:  Joe Phillips

 Joe Phillips is an American artist, known for his mainstream comic book art and for his work depicting his views of gay life. He currently lives in San Diego, California. His first major comic book job was working on the comic book Speed Racer for seven issues. His first cover art was in August 1989 for Mister Miracle number 7, He continued to work on Miracle until its end in 1991. From then onwards, he produced artwork for titles including Justice League of America, Silver Surfer, X-Men, Legion of Super-Heroes, The Incredible Hulk and Lobo. In 1991 he worked under George Pérez as a penciller on Wonder Woman for two issues. Phillips was one of the founding members of Gai-Jin Studios, a comic book studio whose past members include artists such as Adam Hughes and Brian Stelfreeze. In late 1992 he began work on the revival of Timber Wolf where he worked as both a penciller and as the cover artist, this run lasted for an entire story arc. In 1996 he created a new comic book character, The Heretic, of which he was both a writer and artist. The title was released by Dark Horse Comics. Other later work included Captain America, Wolverine, Green Lanter and Superboy. In 2008 he worked on the Doctor Who comic book. Phillips has worked for various comic book companies including Marvel, DC and Dark Horse comics.

The Black Crystals (J-Pop / Rock Band)

 The Black Crystals, who are they exactly? Well they’re group of talented musicians. Some say they just appeared out of nowhere, like wandering pirates looking for treasure. Their journey all began in late 2005, when the idea to form an anime/video game cover band had popped into Ryo and Captain’s heads. With guitar in hand, and drums keeping the beat going, they needed another element to make this great fusion explode… they needed Alie. As their journey continued, a few new members joined starting with the legendary keytar demon Nico, then the shredster Nedimus. Their awesomely great sound became even greater with new members and a full arsenal of amazing music.

 Mandy Mefford (Singer)

Mandy Mefford’s main passion has always been singing…in Japanese. In 2001, Mandy won her 1st karaoke contest at Anime Expo and later went on to win the AX Idol competition in 2005 & 2007. She then went on to record her winning song (“Aozora no Namida”) with Chris Many & also recorded “Houki Boshi” from Bleach with Pamela Moss (AX Idol 2008) & Traci Hines (AX Idol 2008 runner-up). Now, every other weekend, she is practicing with her new band (Midnight Shinigami) & plans on performing at more festivals & conventions this year. She is very excited to make it down this year!

The Secret Samurai (Surf Rock Band)

The Secret Samurai is a high energy instrumental surf rock trio from San Diego, CA. Formed in 2005, their music combines Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Latin, and Asian influences with surf rock to create some of the most original and compelling music in the genre today. The trio consists of wiley vetrans of San Diego’s independent music scene (including members of Surf Report and Big Tension.) The band released their debut CD, GUN-SHO-GUN, in 2008. Their highly anticipated sophomore album, Zanshin, produced by Dave Klein (Agent Orange, The Bomboras, The Ghastly Ones) will be released in March 2011 (just in time for Anime Conji!!) The Secret Samurai have toured the western U.S. and have opened for surf rock luminaries such as Laika & The Cosmonauts, Agent Orange, The Space Cossacks, and Daikaiju. Witness the shape of surf to come…

Traci Hines (Singer)

Singer-songwriter and California native, Traci Hines, is best known for her Disneyesque singing voice and her fairytale and fantasy cosplay habit! You might remember her from Anime Expo as the AX Idol 2008 Runner Up, an honor she achieved with her moving performance of Yuna Ito’s “Endless Story”. She has since recorded in studio with producer and AX Idol judge, Chris Many, and filmed as a panelist on the Bang Zoom! Entertainment show, AnimeTV. Traci released her brand new single, “Fantasy”, in October 2010, the first song on her upcoming EP. She also performs as fairytale princesses and characters for events and photo shoots, is a working model (you might recognize her from HotTopic.com, among other retailers) and she still loves to make videos in her spare time for her two YouTube channels, where she maintains a combined following of over 41,000 subscribers.

