Guests

Robert Axelrod

Robert Axelrod has carved a career in show business that runs the gamut. Born and raised in New York City, he did commercials and theater as a child and teen, eventually ending up in the Soho Avant-garde Theater scene in a show called Little Trips, then Off-Broadway in a play called The Destroyers. Axelrod left acting for the world of music. He spent eight years as a working rock musician playing electric bass and singing in folk, rock, and soul bands. Music brought him to Los Angeles where he decided to return to acting, a decision he never regrets.

Since then, Mr. Axelrod has appeared in over thirty feature films including four with Charles Bronson, the Sci-Fi hit remake “The Blob” with Kevin Dillon and many others. Television appearances include guest star roles on Amazing Stories, Star Trek Voyager, Tim And Eric’s Awesome Show, and The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He also starred in the Michael Jackson music video Stranger in Moscow, and the horror dark comedy, The Revenant. His performance in the short film THE GOLDFISH is garnering rave reviews.

Mr. Axelrod is also a busy voice over artist. He is the voice of Lord Zedd and Finster on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Lord Zedd voice is one of the most recognizable character voices around. He voiced Armadillomon and Wizardmon on Digimon, Microchip, The Punisher’s sidekick, on Spiderman, Rico on Robotech, and has voiced countless Anime features including Akira, The Big O, Cowboy Bebop, Brain Scratch, et al. As Lord Zedd, he starred in both the first Power Rangers feature film and the wildly popular live show that toured the country. He was a regular character on Saban Entertainment’s Wowser series (as Ratso Catso), Journey To The Heart of the World (as Scarface), Hallo Spencer (as Elmer), and more. He just finished narrating the mockumentary “Safety First: The Rise of Women and voicing four Anime series, Gaiking, Danguard Ace, Captain Harlock, The Adventures of Nadja, and Fist of the North Star.

Greg Ayres

Greg Ayres has spent the last eleven years working in an industry he had admired for years as a fan. With almost 200 credits to his name, this fan-boy has managed to get to play a variety of characters that are almost as colorful as his hair. He was thrilled to be a part of the Toonami return this summer, voicing the roles of Ganta Igarashi in Deadman Wonderland, and Heihachi Hayashida in Samurai 7. He was also thrilled to reprise his role of Son Goku in the Saiyuki Gaiden OVA’s this year. Some of his other recent roles include Sion in No. 6, Heisuke Toudou in Hakuoki, Arikawa in This Boy Can Fight Aliens, Tomoki Sakurai in Heaven’s Lost Property, and Volken in The Book of Bantorra. Other favorite roles include Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Kaoru Hitachiin in Ouran High School Host Club, Youhei Sunohara in Clannad, Yuki in The Wallflower, Leo in Ghost Stories, Satoshi Hiwatari in DNAngel, Kaworu Nagisa in The Director’s Cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Negi Springfield in Negima. He can also be heard as Uesugi Kenshin in Sengoku Basara, Seikechi Tayama in Oh Edo Rocket, Hiro Hirono in ef: A Tale of Memories, Abe in Big Windup, Jr. in Xenosaga: The Animation, Tsujido in Speed Grapher, Roan in Ragnorok The Animation, Yamazaki in Welcome to the NHK, Gau Ban in Shadow Skill, Pope Alessandro XVIII in Trinity Blood, and a bunch of other titles he’ll probably forget to mention.

When he’s not in a booth with headphones on, you can usually find him sporting headphones of another variety behind “the decks”. A veteran nightclub DJ of many years, he jumped at the opportunity to play music at conventions. From packed rooms at anime conventions, to the legendary stage of The Knitting Factory (NYC), he never misses an opportunity to share his love of music with anyone who will listen.

Chuck Huber

Chuck Huber started acting in Anime in the roles of Garlic Jr. and Android 17 in DBZ. Since then he has voiced hundreds of characters including Hiei in YuYu Hakusho, Stein in Soul Eater, Kululu in Sgt. Frog, Mohji in One Piece, Shou Tucker in Full Metal Alchemist, Han in Blue Gender, Hiro in Shin Chan, Ashe in Black Butler, Reever in D. Gray Man, Hector in Glass Fleet, Yuichi in Initial D., Akai in Oh Edo Rocket, Melt in The Tower of Druaga, Adashino in Mushishi, Eric Nishijima in Darker Than Black, Havel in Trinity Blood, Austria in Hetalia and many more. He has been a writer on Hetalia, Sgt. Frog, Baccano, Spice and Wolf and others.

As a filmmaker Chuck has acted, produced, written or directed for Arbor Day – The Musical, The Troubadoors, The Fragility of Seconds, The Mechanical Grave, Odd Man Out among others. He began acting in Chicago at the Goodman Theater, Court Theater, Steppenwolf Theater after graduating from DePaul University and continues to work on stages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Most recently he played Hugh Jameison in the movie Parkland, produced by Tom Hanks and starring Billy Bob Thornton and Paul Giamatti.

