Guests: all

Born: October 23, 1993
Birth Place: Kanagawa, Japan

Aika Kobayashi debuted in February of 2011 with the song "Kimi o Mamoritai," the ending theme of the anime Freezing. She released her second single, "Future is Serious," the ending theme for Queen's Blade Rebellion, in April of 2012. Since then, she has appeared as the voice actress behind Yoshiko Tsushima of the school idol project Love Live! Sunshine!! and works actively as a member of Aqours. "NO LIFE CODE," her first single as a solo artist, was released on February 26, 2020.

A.J. Beckles, born and raised in the Boston area, is most known for his roles as TakemichiHanagaki, the lead in Tokyo Revengers and Shiki Tademaru in Kemono Jihen! He’s studied under some of the best in the industry, including Crispin Freeman, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Richard Horvitz. When not acting in animation, anime and games, A.J. can probably be found demolishing a cheese burger and playing some video games!

Anairis Quiñones is a voice actress most known for voicing Mirko in My Hero Academia, Nessa in Pokemon: Twilight Wings, Yelena in Attack on Titan, Yuki in Horimiya, and Rika in Wonder Egg Priority. You can also hear her in Ys IX, SMITE, RWBY, and Rainbow High. When she's not acting, she’s gaming, singing Steven Universe songs, or crushing on cute anime girls on Twitter.

Aaron Campbell is a voice actor for Crunchyroll, Studio Nano, Oktratron 5000, and Sound Cadence Studios. His voice can be heard in more than one hundred and fifty different titles.

Dani Chambers is an actress based in Dallas, TX. She has been acting on stage and film for the past twenty years, and has been performing voice-over work for the past five years. Performing in theater and short films has helped her acting skills to grow and develop tremendously, and she’s enjoyed every minute of it!

Clifford Chapin is known for his roles in anime and video games, such as Ichijo Takayanagi from Red Data Girl, Connie Springer from Attack on Titan, Shingo Wakamoto from Prison School, Kukulkan in Smite, Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul, Yuri Dreyar from Fairy Tail, and Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia. Chapin won the VNs Now award Best Male VA of 2013 for his role of David Sawicki in Yousei by Sakevisual. He also worked as a production assistant for Toddlers and Tiaras, NBC Nightly News, Disaster Guy, and The Rolling Girls.

Khoi is a cat owner and voice actor. You may have heard him as Albedo in Genshin Impact, Kagetsu in Fire Emblem: Engage, Kuroko in Kuroko’s Basketball, Nils & Wolt in Fire Emblem: Heroes, Cancer Cell in Cells at Work, Murata in Demon Slayer, Herb Cookie in Cookie Run Kingdom, Rei Kiriyama in March Comes In Like A Lion, and Tim Goodman in Detective Pikachu.

Khoi has also appeared in projects such as Phantasy Star Online 2, Sword Art Online: Alicization, Pokémon Masters, Gundam Build Divers, Mob Psycho 100, Fate/Apocrypha, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and many more.

Sandy Fox has been voicing characters in Anime, Animation, Video Games for over 30 years. She began her career in the entertainment industry working for The Walt Disney Company performing in hundreds of live stage shows as a singer, dancer and comedic talent.

As a voice actor she has provided an array of voices for The Simpsons, King of the Hill, The Critic, Futurama, Wreck it Ralph, The Addams Family, Disney's Bolt and Maleficent. 

She is listed as one of the "Top 20 Female Anime Voice Actors" on IMDB and is known for being one of the cutest voices in Hollywood.

Heather Gonzalez grew up on stage acting in musicals from the age of four. She spent years on stage and backstage in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles until making the switch to voice over and finding her true home behind the mic. Heather has been fortunate enough to be a part of some amazing projects like: Persona 3 Reload, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Honkai Star Rail, Kotaro Lives Alone, JoJo's Bizarre Adventures, Rainbow High, and many others.

Jessica Calvello began her work in the anime industry with ADVfilms (now Sentai Filmworks/Seraphim Digital) back in 1995, with her first show being 3 BIG LINES in the TV Series Evangelion. Some of Jessica’s voice work in recent years includes: Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan (Utano Tadano), Attack on Titan (Hange Zoe), Amagi Brilliant Park (Tiramy), Pop Team Epic (Pipimi, Ep.

Christina Kelly is an American actress and voice actress for Sentai Filmworks and Funimation Entertainment.