Kyle Hebert (Voice Actor)

Kyle Hebert is a Los Angeles-based anime and video game voice actor whose credits include Street Fighter IV (Ryu), Naruto (Kiba), Bleach (Aizen, Ganju), X Men Arcade (all male voices) and Gurren Lagann (Kamina). He is best known as the Narrator and Teen Gohan from Dragonball Z. Other notable roles include Soul Eater (Masamune), Ouran High School Host Club (Kazukiyo Soga), Fullmetal Alchemist (Vato Falman), Tales of Symphonia (Richter Abend) and Star Ocean (Dias, Arumat, Crow). Kyle also provides voices in numerous video games including Final Fantasy XIII, World of Warcraft, Devil May Cry 4, Dynasty Warriors, and James Cameron’s Avatar. He also provides private online voice acting critique sessions for beginners.

 Patrick Seitz (Voice Actor)

 Patrick Seitz is a Los Angeles voiceover actor, script adapter and ADR director who has lent his efforts to over 100 anime and video game titles over the last ten years. Patrick’s voice over roles include Germany (Hetalia), Agni (Black Butler), Sloth (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Chosokabe Motochika (Sengoku Basara), Grimmer (Monster), Nekozawa (Ouran), Isshin Kurosaki (Bleach), George (Paradise Kiss), Dhaos (Tales of Phantasia), Koshiro (Koi Kaze), Lee Linho (ROD the TV), and Luke Valentine (Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate). On the video game side of the ledger, you can hear him as Ragna the Bloodedge (BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and Calamity Trigger), Artanis (Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty), Arthas Menethil and Garrosh Hellscream (World of Warcraft), Silverbolt (Transformers: War for Cybertron), Scorpion and Deathstroke (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe), Dracula (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia), Chopin (Eternal Sonata), and Radi Jaeger (Valkyria Chronicles). In addition to the voiceover work, Patrick has done script adaptation and/or ADR direction for Monster, Romeo X Juliet, Naruto, Blue Dragon, Hell Girl, and many more series!

 Jon Allen (Voice Actor)

Jon is a veteran of ten years in the world of voiceover, with everything ranging from animated series and video games to radio commercials, corporate narration, and telephone messaging. He is also a professional actor and comedian, but obtained his first national exposure through the world of voice acting, providing a guest voice to the wildly popular animated series Dragon Ball Z.  He is currently the voice of the main character Jarvis on the Playstation 3 Network’s “PAIN,” their most purchased downloadable title.

Tadao Tomomatsu (Actor)

Tadao Tomomatsu is an actor, comedian, jack of most trades living in the Los Angeles area. His biggest role to date was as “Mr. Shake Hands Man 2” on the TV show Banzai when it was recreated for US television. Most recently, Tadao had an appearance on Heroes in the episode “Don’t Look Back”, where he played Detective Furokawa, a Japanese-American police officer who translated for Hiro Nakamura in a scene near the end of the episode. Tadao has also appeared in Diagnosis: Murder, The Tracey Ullman Show, the films Inspector Gadget and Godzilla, and many others. When Tadao is not working as an actor, he is actively involved in Science Fiction fandom, conventions such as Gallifrey One and Anime Los Angeles, and takes the time to make Steampunk/Retro props for sales in art shows.

 Danielle McRae (Voice Actress)

Danielle McRae is a new blooded voice over actress residing in Los Angeles,California. Being a native to the Los Angeles area, she found her theatrical calling at the age of 23 years old which then led her to learn about the technical side of ADR training and Character Development with ADR Director, Tony Oliver over at the Bang Zoom Entertainment Voice Over Animation workshops in Burbank, California a few years later which led her to learn even more tricks and tips of the voice over industry. Danielle continues on with her journey in making a name for herself as a diverse and versatile voice actress. Being a freelance voice over performer, some of her most notable credits have been in Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy (Additional voices), Nightmare House 2 (Emily/The Announcer), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (The Chief) and League of Legends (Karma the Enlightened One)”.

