Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Maile Flanagan
Voice Actress
Maile Flanagan won an Emmy in 2006 and was nominated in 2007 for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. She voices the lead in the hit anime show Naruto, and has done over 400 episodes, 5 movies and 35 video games for the series. Other animation work includes the Oscar winning film Rango, Ice Age 3, Fish Hooks, Back At The Barnyard, Kung Fu Magoo, Tom And Jerry, Final Fantasy 13, and many more pilots, shows, and upcoming projects. Currently you can catch her recurring as the mean principal on Lab Rats on Disney XD and in a recurring role on Shameless on Showtime. More on-camera credits include Last Man Standing, Waffle Hut, Transformers 3, Janeane From Des Moines, Wrong, Reno 911!, Grey's Anatomy, Weeds, The Class, ER, Desperate Housewives, The Office, Evan Almighty, Yes Man, Phone Booth, The Station Agent, etc. In her spare time she does theatre and won the 2012 LA WEEKLY Award for BEST FEMALE COMEDY PERFORMANCE for her role in Day Drinkers by Justin Tanner, with whom she frequently works.
Crispin Freeman
Voice Actor/Director/Script Adaptor
Crispin Freeman is a voice actor, directory, and script adaptor who's been portraying characters in animation and video games since 1997. He's worked on a myriad of anime shows including Hellsing, Naruto, Ghost in the Shell, The Big O, Final Fantasy: Advent Children, Wolf's Rain, Witch Hunter Robin, Chobits, Blood, Last Exile, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Slayers, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Durarara!!, as well as in Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo.
In the world of video games he's played Superman, Iron Man, Dr. Manhattan, Legolas, as well as Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean. He plays the Male Wizard in Diablo III, Helios the Sun God in God of War III and both Breakdown and Grimlock in Transformers: War for Cybertron. He's been in such high profile Japanese games as Xenosaga, Final Fantasy: White Knight Chronicles, and Metal Gear Solid.
In American animation, he's voiced characters in The Spectacular Spider-Man series where he played Electro, as well as the show Wolverine and The X-Men, where he played Multiple Man. He's currently playing Speedy and Red Arrow in the DC animated series Young Justice.
Home Made Kazoku
Musical Guest - Saturday Concert
Home Made Kazoku debuted May 2004 with Ki/oon Music Inc. / Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and won acclaim as the best upcoming artist of the year on the Japanese music scene.
MICRO is widely referred to as a "soul rapper" because of his husky, powerful voice. KURO adds a deep, whispering rap which gives life to the lyrics. Combined with U-ICHI's DJ skills, their positive, heartwarming music has entranced many listeners' ears.
Large, medium, small.
Vocalists Micro and Kuro are originally from the United States. MICRO spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky, while KURO lived in Chicago until he was 12. Their first full-length album, Rock the World, achieved #5 on the Oricon national chart, with over 300,000 sales, and spent an amazing two months in the Best 20s.
Home Made Kazoku created a buzz with their tracks featured as theme songs on many hit anime series, such as Eureka Seven ("Shonen Heart") and NARUTO ("Shooting Star"). Their third album, Thank You!!, hit #5 on the Oricon chart.
Following their fourth album, Home, which included the lead track "No Rain No Rainbow" (the theme song of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN the Movie: Bonds), Home Made Kazoku headlined their first tour in Japan, including a sold-out show at the Budokan in front of more than 10,000 fans. They also took their show overseas to the US (Otakon 2010) and Taiwan which ended up being great successes.
They host an annual music festival, held for the third time this year in October, called Kazoku Fes.2012. Along with their announcement of their comeback at Otakon in 2013, Home Made Kazoku will be releasing their latest album 3RISE on January 1, 2013 for all their overseas fans.
Yoko Kanno
Composer, Arranger, Producer, Musical Guest - Sunday Concert
Ms. Kanno's announcement video.
For our 20th we are proud to welcome back composer, arranger and producer Yoko Kanno as our featured Sunday Musical Act. Yoko Kanno first appeared at the Otakon convention back in 1999.
While studying at Waseda University, Yoko Kanno made her first debut as a member of "Tetsu 100%" which was released from CBS Sony. After the group split up, she became a composer/arranger for commercials, animation, movies, games and TV series. Known as a great master of animation music, her best works include Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Cowboy Bepop, MACROSS Frontier, Genesis of Aquarion, and The Vision of Escaflowne. She has also written and produced songs for artists such as SMAP, May'n, YUKI, Miki Imai, Maaya Sakamoto, Kyoko Koizumi, Crystal Kay, T.M Revolution, Shione Yukawa, Chitose Hajime, YOSHIKA, ORIGA and more.
Her recent performances include in 2008 the "Galaxy Tour" for MACROSS Frontier as well as in 2009 for the "YOKO KANNO SEATBELTS / Chojiku Tanabata Sonic" event of which both were sold out almost immediately.
For the recently released movie Petal Dance which came out in April 2013, she wrote a piano soundtrack which she performs herself. The piano score will be released from her own label PIANO. In summer 2013, she plans to release a score of "Song of departure, which is A Cappella Arrangements for Male Voices."
At Otakon 20, Yoko Kanno will be making a rare live appearance by premiering her new project "Piano me" which will consist of her and one piano.
She easily jumps over any music barriers and her cosmopolitan hyperactivity keeps going on and on. She will always be a true artist and craftsman and is definitely the crownjewel of the music world.