Christina attended the University of Houston’s School of Theatre and Dance, and graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. In Houston Texas she's appeared on stage at A.D. Players, Unity Theatre and The Catastrophic Theatre. Christina is also represented by The Pastorini Bosby Agency.

Lex Lang is a veteran voice actor with an extensive background in Animation, Anime, Video Games, TV and blockbuster films. Lex is currently starring as Suguru Geto in the international hit anime film and series Jujutsu Kaisen.

Kristen McGuire is a professional voice actor, ADR Director and script adaptor. When it comes to voice work, Kristen has worked on hundreds of projects, but she is most well known for her work as Milim Nava in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Ruri in Dr.

From voicing Cherche and Sully, the knight nicknamed "The Woman to End All Men" in Nintendo's Fire Emblem: Awakening, to losing her ever-loving mind as Junko Enoshima and Toko Fukawa in the Danganronpa video game series, Amanda is best known for playing spunky, badass, and occasionally deranged heroines (and villains) in anime and video games. You can currently hear her as Sailor Jupiter in the Viz dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, and as Boruto Uzumaki in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations airing on Toonami.

Morgan Berry is a voice actor, singer, and YouTuber; best known for her voice roles in various anime television series, films, video games, and web series. Some of the franchises Morgan voices for include: "Pokemon", "Dragon Ball", "My Hero Academia", “One Piece”, "Final Fantasy", "Fire Emblem", "Miraculous Ladybug", "Inuyasha", "Sword Art Online", "Borderlands", "Marvel Avengers Academy", "Food Wars", "Cells at Work", "Overlord", "Fruits Basket", "Rising of the Shield Hero", "Free!", "Smite", "Phantasy Star Online 2", the award winning film "The Boy and the Beast", and many more.

Zeno Robinson is an actor residing in Los Angeles, California. Zeno began his acting journey in middle school, and after taking a program called “All About Kids”, signed with CESD Talent. He would gain his professional voiceover start soon after as “Alan Albright” in Ben 10 Alien Force at 14 years old, and has since studied under industry pioneers such as Charlie Adler, Tony Gonzales, Kris Zimmerman, Phil Lamarr, Ginny McSwain, and Tony Oliver.

Laura Stahl is a Los Angeles based Voice actor. You may know her from Fire Emblem: Engage as Female Alear, The Promised Neverland as Ray, Genshin Impact as Barbara and Xinyan, as Dorothy from The Great Pretender, as Iruma from Welcome to Demon School Irumakun, as well as several other shows and games.

Mark Whitten is an LA based actor working in animation and video games with companies like DreamWorks, Disney, Netflix, DC, Sony Playstation, Square Enix, Nintendo, Bethesda, EA, and many more.

Notable roles include Kyojuro Rengoku (Demon Slayer), Seteth (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Oh (Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh), Leslie Kyle (Final Fantasy VII Remake), and Alex (Street Fighter V).

Anne Yatco is a Filipino-American voice actor (and former forensic scientist). She’s best known as the English voice of Nobara Kugisaki in Jujutsu Kaisen, Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact, and Sabine Dupain-Cheng in Miraculous Ladybug. Her anime credits include Digimon Adventure 2020, Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War, Inu-Oh, Bastard, Prince of Tennis, Blue Period, Sakugan, To Your Eternity, Beastars, Violet Evergarden: the Movie, and Devilman Crybaby.

Chiaki Mayumura is a bright, free-spirited track-making idol that uses her voice and guitar to create humorous music samplings and tracks. She continues to challenge herself with new things like the "Nice to Meet You, I'm Matsuo"-tagged Nissin Foods "Cup Noodle Pro" television commercial, singing of the opening theme song of the anime "Chimimo", and appearing as a personality on the No. 1 FM radio station TOKYO FM since April.

Jennifer Cihi has been performing since she was a young girl in San Francisco, California where she played Pepper in the Broadway National Tour of Annie. After establishing herself as a Broadway performer, she moved to Los Angeles, where she continued singing and acting on screen. Jennifer starred on Nickelodeon’s hit TV show Roundhouse and sang the iconic Hot Pockets jingle.  Her most notable job is the original English singing voice of anime character, Sailor Moon. She also sang for City Hunter and Princess Mononoke.