 Stephen Weese (Voice Actor)

Stephen Weese is a film and voice actor getting his break with a role in the Hellsing OVAs, and recently Sengoku Basara 3. He is co-host of the web TV show Anime Olympics with Cristina Vee. Also a writer, he created the web comic The Great Space Race, now being marketed to be produced into an animated series. He appeared as a LARPer in the movie Role Models. He is currently producing a live action sci-fi film, Broken Spirits, in which many anime voice actors star. In 2006 he won one of the first ever LARPY awards. He is also a true fan, gamer, geek and a sword fighter.

Julie Rei Goldstein (Voice Actress)

Julie Rei got her start in the anime industry after winning the AX Idol 2005 Voice Acting competition, thanks to which she got her first chance to step into the booth and play Risa Nagase in one of her favorite anime series Paradise Kiss. She landed her first major role as Precia Testarossa the tortured villain of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (A’s) and shortly thereafter the evil Biris of the Fairy Retrieval Squad in Tweeny Witches. More recently she starred in the award winning claymation short Ketchup as the Evil Manager and Tomato Plant; and has appeared in video games such as Magna Carta 2, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom and Ar Tonelico Qoga. On camera she recently completed the first season of the webseries TrishPattyPat as well as a few bit parts in upcoming films. For Julie Rei being a part of this industry is a dream come true and she hopes to help other talented fans pursue their dreams of becoming creators as well.

Walter G. Meyer (Writer)

Walter G. Meyer is the author of three published books. The most recent, Rounding Third, received rave reviews and garnered Meyer numerous requests to speak and write about teen bullying and suicide as those hot topics are the crux of the novel. Rounding Third was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and was a finalist for a San Diego Book Award. In addition to the three published books, Meyer has written for dozens of magazines and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and many others. A play that he co-wrote, GAM3RS, was produced at the New York International Fringe Festival, at MIT, UCSD, ASU, UMW, in L.A., and has had several runs in San Diego. His screenplay based on his second book, “Day Is Ending” has been optioned to be a TV movie and he has had several other scripts optioned. Meyer has a degree from the School of Communications at Penn State and he has spoken at universities, high schools, libraries and community centers across the U.S.

Andy Lowe (Writer)

Andy lowe was a winner of the California Young Playwrights Contest in 1994. In 1995, he co-founded the San Diego Asian American Repertory Theatre where he was the company’s Producing Artistic Director. For ten years (1995-2005) he brought life to over thirty-five full stage productions, and countless staged readings of new plays by Asian American writers. In 2001 Andy helped inaugurate San Diego’s first Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month Festival (2001-2003). For his work he received an official mayoral commendation, and was recognized as one of the “Top 30 most influential Asian Americans Under the age of 30” (Political Circus Magazine 2001). Andy is currently employed with the La Jolla Playhouse where he serves as the Theatre in Residence Program Coordinator, and continues to independently develop theatrical projects through his own Chinese Pirate Productions brand. He is currently developing a stage adaptation of Dr.Horrible’s Sing Along  Blog for July 2011 (www.IWantToSingAlong.com) and serves as chair for the Executive Committee for Gam3rCON, a new Gamer focused event running concurrent with Comic Con (www.Gam3rCON.com)

Team Mixed Nuts

Francis Bautista is the CEO and head writer of this team of artists and writers. They are the creators behind Strawberry Scented Burnout, a new webcomic about a bunch of geeks saving the world! They are making their debut  at Anime Conji! 

Allison Lonsdale

Allison Lonsdale is the organizer for the San Diego Sci-Fi/Fantasy Meetup through Meetup.com and has been working for local science fiction convention Conjecture for ten years. She performs her original songs, which use metaphors from the sciences, comics, gaming, and the supernatural, at local coffee-house Lestat’s.

