On:
In: Official Releases

FULL VIP DOSSIER

[//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION

John Gremillion is a stage, film, and voice actor who has been working in anime for over 20 years. He has provided voices for dozens of popular anime titles for ADV, FUNimation, Okratron 5000, and Sentai Filmworks. John’s most popular roles include Dracule Mihawk in One Piece, “D” in Sentai’s re-dub of Vampire Hunter D (Nominated for BTVA’s Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in an Anime Feature Film, 2015), Roland Chapelle in Food Wars, and Law in Fullmetal Alchemist.

 

Other popular roles include Arthur Randall in Black Butler, Takeshi Hirokawa in Parasyte: The Maxim, General Liver in Akame Ga Kill!, Hakuoro in Utawarerumono, Inuyama in Air Gear, Daiju Mononobe in Eden of the East, Nobuteru Irihata in Haikyu!, Muroga Hyouma in Baselisk, Cardinal Francesco in Trinity Blood, Albedo Piazzolla in Xenosaga, Schawanheld Bulge in Galaxy Railways, Fal (The Duel) in Halo Legends, Yutaka Takenouchi in Cromartie High School, Dr. Kestner in Appleseed Ex Machina, and Makoto Shinjou in Area 88. John has played supporting roles in such titles as Spriggan, Summer Wars, Devil Survivor 2, Phi Brain, Five Numbers!, Devil May Cry, Darker than Black, Coyote Ragtime Show, Speed Grapher, Full Metal Panic!, Peacemaker, Desert Punk, Gilgamesh, Gantz, D.N. Angel, Chrono Crusade, Saiyuki, Princess Nine and Gasraki, and many others. 

 

A professional video editor for over 20 years, John worked on the supplemental materials for the ADV Films 2010 release of Halo Legends and FUNimation’s release of Assassination Classroom Vol 2.  In addition to anime, John has provided voice-over for several commercials and some feature films. He studied film at The University of Texas at Austin and Theatre Arts at The Juilliard School.

END OF TRANSMISSION //]

On:
In: Official Releases, Updates

 

FULL VIP DOSSIER

[//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION

Legendary Actor RICHARD EPCAR – Gamepur’s VOICE ACTOR OF THE YEAR is one of the hardest working men in show business, has voiced over 1,200 characters in Games, Animation and Anime.

Best known as:
RAIDEN in MORTAL KOMBAT, The JOKER in several Batman games including INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US (Fighting Game of the Year!) and MORTAL KOMBAT 11 (Fighting Game of the Year!) ANSEM in KINGDOM HEARTS, JOSEPH JOESTAR in JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE, BATOU in GHOST IN THE SHELL, JIGEN in LUPIN the THIRD, AKUMA in STREET FIGHTER V, YHWACH the Quincy King in BLEACH: The Thousand-Year Blood War!, SANDMAN in MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 3, and The BRIGADIER GENERAL in DAEMON X MACHINA!
Voted one of the Top 20 Video Game Voice Actors of all Time and Top 20 Anime Actors of all time by IMDB! And Gamepur’s Top Ten Video Game Voice Actors of all time! Starting out in ROBOTECH, you’ve heard him in LEGEND OF KORRA, LUPIN THE THIRD, BATMAN UNLIMITED, BLEACH, BOBOBO-BOBOBO, ONE PUNCH MAN, MEGLOBOX, POKEMON GENERATIONS as Giovanni, & POKEMON MASTERS, DRAGON BALL SUPER, BERSERK, BACK STREET GIRLS, DURARARA, SIRIUS THE JAEGER, DIVE OLLY DIVE, MARVEL DISK WARS, GORMITI, COPPELION, PATEMA INVERTED, PEABODY & SHERMAN, ASTERIK WAR, BLOOD LAD, MONSTER, NARUTO, TRANSFORMERS, KENSHIN, SAO II, GTO, A LULL IN THE SEA, STITCH & AI, HUNTERXHUNTER, GUNDAM, MACROSS, DC SUPER FRIENDS, CYBER SOLIDER 009, LUCKY STAR, DIGIMON, 7 DEADLY SINS, X-MEN, GUNDAM UNICORN, BABYLON 5, DETECTIVE CONAN and POWER RANGERS to name a few!

He’s also in tons of games including:
SKYRIM, WARHAMMER, GRANBLUE, BLADE 2, LINEAGE 2, ELEX 2, OVERSTRIKE, BRAVELY DEFAULT, FINAL FANTASY as Gaius and Ilberd, SAINTS ROW, MAFIA III, ARKHAM ORIGINS, PERSONA 5, INFINITE CRISIS as the Joker, CALL OF DUTY- ADVANCED WARFARE, MAD MAX, FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING as Walhart, MK vs. D.C. UNIVERSE as the Joker and Raiden, STARGATE SG-1 as Gen. Hammond, CALL OF DUTY- BLACK OPS, STAR WARS: EMPIRE AT WAR, STAR WARS: OLD REPUBLIC, TRANSFORMERS, MONSTER HUNTER WORLD, X-COM, COMMAND & CONQUER, DEAD OR ALIVE 3-D, STARCRAFT as Dark Templar, DEAD SPACE, XENOSAGA as Ziggy, MARVEL HEROS, WORLD OF WARCRAFT, SMITE, SPEC OPS, LEAGUE OF LEGENDS as Xin Zhao, NARUTO, COWBOY BEBOP, SAMURAI WARRIORS, BLUE DRAGON, STAR OCEAN, XENOSAGA, SPLINTER CELL, GUILTY GEARS, .HACK, MEDAL OF HONOR, GHOST RECON, BATON KAITOS ORIGINS, SPACE SEIGE, SPEC-OPS, BAYONETTA, SOULCALIBUR VI, CATHERINE, TEKKEN, ACE COMBAT, MODNATION RACERS, and RESIDENT EVIL.

