March 9, 2008

Voice Acting "Brawl" to take place at PortConMaine 2008

Voice Actors from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pokémon, Gravitation to Attend

PORTLAND, Maine – March 9, 2008 – PortConMaine, New England's longest running convention for Japanese animation, gaming, and pop culture, has proudly announced that stars of the hit new Nintendo Wii game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Michele Knotz and Bill Rogers, will be appearing at this year's convention along with Daniel Kevin Harrison, a voice acting Maine native and regular guest of the convention.

Daniel Kevin Harrison is best known as the voice of Hiro in Gravitation. A Maine native, his anime credits include Gokudo, Madara, KO Beast, and Shingu. He has also appeared in movies including The Langoliers, Bird, and Wake. This will be Daniel's seventh consecutive appearance at PortConMaine.

A native of the Jersey Shore, Michele Knotz has always had a passion for acting. She was cast in her first animated voice acting role as Hajime Yagi in The World of Narue in 2003. Since then, she has voiced Takako Kawashima in Shootfighter Tekken, Matsumoto in To Heart, and Razali, Cindy, Greta, and The Fairy in The Third. In 2006, Michele landed the lead roles, Jessie, May, Misty, and Nurse Joy for the Pokémon 10th anniversary special, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, and continued to voice these characters throughout season 9 of Pokémon, The Battle Frontier. Along with human characters, she has voiced various pokémon in the series such as Manaphy, Chikorita, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Chimecho, Beautifly, Masquerain, Dustox, Cacnea, Mudkip, and many others. In season 10 of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Michele returned as Jessie and Nurse Joy as well as the Pokédex, Piplup, and many other Pokémon characters. Most recently, Michele has voiced the Pokémon trainer, Squirtle, and various other pokémon in the Nintendo Wii video game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Since he debuted in Assemble Insert back in 2001, Bill Rogers has been providing voices to some of the most popular characters in some of the post popular shows including KO Beast, Madara, His and Her Circumstances, Gokudo, Comic Party, and To Heart. He is best known for his work as Touma Seguch in Gravitation, Yamamoto in Boogiepop Phantom, Tanaka Souichiro in Genshiken, Kanata Mouken in Shingu, and more recently as Kevin in The Third. He can also be heard as the voice of Brock and various creatures in Pokémon. Outside of the anime field, Bill has worked on the children's show Tarchin and Friends an the series of Universal Safety Squad educational films. In video games, Bill has lent his voice to the XBox game Bullet Witch and the Nintendo Wii game m&m's Kart Racing. He has also voiced various pokémon in the Wii video game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The guests will be appearing at PortConMaine throughout the convention. Question-and-answer panels will be set up to give fans the opportunity to talk to all the guests. Autograph sessions will be available to give fans the opportunity to get items signed at no additional charge.

About PortConMaine
First held in 2002, PortConMaine is New England's longest running anime convention. Over 1600 fans of Japanese animation, video games, role playing games, and trading card games attended the convention in 2007. The convention is expected to grow again in 2008. PortConMaine 2008 will be held at the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, Maine from July 3rd through 6th, 2008. More information about PortConMaine can be found at its official web site, www.portconmaine.com.