Masao Maruyama
Producer
The founder and former creative director of Madhouse Studios, Masao Maruyama has had a hand in the Japanese animation industry for forty years. Maruyama was born in 1941 in the Miyagi Prefecture. After graduation from Hosei University, he went to work for Mushi Production. He later went on to help produce Unico, based on a story by Osamu Tezuka, of Astro Boy fame. In 1972, Maruyama had a direct hand in the establishment of the burgeoning new animation studio Madhouse and led the team as a creative producer for many years.
Over the next three decades, Maruyama would oversee countless television, OAV, and theatrical releases, all noted for a high level of production quality. He would also develop a reputation for finding and nurturing talented directors; under his guidance, talents like Satoshi Kon and Atsuko Ishizuka have flourished. Maruyama has also engaged with overseas partners quite often, working with the Wachowskis on the Animatrix project, and overseeing anime takes on classic American comic book characters.
In 2011, Maruyama left Madhouse and formed MAPPA (Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association). MAPPA allows him greater creative freedom to pursue projects that may be less obviously commercial. The studio's first major project was the critically acclaimed Kids on the Slope, which reunited many of the creative team behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. He continues to consult with Madhouse on various projects. Maruyama’s list of credits has produced an amazing library of animation including Barefoot Gen, Dagger of Kamui, Record of Lodoss War, Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll, Card Captor Sakura, Trigun, Perfect Blue, X, Boogiepop Phantom, Chobits, PitaTen, Abenobashi Maho Shotengai, Gungrave, Gunslinger Girl, Black Lagoon, Kiba, Nana, Tokyo Tribe 2, Beck, Monster, Highlander: Search for Vengeance, Devil May Cry, Death Note, RAINBOW and Red Line.
Maruyama has also overseen production of critically acclaimed films such as Paprika, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Summer Wars.
Vic Mignogna
Voice Actor
Vic has been acting for stage and screen since he was 8 years old. But he started his career in anime a little over ten years ago as Vega in Streetfighter II. Since then Vic has been in more than two hundred shows and video games, known for such roles as Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Tamaki Suou in Ouran High School Host Club, Zero in Vampire Knight, Yoshimori in Adult Swim's Kekkaishi, Death Scythe in Soul Eater, Fai in Tsubasa Chronicle, Dark in DN Angel, Kurz in Full Metal Panic, Broly in Dragonball Z, Kougaijji in Saiyuki, Ikkaku in Bleach, Yukito in Air, Takanaga in Wallflower, Tatsu in Peacemaker, Luciano in Code Geass, Virgil Walsh in Trinity Blood, Hikaru in Macross and many more. Currently Vic recently played the lead in the new Pokemon movie, as well as roles G4's Wolverine and Iron Man series, and the original Mass Effect movie. Vic is currently playing roles in Tiger & Bunny, Digimon, Nura, Lagrange and several others. Vic has also voiced roles in a large number of video games including Soul Calibur, Disgaea, Dynasty Warriors, Persona III, Sonic Colours, DBZ, Bleach, FMA and more. But even longer than his voice acting, Vic has been a professional music composer / singer / producer who has written and produced hundreds of pieces for TV, radio and CD. He sings the themes for shows like One Piece & DBGT, and has produced several CDs of his own original music, all available on iTunes. Finally, in addition to anime and music, Vic has a degree in film and is deeply involved as an actor and director in several web series like "Nuka Break", "Starship Farragut", and is executive producing a brand new TOS based series "Star Trek Continues". Vic works regularly writing, producing and directing video and film productions of all kinds.
T.M.Revolution
Musical Guest - Saturday Concert
TM Revolution's Official Site
We're thrilled to welcome back T.M. Revolution, who returns to Otakon 10 years after his US debut performance at Otakon 2003.
Takanori Nishikawa, born in 1970 in Shiga prefecture, made his debut as T.M.Revolution (T.M.R.) in May 1996, with the single "Dokusai -monopolize-". Since then, he has established a reputation as a singer with ear-catching tunes combined with intriguing and irresistible live performances. Many singles have been picked up as themes of major anime and games including Mobile Suit Gundam and Sengoku BASARA.
Since his debut, T.M.R. has built a global fan base and reputation mainly among anime fans. He has performed at major anime conventions in the US, such as OTAKON 2003 where local audiences were dazzled by his dynamic performance. These activities led to the release of his albums worldwide.
T.M.R. launched his 10th anniversary project in 2005 in which he released the single "vestige" in August 2005, hitting #1 on Oricon chart. He also released a self-cover album "UNDER:COVER" (all songs requested by fans) in January 2006. In June of that same year, he released a CD and a DVD, both entitled "1000000000000" (pronounced billion) featuring all singles and music videos he had previously released. This proved immensely popular and also hit #1 on the Oricon charts.
On September 19th 2012, T.M.R. released DVD and Blu-ray discs titled T.M.R. LIVE REVOLUTION '12 -15th Anniversary FINAL which contains footage of his 15th anniversary tour final at Daiichi-Taiikukan, National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo. Also in September 2012, he organized the rock festival "Inazuma Rock Festival" for the fourth time at his birthplace in Shiga prefecture.
T.M.R.'s recent participation includes appearing at "Anime Festival Asia 2012" in Singapore on November 9th. Not one to rest on his laurels, he is currently expanding his field as an actor, voice actor, and host for many media programs.