RICHARD has voice-directed many games including:
ARKHAM ORIGINS, DEAD ISLAND: RIPTIDE, BLUE DRAGON, SHADOW HEARTS II, STAR OCEAN 2, 3, ASTELLIA, GIGANTIC X, ENEMY TERRITORY QUAKE WARS, UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3, JACKASS THE GAME, SMACKDOWN VS. RAW, and DEAD HEAD FRED

voice directed many shows including:
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2, ROBOTECH: SHADOW CHRONICLES, ALMOST HEROES, JUNGLE SHUFFLE, THE REEF, MONCHICHI, GRAND MASTER, NOEIN, DIGIMON, LUPIN THE III, GLITCH, FIGHTING SPIRIT, PATLABOR 3, ZENTRIX, AZUMI I & II, FEARLESS, BETTY BLUE, IRON MONKEY, VR TROOPERS, POWER RANGERS, UGLY BETTY WEBISODES, and OLD BOY to name a few.

He has voice acted in several big films including DEADPOOL 1 & 2, WARCRAFT, PLANET OF THE APES, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS,
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER and RESIDENT EVIL 3 to name just a few.

On Camera, Richard has appeared in many shows, including: WAREHOUSE 13, MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN, COLUMBO, DIAGNOSIS MURDER, MATLOCK, CHEERS, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, GENERAL HOSPITAL, and a lead in the film ALTERED SPIRITS.
richardepcar.com
END OF TRANSMISSION //]

On:
In: Official Releases, Updates

FULL VIP DOSSIER

[//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION

Samantha Inoue Harte is a US Representative and Producer for Japanese anime studio GONZO K.K., which is best known for their work on Hellsing, Afro Samurai, Basilisk, Samurai7, Witchblade, Last Exile, and 80 other titles. GONZO also provides animation production support on shows including: Invincible, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, One Piece, and One Punch Man and support to feature films including: Your Name, Redline, Evangelion 2.0, Batman: Gotham Knight, and to Studio Ghibli on films such as: Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo on the Cliff By the Sea, Tales from Earthsea, The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up On Poppy Hill. As a creator and producer, Samantha oversees the production of new anime, her work often includes: character design, budgeting, production scheduling, story development, scriptwriting, pitch deck development, animation production oversight, etc. She started her film career as a director’s assistant in 1997 at an animation studio in Texas where she did: cleanup, rough, keyframe, storyboards, and layouts on the King of the Hill pitch animation, Fox Animation’s Anastasia and Titan AE, for Dreamworks on projects including Prince Of Egypt, Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch 2, Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights, and on Clerks Concurrent to being an animator, Samantha works as an actress and casting director in over 40 various Japanese anime dubbed into English and acted in various anime including: Gatchaman, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Trinity Blood, Negina, FairyTail, and Sakura Wars. She also became well known for her videogame voice work in games such as Wasteland 3, World of Warcraft, Pirate101, DC Comics’ DC Universe Online. Acting in videogames and anime, as well as being an animator, lead Samantha to be a “regular” for Mike Judges and for Robert Rodriguez in many of Troublemaker Studios features as both an actress and VFX artist. Her work can be seen in Alita Battle Angel, Predators, Sin City, Grindhouse: Planet Terror, Grind House: Death Proof, Idiocracy, Office Space, and Spy Kids Armageddon. Samantha’s reputation in the anime industry has lead companies such as Titmouse (on The Boys: Diabolical), Nickelodeon, and Disney to have Samantha act as consultant and writer on their Japanese anime productions

END OF TRANSMISSION //]

On:
In: Official Releases, Updates

A bisexually lit version of the classic OHAYOCON logo with vertical CRTV lines.

 

Ohayocon was founded in 2001 and has gone on to become the largest and most beloved Japanese culture and anime convention in the state of Ohio. What is unique and wholly special about Ohayocon is its makeup of passionate fans who come together to create not only a magical weekend with memories that are cherished for a lifetime but a community that is a welcoming safe space for all. Even just saying the name “Ohayocon” to anyone who has ever attended, elicits immediate mental images of stunning costumes, engaging panels, competitive gaming tournaments, vibrant screenings, hallways overflowing with smiles and laughter, and chosen family.

