Guest Announcement: Trina Nishimura

AnimeIowa is pleased to announce Trina Nishimura as a 2018 Guest of Honor!

Trina Nishimura has become a fixture in the anime scene over the past few years, primarily working with FUNimation Entertainment. At age 3, her family moved from Sacramento, California to Amarillo, Texas. She started doing plays and performing at the community theater at age 9, and continued through high school. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Texas at Denton.

Trina was first cast in Desert Punk as the little hungry girl Namiko and has refused to leave the FUNimation property ever since. Her most notable credits include: Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan), Black Cat (Tanya), Claymore (Flora and Sophia), Jyu Oh Se (Tiz), Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple (Shigure Kosaka), Speed Grapher (Yui), season one and two of Negima!? (Lingshen Chao and Motsu), Sasami: Magical Girl Club (Ayane), Baldr Force Exe (Tsukina Sasagiri), School Rumble and Yurippe School Rumble: 2nd Semester (Akira Takano), Baccano! (Rachel), Sgt Frog (Ghost Girl), Case Closed: The Last Magician of the Century the Movie (Natasha Kosaka), Nabari no O (Juji Minami), El Cazador de la Bruja (Nadie), and the ever popular Witchblade (Shiore Tsuzuki).

Additionally, Trina has voiced Meifong Liu in Blassreiter, Kaaya in Tower of Druaga, Akeno in My Bride is a Mermaid, Karen Nishiyama in Bamboo Blade, Luna in Cashern Sins, Lia Dragonell Sands of Destruction, Mizune in Soul Eater, Francesca Lucchini in Strike Witches, Oriku in Oh! Edo Rocket, Suzuri in Rideback, Capella Titus in Birdy the Mighty Decode, Lan Fan in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Sakuya in .hack//Quantum, Sohara in Heaven’s Lost Property, Hisca in Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike, Milly in Trigun: Badlands Rumble, and her most anticipated role to date as Mari Makinami Illustrious in Evangelion 2.22.

Facebook: OfficialTrinaNishimura
Twitter: @trinanishimura
Behind The Voice Actors
IMDB

Guest Announcement: Austin Tindle

AnimeIowa is pleased to announce Austin Tindle as a 2018 Guest of Honor.

Austin Tindle is a writer and actor living in Dallas, Texas. He was born in Orlando, Florida, raised in Austin, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Dallas on an academic scholarship, where he almost became an electrical engineer. At 19, he was cast as Romeo and changed majors the same day.  He has spent over a decade performing professionally on stage in Dallas, Texas, but he’s probably most well-known for his work with Funimation Studios, where he has voiced many characters including: Marco Bodt (Attack on Titan), Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom), Avilio Bruno (91 Days), Seborgia (Hetalia), Raspberry (Dragon Ball Z), Accelerator (A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun), Ichirohiko (The boy and the Beast). You can also hear him voicing leading roles in many shows including: Is This a Zombie, Guilty Crown, D-Frag, Gonna Be The Twin-Tail, Prince Of Stride, Prison School, Tamo No-Rin, ACCA, Mariah the Virgin Witch, Snow White with the Red Hair, Trickster, Shangri-La, and many more.

Guest Announcement: Daniel Mohr and Wolfie B Bad

AnimeIowa is pleased to welcome Daniel Mohr and Wolfie B Bad as 2018 Guests of Honor!

Daniel “Stitch” Mohr – Comic artist, author, and actor who was born and bred in Minnesota. Daniel is also known as that guy over there in the hat. He has been acting for over 20 years in both Community Theater and professional performances, and specializes in improvisation. He has been heard to say he will do anything for a laugh, and has proved it more than once. Ask him about being lit on fire. For almost a decade he has worked with his puppet companion Wolfie, and they have been called equal opportunity offenders however they promise to behave at least five minutes every day.
Currently he lives with his wife in St Paul, where they run Mohr Creations together selling his artwork and her custom made fine jewelry. Daniel has also begun his own publishing company, Wolfie B Bad Productions, which publishes his comic collections, “Everyday Gods”, “World Wide News”, “Life is a Natural One”, and soon the new comic “The Adventures of Bastian and Mushu”.

Wolfie B Bad – Wolfie was born in Minnesota, and was born to be an actor. He was on stage making audiences laugh when he was only three months old. Since then he has expanded his repertoire to include audience participation stand up, giving advice via the podcast “Bad Advice with Wolfie and Cory!!” and carousing on an Olympic level. Wolfie has presented at fortune 500 companies, and has also run for president. Vote Awesome in any future election, they all pay well.