Dr. B.A. Ferguson was born in Waco, Texas. He was 11 years old when he came across the video game Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo. This would be the catalyst that would get him into music and composition. He won the Reed Holmes award in 2007 for his compositions, and his composition “Through the Looking Glass in 60 Seconds” was curated as part of the 60×60 Scarlet Mix and it was performed throughout the world. At this time, he also started playing with the Led Zeppelin tribute band, Mothership, and its sister group: Q: The Music of Queen. Dr. B.A.

AWR Music's Eric Roth is a formidable musical force: music director/conductor, orchestrator/arranger, producer of concerts and recordings, composer of original music, and much more.

Ohio native Gavin Goszka has been writing, recording, and performing music since age 17, both as a solo artist and as one half of the horror soundscape outfit Midnight Syndicate. His fascination with anime music began in 2008, and the following year, he began performing acoustic renditions of popular anime songs at conventions throughout the Eastern half of the country. 2010 saw the release of Subtle Inversion's Kaleidoscope, an album of entirely original English-language songs featuring vocaloid Megurine Luka.

Three Trails Taiko Ltd. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, currently consisting of approximately eleven volunteers. They have performed for local festivals, relief events, libraries, organizations, and business events in the Greater Kansas City area.

Their mission is to become better taiko players in mind, body, and spirit while sharing the tradition, culture and art of Kumi Daiko and Japan with the surrounding community.

Three Trails Taiko Ltd. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, currently consisting of approximately eight volunteers. We have performed for local festivals, relief events, libraries, organizations, and business events in the Greater Kansas City area.
 
Our mission is to become better taiko players in mind, body, and spirit while sharing the tradition, culture, and art of Kumi Daiko and Japan with the surrounding community.
 

Amelie Belcher is an award winning artist, comic artist, manga ka, illustrator, painter, sculptor, podcaster, twitch streamer, and currently a second year tattoo apprentice. With over 20 years experience in the convention industry, Amelie loves to share her knowledge of the arts with young creative people no matter what stage of their artistic journey they are currently in. Have a question? Ask her! She loves to talk!

Amelie Belcher is an award winning artist, painter, art instructor, comic creator, Twitch streamer and pod cast host. Known for her comedy based art education presentations, she has traveled the world teaching thousand of budding artist the secrets to starting their own journeys download the path to artistic expression with an eye eared toward Anime and Manga styled creations. She is known for her web comics "Bounty Haunters" and "The Real Life Adventures Of Ami Chan".

Amelie Belcher is an award winning artist, painter, art instructor, comic creator, Twitch streamer and pod cast host. Known for her comedy based art education presentations, she has travelled the world teaching thousand of budding artist the secrets to starting their own journeys download the path to artistic expression with an eye eared toward Anime and Manga styled creations. She is known for her web comics "Bounty Haunters" and "The Real Life Adventures Of Ami Chan".

Appointed as a ‘Kawaii Ambassador’ by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, she has visited over 45 cities in 25 countries on cultural diplomacy as the leading representative of Lolita fashion. In February 2013, she helped found the Japan Lolita Association and served as the first president. She has appeared on the covers of numerous Lolita fashion magazines, has published her own books, and in addition to being a fashion model, she also works as a nurse.

繊細なレースやピンタック...
アンティークを思わせるデザインを得意とするデザイナーが立ち上げたメゾン。
Maison de minetteは、あなたの暮らしにそっと寄り添うようなお洋服をお届けいたします。

Delicate lace and pin tuck...
A Maison built by designers, known for designs that make you reminisce about antiques.
Maison de minette brings you clothing that can be easily accommodated into your everyday life.

Over 20 years ago Briana Lawrence and Jessica Walsh (Snow) were two fanfiction writing ladies who geeked out over Gundam Wing boys and Resident Evil. Now? They’re still geeks and still have their fandoms, but they’re also a married couple who write books, wear nerdy outfits and do their best to keep their three butt-head cats in line. They’re failing. Send help.

Founded in 1987, Right Stuf, Inc. is amongst North America's largest publishers, distributors, and retailers in the anime, manga, and Japanese collectibles industry. Right Stuf operates one of the trade's most recognized Internet storefronts, rightstufanime.com. Included under the Right Stuf corporate umbrella is the publishing division, Nozomi Entertainment. As an independent video publisher, Nozomi Entertainment specializes in packaging and distributing pre-recorded programming to English-language audiences including Dirty Pair, El-Hazard, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, and many more.