Trevor Mueller

Trevor works at an advertising agency by day, and writes comics by night. He is the writer / artist / creator of several award-winning webcomic series, which can be found on his website, www.trevoramueller.com, along with his near-daily updates of movie, video game, and comic reviews.
Trevor has also written and self-published several other works including the all-ages stories ALBERT THE ALIEN and JUNKYARD CHASE. He has also contributed stories to several anthologies, including HOPE: THE HERO INITIATIVE from Ronin Studios and READING WITH PICTURES from the non-profit of the same name that advocates the use of comics in the classroom to promote literacy and improve education for all students.
In 2009 Trevor joined Reading With Pictures as their Marketing Director, combining his love of comics, education, and advertising. Trevor gives lectures and presentations throughout the mid-west at conventions and schools on several topics, including the power of combining creativity and literacy.

Trevor resides in the city of Chicago, with his cat Waffles.

The Pillowcases

If you love FLCL or The Pillows, you will absolutely want to come see The Pillowcases perform your favorite songs! If you’re not familiar, you’ll still want to stop in to see an awesome rock show, with a few fandom favorites thrown in to keep things lively. It’s going to be an awesome show! The Pillowcases are on a mission to bring the music of the Pillows and FLCL to every convention in the country. The world. The UNIVERSE.

Peter Pixie

WELCOME TO PIXIELAND!

The Prince of the Pixies, the paramount of performers and the pride of the plains – Peter Pixie is THE host with the most!

A world famous “Ringmaster of Renown” Peter has been seen in various forms of reality-known to most as Conventions and Ren Faires – cavorting with Mermaids, Lords and Ladies of the Neo-Victorian era as well as the Renaissance, Mad Scientists and their creations, and just happens to be close personal friends with various creatures from the worlds of Anime and Science Fiction.

Peter Pixie has worked with so many amazing people over the last 13 years and looks forward to convention season every year because he loves meeting old friends and making new ones. Whether he’s the Master of Ceremonies or Town Crier, if Peter’s hosting the event, you can be guaranteed a good time will be had by all!

Mimiru Riley

Mimiru Riley had her first encounter with Japanese music when she was seven and visiting her mom in a hospital, believing that the Japanese vocalist she heard was as angel which was going to take her mom to the afterlife. Since then she knew that she wanted to do something with her life that involved Japanese culture. Mimiru has been captivated by Japanese language and music and Japanese culture has become her “closest-to-home” interest and passion. She has found many similarities between her Cherokee heritage and the traditional values of Japanese roots.

A cosplayer since twelve, Mimiru has enjoyed helping others learn about cosplaying, Japanese culture and language, and acting. Mimiru enjoys putting on fully interactive cosplay events to entertain fans of various genres which she has been doing for four years now. Her work in progress, Cosplay: A World Beyond, focuses on the art of Western and Japanese cosplaying.For four years now, Mimiru enjoys putting on incredibly fun and fully interactive cosplay events to entertain fans of various genres.

At fifteen Mimiru began learning Nihon Buyou, a traditional and classical style of Japanese dance. Some popular examples of Nihon Buyou origins include “nohgaku and “kabuki buyou”. Mimiru studied with her new sensei at the Tohzan Ryu school while in the US, and then started learning Taiken style from her sensei in Ikeda, Osaka. Continuing her practice of the traditional arts, she also picked up Bon Odori, festive dancing, from her Tohzan Ryu sensei. She was required to learn how to properly wear kimono for dance.

In May 2011, Mimiru embarked on her journey to Japan with Webster University and the ASIANetwork in order to conduct research and study the March 11, 2011 Disasters in Japan. She traveled to Yokohama, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Hiroshima with four other students and a professor, hoping to make a positive difference. She returned in June 2011.

In September 2011 she left the United States once more to study abroad in Osaka at Kansai University in Suita (Kandai). She returned in June of 2012.

Her other hobbies include writing, reading, music, J-street fashion and dance. Her other study passions include Celtic/Japanese/Norse mythology as well as writing traditional faerie tales.

Tyson Rinehart

Tyson Rinehart: Voice Actor. Musician. Comedian. Amateur Historian. Superhero.

A relative new-comer to the Voice Acting community, Tyson has appeared as hacker extraordinaire “Itaru ‘Daru’ Hashida” in Steins;Gate. Other notable roles Tyson has played (and that have been announced) include “Byard” from Fairy Tail, “Nozomu Tamaki” in Dance in the Vampire Bund, “Bobby” in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and the Head-Irish-Thief-That-Throws-Dynamite in episode 10 of Black Butler. Tyson has played additional roles in such shows as: Baka and Test, Black Butler (I & II), Darker than Black, Deadman Wonderland, Hetalia, a guy getting his face stepped on in Sengoku Basara, and in Rosario + Vampire Tyson voiced a guy looking up the skirt of an anime resin statue.

As a Musician, Tyson provides rhythm guitar and vocals in the punk bands The Tommyguns, and Bullet Machine. He is a vocalist and harmonica player in Blues-Rock influenced Smokestack Lightning.