Karaoke Reverse 2018

Your favorite karaoke performance contest is back for 2018! That’s right, Karaoke Reverse is happening again, Saturday at-con from 5PM until 7PM. This isn’t a contest where you get judged on your singing ability, but on your ability to put on an entertaining performance.

And to help kick off the year, we have an online application so you can get signed up before the convention starts.

Interested? You can sign up by filling out this form:
Karaoke Reverse Application

Want more details? Have questions? Then check out the forum thread relating to this year’s Karaoke Reverse (link here).

Guest Announcement: Joel McDonald

AnimeIowa is pleased to announce Joel McDonald as a 2018 Guest of Honor!

Joel McDonald is a voice actor, Oreo enthusiast, and ADR director with Funimation Entertainment. He’s directed Space Dandy, Assassination Classroom, One Piece, Initial D, Sgt. Frog, Deadman Wonderland, One Piece: Film Z, and a dozen or so more.

As an adaptive scriptwriter, Joel has worked with Funimation on projects like DBZ: Kai, Claymore, and Linebarrels of Iron, and with Bang Zoom! on Seven Deadly Sins and Fate/Stay Night.

But wait! He acts, too! He’s Dilandau Albatau in the new Vision of Escaflowne dub, Phichit Chulanont in Yuri!! on ICE, Meow in Space Dandy, Brief in Panty and Stocking, Minato in Sekirei, Poland in Hetalia, Jacuzzi Splot in Baccano!, and Takumi in Initial D. But the gamers among you may have heard him in Borderlands 2 as Captain Flynt, Smite as Mercury, Tales of Xillia 2 as Chronos, Walking Dead: Survival Instinct as Deputy Lee, and as Aoi Tokura in the webcomic Rainy Cocoa.

He’s nice. Come say hi.

Mini Festival: A Doll, Figure, and Model Contest

The 2018 AnimeIowa Mini Festival doll, figure and model contest is for both advanced craftsmen and beginners alike.   Entries can include  dolls / doll costumes, handmade / altered plushies, model kits, gunpla (gundum figures), figure kits and more. Any age can enter! Our distinguished panel of judges will decide on the winners in multiple categories.  Prizes will be awarded in each category of the contest.   So if you like to compete, or just want to show off your collection of handmade or assembled creations, this is the Festival for you!

See Rules and Entry Form at Mini Festival: A Doll, Figure and Model Contest

AnimeIowa 2018 updates

Hotels

Our hotels are close to being booked.  The good news is there are still a few rooms left – and several of them are in the host hotel where the after-hours programming is happening.  Don’t be left out in the cold heat – Click here to book your rooms now.  (Deposit not required at time of booking.)

Registration

There is still time to register before the convention.  Bypass the pay at the door lines and the time it takes away from your fun filled weekend.  Click here to register.

Registration has been extended – you can still pre-register until June 3rd !

Anime Hobbies Panel Submission

Enjoy sharing your anime hobbies? Have a crafty project you’d like to teach others? Anime Hobbies has their own room this year and we need people like you to run panels! Please apply here.

Sign up soon because the deadline has been extended to June 3rd. 

 

AnimeIowa Anime Marketplace and Artists Alley

Want information on our hours?  Click here for general information.  

Want to be a vendor and sell merchandise or art at the convention?  Click here to become a vendor.

Want to know who is going to be in the Marketplace in 2018?  Click here to see a list of our Vendors and Artists for 2018

Family Programming looking to build additional pylons!

Our Family Programming Team is looking for Legos so we can add a Lego Table to our Family Programming fare.

If you have Legos or know of where we could get some for cheap, please email family@animeiowa.com with any information. We will also accept offbrands as long as they work with the normal Lego bricks.

We appreciate all feedback and suggestions. Thank you!

Contests: Mish-Mash and A Tiny Tale

The AnimeIowa Contests Team is at it again, and right now two contests are available:

Mish-Mash has you getting crafty to create a collage to show Buu-chan’s adventures in Des Moines. What sights will he see before or during AnimeIowa? Entries are due by March 31st on this contest, so get creative if you want to win an amazing prize pack of plushes, pillows, and blankets. More details and rules for this contest are available on the forums.

Next up we have A Tiny Tale. The troublesome dinks are causing problems, and it’s up to Buu-chan to stop them. In one hundred words or less, can you describe how a showdown would go down between Buu-chan and a dink? Entries are due by May 5th, so you still have time to get cracking and thinking up ideas so you can win a lovely Japanese cultural prize pack. More details and rules for this contest are available on the forums.

We have two more contests lined up, so keep your eyes peeled for more ways you can express your creativity before AnimeIowa hits.