Luna Flare is Kansas City’s favorite "Queen of Cosplay,"! Luna has used her talents to entertain local audiences for more than a decade. As a cosplayer, she has won group and solo awards creating costumes that pay tribute to her favorite media and has participated as a subject and producer in the Cosplay documentary film "What We Can Be (@whatwecanbe)" directed by Nick Young. She has been a member of the cosplay group Another Castle Creations (@anothercastlecreations) since 2017.

Chibi Tifa is a cosplayer from Maryland with 20 years of experience in the hobby and a World Cosplay Summit representative. She's made a vast array of costumes and has been a cosplay craftsmanship and performance judge at several conventions all over the country. As a fairly busy career woman in media, she somehow manages to balance both her work and cosplay life. Tifa makes it her mission to make the cosplay world more welcoming & accepting to any and all newcomers.

Diana Tolin has been an award winning cosplayer and member of the Anime industry for almost 30 years. She loves pop culture as much as she loves Japanese culture and has worked with some of the largest companies and conventions in the world including Marvel Entertainment, Nintendo of America, Square Enix, Aniplex, Anime Expo and World Cosplay Summit. She has represented and been the organizer of the World Cosplay Summit USA and now works directly with WCS Inc. as a member of their staff where she uses her knowledge of the cosplay community to support cosplayers from around the world.

Diana The Great is an accomplished cosplayer from the greater Kansas City Metro. She holds nearly ten years of experience in a variety of crafting and creative media; from sewing to foam work, wig creation, makeup, facepaint and more.

Diana Tolin has been a cosplayer and member of the anime industry for over 25 years. She worked in licensing, translation, and localization before following her passion for costuming and cosplay in the anime industry. She has crafted costumes for companies such as Aniplex USA, Funimation, Square/Enix, Marvel Entertainment, Nintendo USA, and SCRAP Real Escape Rooms. After representing the United States at World Cosplay Summit in 2016, she produced and curated the WCS Team USA Retrospective with the cooperation of WCS USA Alumni teams throughout the United States.

Duff Cosplay is a family that creates costumes and props to have fun and meet fellow cosplayers. We love displaying and our interpretations of pop culture characters. We create using multiple mediums including fabric, metal, and leather. Many of our cosplays incorporate electronics and mechanical systems. We have been humbled with great success competing around the country. Most notably winning Master class awards in Kansas City, Omaha, Chicago and Salt Lake City.

As part of the main duo in Team Whatever Cosplay, Elise has been cosplaying for over 15 years. She has won many awards over the years for both craftsmanship and performance including several Best in Show. A well-rounded cosplayer, Elise, specializes in wigs, makeup, props, and skits.

Luna Flare has used her talents to entertain local audiences for more than a decade. As a cosplayer, she has won group and solo awards creating costumes that pay tribute to her favorite media and has participated as a subject and producer in the Cosplay documentary film "What We Can Be (@whatwecanbe)" directed by Nick Young. She has been a member of the cosplay group Another Castle Creations (@anothercastlecreations) since 2017.

Meow Meow Cosplay (aka Kitty) is a body-positive Illinois-based cosplayer. She has been cosplaying since 2006, and competitively since 2013. A jack of all trades when it comes to costume construction, Kitty enjoys making armor and sewing the most. Known for her clean costumes and attention to detail, she holds numerous master craftsmanship and best in show titles from across the country. While her passion is in craftsmanship, she also enjoys performing on stage which has led to her representing the USA overseas.

Phoenix-based cosplayer, Momo Kariño, has dedicated half her life to cosplay, where the camaraderie, energy, and creativity of others endlessly inspire her. She aims to reciprocate these vibes back into the world of cosplay by publishing tutorials, sewing patterns, prop templates, as well as general advice & encouragement to cosplayers of all levels. Additionally, Momo has won several awards for her costume craftsmanship, and judged cosplay contests at events around the country.

Philip Odango of Canvas Cosplay is an award-winning cosplayer and designer who has crafted costumes for celebrities such as Mindy Kaling and Danny Trejo, and whose videos have amassed millions of streams on YouTube. Philip began cosplaying in 2005 and has since been an invited guest, presenter and cosplay contest judge all over the world including New York Comic Con, Florida Supercon, MegaCon, Calgary Expo, Ohayocon, Emerald City Comic Con, C2E2, Keystone Comic Con, Vienna Comic Con, Comic Con Africa, AsiaPop Comic Con, GalaxyCon and numerous Fan Expo and Wizard World events.