As a Comedian Tyson can be seen performing with the veteran improvisational troupe Ad-Libs, as well as writing, performing, and storyboarding various projects with PostHollywood.

As an Amateur Historian, Tyson looks to the past for lessons, such as: Having listed Superhero along with his other credits, Tyson’s secret identity is compromised.

Jad Saxton

Jād Saxton has been acting and singing for Funimation Entertainment consistently for 6 years – singing is what actually landed her her first role in an Anime in Sasami: Magical Girls Club. After doing bits for Sasami and Hell Girl she landed her first major role as Masako Hara in Ghost Hunt. She then went on to voice Eve Genoard in Baccano!, Perrine-H. Clostermann in seasons 1 and 2 of Strike Witches, and Jacqueline O. Lantern Dupré in Soul Eater.

Most recently announced releases include: A Certain Scientific Railgun as Komoe, Tenchi Muyo! War On Geminar as Lashara Earth, Steins;Gate as Faris Nyannyan, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (movie) as April, Is This a Zombie? as Haruna, Shangri-La as Karin Ishida/Pudding, A Certain Magical Index as Komoe, Aria The Scarlet Amo as Reki, B Gata H Kei – Yamada’s First Time as Mayu Miyano, Freezing as Arnett McMillan, Okami-san & Her Seven Companions as Mimi Usami, Fafner: Dead Agressor: Heaven and Earth (movie) as Seri Tatekami, and Shiki as Yuki Shiomi.

She can also be heard in: Bamboo Blade, Hero Tales, Kaze no Stigma, Dragonaut-The Resonance, Ga-Rei: Zero, Ouran High School Host Club, Fairy Tail, Shin Chan, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Blassreiter, Chrome Shelled Regios, Darker than Black, The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Eden of the East: Paradise Lost, Jyu Oh Sei, Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry and Black Butler.

Jād has also been singing and acting for stage since she was 4-years-old. She graduated summa cum laude from Texas Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts, Music (vocal performance) in 2005. When Jād isn’t voicing toons, she can be seen playing on stage at various theaters throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth region. Jād loves the wisdom and wit of Dr. Seuss and A.A. Milene, the melodic fantasy of The Beatles, tattoos (though she only has 3 – one is a Beatles lyric), the majesty of whales, gnomes, pandas, moustaches, foxes, dinosaurs, and above all – anything Harry Potter related (she even named her cat Granger aka Grangie-the-poof)!

To keep up with Jād, please visit “Jad Saxton Voice Actress” on Facebook, AND “Jad Saxton” on Twitter.

Sarah Sullivan

Sarah “Sully” Sullivan is no stranger to the animation industry. Previously holding the title of DVD and Blu-Ray Production Assistant at FUNimation, she visits Anime Iowa this year as Conventions Manager after working on projects such as Princess Jellyfish, the Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE OVA, Hetalia: Axis Powers: Paint it, White! and many more as part of the Production Team, in addition to staffing at local Texas anime conventions for the last decade. When not traveling the country going to ALL THE ANIME THINGS, she can be found crafting, cooking or causing general mischief, and occasionally tomfoolery.

FUNimation Entertainment is the leading anime publisher in North America. Titles like Panty & Stocking, Fairy Tale, and Afro Samurai are just a few of the big names on their roster. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its titles, visit www.funimation.com.

David Wald

David Wald currently lives in Houston, TX, where he works as a stage actor, voice actor, and musician. He has performed at Houston’s Main Street Theater, Stages Repertory Theatre, and Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS). He was a company member of the Houston Shakespeare Festival from 2005-2010, and is a current member of the Prague Shakespeare Company. David began recording anime in 2005, and has since been heard as “Kaito Daimon” in Phi Brain: Puzzle of God; “Toshio” in Shiki; “Gajeel” in Fairy Tail; “Master Chief” in Halo: Legends; “Paulie” in One Piece; “Hero” in Starship Troopers: Invasion; “Duke Togo” in Golgo 13; and “Teppei” in Toriko, among others. David attended Elmhurst College and University of Miami as a Studio Music & Jazz: Performance major and spent several years performing with bands and musicians throughout the Midwest and in New York before settling into the actor’s life in Houston, where he can still occasionally be spotted on a cabaret stage.

Young Wang

Young Wang has been working for Funimation as a graphic designer for over 8 years, working on such properties as Dragon Ball(-/Z/GT), Sacred Blacksmith, and Heroic Age, as well as many other titles. He is an active member of the fan community as an avid cosplayer and artist, and has staffed for various conventions as well as participated as a dealer in the dealer rooms. Young is the creator of the webcomic Nekobox, which ran for 5 years, and went on to help Fred Gallagher publish the first release of his Megatokyo comic in printed form. Having graduated from USC with a degree in computer engineering/computer sciences with a minor in multimedia and creative technologies, Young is proof that if a person is dedicated enough and flexible enough to adapt and change, then any dream is possible!