 Jonathan “Jake” Tarbox (Editor, translator, producer and teacher)

Jonathan “Jake” Tarbox has done it all during his career in international media and content production. He’s worked for DC Comics, Time Warner, VIZ Media, Kadokawa Publications and the NFL to produce print and video content for both the Japanese and American markets. While working for NFL Japan (the National Football League’s Tokyo office), he was recruited to join the staff of Coamix Inc., the publisher of Weekly Comics Bunch, as the senior editor of their new manga magazine for the North American market, Raijin Comics. From 2000 to 2002, Jonathan was a cast member of KOKO GA HEN DA YO! NIHONJIN (This is strange, Japan!), along with award-winning Japanese actor/director “Beat” Takashi Kitano. In 2004, after 14 years in Japan, Jonathan returned to America, joining DC Comics to manage the CMX manga line. In 2005, he formed Arashi Productions, a manga and anime production company. The company has since developed a wide range of print and video media projects. Jonathan is also a martial artist, holding black belts in Aikido, Hontai Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu, and Toyama Ryu Iaido.

 Team Lift XMA (Martial Arts Team)

Team Lift XMA, a stunt and martial arts demonstration team based out of the Los Angeles area, invite you to attend a brief history of fight scene choreography and freerunning and parkour in film, as well as witness as the techniques used by the stuntmen of hollywood films are demonstrated and broken down to an instructive level.

Disciplined Monkey Studios

Disciplined Monkey Studios is a local San Diego fandom podcast which reviews video games, anime, conventions, and comic books. The whole team is here: Sean Brondstetter, Erick Castillo, Regina Marlow, Arturo Garcia, Rianna Gordon, Jorge Alduenda, Loy Williams and more. They are podcasting all weekend running a kararoke contest, and interviewing unsuspecting con-goers! You might even win a prize out of it!

DJ AMAYA

DJ Amaya has been DJing as well as producing his own original tracks and remixes since 2002. With an expertise rarely seen in the sea of self-produced DJs, most known for his underground remixes of the Japanese Superstar Ayumi Hamasaki, and his podcast “Hitsuzen Radio” that features the best in Japanese remixes, and dance music from around the world. Visit his site here: http://djamaya.com

DJ SANDMAN

A member Random DJs, the deadly DJ Sandman brings his specialty of mixing Hip-Hop, Electronica and Club music to the ever hungry crowds of Anime Conji. Spawned from the bays of San Francisco, his mixes portray his deep appreciation to many different styles of music

J00P1T3R

An enigma from the stars, J00P1T3R has been in the shadows performing for quite some time now. He heard of an anime convention called “Anime LA”. He blew that performance out of the water with his high energy and clean transitions. “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

DJ JINREI

DJ.Jinrei (JIN-RAY) has been dj’ing convention since the up-roar of 2004 for rea live electronic djs. Currently an EDM Club dj in North Hollywood and Orange County, Jinrei also produces his own original edm tracks and remix. Jinrei is a live mixing vinyl DJ for an audience with high energy who came to dance. Season veteran of the con party scene as well as the edm club scene that is currently booming in Southern California, Jinrei knows what the crowd is into.

DJ HATMAN

DJ Hatman began DJing when he was in his senior year of high school. He took a long break after school and was later inspired to DJ again. He then took his music and his talent to Anime LA and played an amazing set. Now the fans want more, and Hatman will deliver.

DJ AURA

DJ Aura has been DJing since 2008. Inspired by many various sources, he took the tips and tricks from the pros and made them his own. He has played at Anime Conji and Anime Los Angeles, bringing his arsenal of Electro-House along with him. He could commonly be seen wearing his Deadmau5 mask and hyping the crowd with his bass-pounding tracks.

DJ DARK ANGEL

DJ Dark Angel: Began as a promoter / DJ of Club Retro and Nightfall in San Diego in 1999. Then went on to be a resident DJ for Klub Therapy and Underworld in San Diego, CA. With guest spots at several venues in San Diego before once again putting on the Promoter/ DJ hat for Angels in Agony (which later became Ascension after handing off the night to friend and fellow DJ). She has done guest spots at Underworld and Therapy in San Diego, Necropolis in OC, Club Skandal (Riverside) and Das Bunker (LA).