December 13, 2005

MatsuriCon announces first guests

Registration discounts also extended

WORTHINGTON-COLUMBUS OHIO - December 13th 2005 - MatsuriCon welcomes our first group of guests that will be attending our April event.

Johnny Yong Bosch - Live Action Star / Voice Acting Legend
From being the Black Ranger, to the voice of love and peace (Vash, in Trigun), Johnny has had a huge impact on the fusion of Japanese Pop-Culture into America. Having done a wide range of work from anime, liveaction, video game voices and even fronting with the band Eyeshine.
Credits: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0097765/

Christy Lijewski - Artist / Manga-ka - http://nyanko-chan.deviantart.com/
Some of the best entries into the "American-Made Manga" wave have come straight from Baltimore's Christy Lijewski. Christy developed close ties with Tokyopop, the largest English translated Manga distributor in the world, when she made runner-up in the "Tokyopop's Rising Stars" contest, and is slated to publish "RE:Play" with Tokyopop as well. Christy's most active page is on the popular DeviantArt site, where she is an official beta-tester. This will be Christy's first guest appearance in Ohio.

DDRNinja - Artist / Webcomics - http://www.ddrninja.com
William Sebree, known to fandom as DDRNinja, takes webcomics and artwork to the next level. Most webcomic artwork can't compare to the time and labor intensive efforts that go into every FULL-COLOR comic page of "Is it Con Yet?". DDRNinja has also been featured on the anime web turnpike, and has done mascot artwork for more than a few conventions and sites, including MatsuriCon!

Eyeshine - Musical Guest - http://www.eyeshine.net
With roots as a youth worship group, this group from So-Cal has progressed into an upbeat alternative rock trio. Eyeshine keeps the beat going with frontman Johnny Yong Bosch, joined by his two pals Maurice Salmon and Alex Orantes. The trio has rocked many anime conventions in the past, and will be making their premiere Ohio performance.

MatsuriCon has also extended the $25 pre-registration discounted price until January 2nd, and have lowered subsequent registrations, including at door registrations, by $5.

MatsuriCon will take place on April 20th-23rd 2006 in Worthington Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Although a new event, MatsuriCon draws on the expertise of some of the most veteran staffers from the Midwest and East Coast areas. Revolving around the fusion of Traditional and Modern Japanese Culture, MatsuriCon will bring a new hybrid of education and entertainment to the Midwest fan community. Thursday afternoon and evening will be entirely free to all as a "public preview day".

MatsuriCorp is a non-profit group, recognized by the State of Ohio, which produces MatsuriCon. It is the intention of MatsuriCorp to educate the public community in Japanese Culture both old and new, through the hard work of our volunteer staff.

Details about MatsuriCon can be found at the web site: http://www.MatsuriCon.org/.