Starla Wynn is a Kansas City cosplayer that has been doing her crafting thing since 2013. Swift with a brush and accurate with a craft knife, prop building is Starla’s passion (sewing just happens to be a really good friend.) From small to large builds, from one day craft-a-thons to months long endeavors, Starla’s had the full cosplay experience. After 8 years and many competitions later, Starla still enjoys the challenges of starting a new cosplay.

Strangecat Cosplay consists of two ambitious crafters who have a variety of passions, including cosplay, cats, and Dungeons and Dragons. Carley and Victor have been cosplaying and participating in various competitions since 2012, with several awards under their belt, including winning Best In Show at Naka-Kon 2019.

Samuel Villanueva is a Senior Game Designer with over 25 years of development experience throughout five console generations. He has been fortunate enough to have worked on many high-profile franchises including Soul Reaver, Syphon Filter, Resistance and Uncharted as well as titles in the Blade Runner and Marvel Universes.

Adonis is a Kansas City cosplayer who’s been building costumes and props for over 8 years. He has taken cosplay all over the country from one coast to the other. You can most easily find him on Instagram, but he has a YouTube presence as well teaching the community the basics of cosplay, sewing, and crafting.

Diana The Great is a multi award winning, master level cosplayer from the greater KC Metro. Self taught in a variety of mediums, Diana's efforts and cosplays are geared to empower others, educate, promote diversity and representation, and show that cosplay truly is for everyone, regardless of age and skill.

Diana The Great is a master level, multi award winning cosplayer and kind of super cool nerd from the Midwest. An avid fan of all things anime, Disney, Marvel & DC, Diana has been actively cosplaying for seven years, and crafting for much much longer. Diana is entirely self taught on makeup, facepaint, props, sewing, working with thermoplastics, EVA foam, molding with clay and resin, as well as wig making, fabric dying and painting.

Duff Cosplay is a family that creates costumes and props to have fun and meet fellow fans. We love displaying and our interpretations of pop culture characters. They create using multiple mediums including fabric, aluminum, steel, accented with electronics and mechanical systems. They have been humbled with great success competing around the country, most notably winning multiple Master class awards in Kansas City, Omaha, and Chicago.

We are excited to announce that will be bringing back Coslesque! What is Coslesque you ask? Cos-lesque is a cosplay-themed burlesque show showcasing theatrical strip teases, this year featuring dazzling performers from Foxy By Proxy Revue! This will be an 18+ ticketed event. Keep an eye out on our social media channels for more info and to find out when tickets go on sale!

The lovely performers for Cos-lesque, our cosplay-themed burlesque show showcasing theatrical strip teases! This year featuring dazzling performers from Foxy By Proxy Revue!

The lovely performers for our cosplay burlesque show inspired by Japanese pop culture!

Annie-Mae Allure
Annie-Mae Allure, Kansas City's Animated Burlesque Star, is an award-winning and internationally traveled performer known for her high energy acts and powerhouse vocals. She is the Executive Producer of the Kansas City Nerdlesque Festival and KC's highest rated burlesque and variety show, the Rude Revue.

DJ Chef Nguyen is a circuit club DJ who has been residing at Missie B’s in Kansas City for 10 years. Known for his transitions and mixing arrangements, he never fails to send chills down your spine. During his career, he hosted “Club Soda” as a radio DJ. Two years later, he transformed the 2-hour radio show into an hour-long podcast. This year at Naka-Kon, he plans on focusing his techniques to combine the circuit club vibe with the rhythm gaming community. Be prepared for the true club experience straight from the heart of this DJ!

DANTZ, based in Tokyo and LA, is one of the most influential DJs / producers in Japan. His style blends each musicality and culture.

He has performed as a DJ for 3years at the club ESCAPE in Amsterdam while also performing around the world in countries such as Holland, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mozambique.

K!LL SCREEN [He/Him] is a club, convention, and rave DJ from Richmond, VA. He has spent over a decade crafting his signature sound described simply as “HIGH NRG | FAST AF | STUPID MUSIC”. He has performed all over the country at several events including MAGFest, San Japan, Colossalcon, Katsucon, and many more. Expect to hear anything and everything from heavy metal to jpop to speedcore.

International Recording Artist, Ray Kirk
Birth name: Ray L. Kunimoto Kirkland
Origin: Osaka, Japan
Genres: R&B, Hip Hop
Occupations: Singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur
Years active: 2008-present
Labels: Columbia Music Japan, lemonｓodaｍusic