Ohayocon returned in person to Columbus, Ohio in 2022 and while it was a successful event in many regards, it was not without a myriad of challenges. As fandom saw conventions throughout North America cease operations, Ohayocon president Melissa Phelps sought a way to ensure that the beloved annual gathering could grow and thrive for decades to come even after she passed the baton. To do so, Ohayocon has made the transition from being a for-profit single weekend convention to a year-round non-profit entity known as the Cultural Exchange Society, Inc (CESI). Very little will change for the attendees of Ohayocon, but for the organization and convention as a whole the changes will be overwhelmingly positive! It will allow for the organization to receive grants to strengthen offerings, have sponsors and donors to support the mission, and to engage our community to keep that Ohayocon feeling going all year long.

Since the beginning, the backbone of Ohayocon has always been our volunteers, an ever-evolving group of experts and enthusiasts who come together to provide an exceptional experience for all of Ohayocon. We simply could not and would not be Ohayocon without them. Yet for too long, Ohayocon has overworked and underappreciated some of our most loyal volunteers simply due to the sheer volume of tasks and responsibilities. With the shift to a nonprofit status, CESI is elated that we will be able to bring on full time and seasonal staff that are paid and valued, independent contractors, provide stipends to key Senior Leadership Team volunteers, in addition to offering all of our phenomenal volunteers the perks and accommodations that they know and love to ensure that all of their time, talent, and treasure is valued.

In this exciting transition, CESI has planned to retire three unpaid positions and bring on an Executive Director, Convention Director, Attendee Experience Manager, and Volunteer Coordinator to ensure the convention’s continued success and CESI’s growth to a year-round institution. Any and all Ohayocon volunteers are encouraged to apply for these positions when they are posted to our website later this month. To aid in the transition and allow better board oversight, Melissa Phelps will be stepping down from the board and stepping into CESI’s first ever Executive Director role, allowing her to better pass the baton to the next generation of Ohayocon staff. While this position will provide direct support to CESI’s premiere program Ohayocon, the Executive Director will be primarily tasked with the year-round success of CESI beyond the annual convention.

Contrary to misinformation swirling online, NO volunteers or members of the Senior Leadership Team have been fired from Ohayocon and only three positions have been dissolved in the organizational chart shift. All past volunteers are invited to return for 2024, as Ohayocon would simply cease to exist without them. While CESI would love its Ohayocon volunteers to have the ability to unionize, National and Ohio State Labor Laws prevent unpaid volunteers of any kind from forming a union. As such, no Ohayocon union has ever or could ever exist, and no “union busting” has or even could take place. CESI encourages its volunteers to communicate to them all of their needs, wants, hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations through individual correspondance or collective bargaining. Additional rumors of a “hostile takeover” from Phelps are not only untrue, but impossible as Phelps was and has been in charge of the event and cannot take it over from herself. As planned, Phelps has stepped down from the CESI Board of Directors to allow for greater oversight and organizational stewardship. To fill the board seat vacated by Phelps, CESI will be holding an election wherein volunteers will be able to elect representation to join the professionals on the Board of Directors to allow greater integration and transparency. CESI encourages all interested volunteers to stay tuned to our website for more details this month.

While those fabrications are simply not based in any reality, there is a rumor online that contains some truths, and that is regarding the Ohayocon logo. A well meaning volunteer, concerned with the similarities with Ohayocon’s longtime cross artwork and its similarities to that of the Red Cross, submitted our logo to them for review. The Red Cross determined that the logo was in fact too close to their trademarked Red Cross Emblem. As such, an agreement was made with the Red Cross in April of 2023 to shift Ohayocon’s logo’s color to shade of blue to avoid any further issues. Since then, a cyberpunk theme was proposed for Ohayocon 2024, and our longtime artists and designers at Studio Capsule set out to craft new annual art and a refreshed logo. A different well meaning volunteer crafted their own logo in the meantime and despite being instructed not to be the CESI Board of Directors, asked for approval from their peers and began posting it online. Unfortunately their wonderful design bares too close a resemblance to the logo of Sakura Color Products and its use would open CESI up to a potential second logo lawsuit in less than a year. Out of respect for Sakura of America and their 100+ year history, we must kindly ask that the interim sakura blossom logo be not used moving forward.

Ohayocon 2024 will take place January 19-21, 2024 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus & Greater Columbus Convention Center. This will be the second Ohayocon presented by parent organization CESI and our first with paid and valued staff in addition to our phenomenal volunteers who will continue to receive the perks and accommodations that they know and love and then some to ensure that all of their time, talent, and treasure is valued. We invite back tens of thousands of attendees and hundreds of volunteers to continue to form this remarkable convention and join us in not only spreading the joy of japanese culture and anime to Columbus, Ohio and beyond, but being a part of a decades old community of artists and enthusiasts, gamers and geeks, fans and funseekers, masqueraders and music lovers, and above all else passionate persons. Ohayocon is for everyone and CESI will continue to work with all of our dedicated volunteers to ensure that it is around for decades to come.

On:
In: Official Releases
Ohayocon mascot Lindsay Howard stands in a bustling virtual marketplace complete with fish vendor, aristocratic crocodile, dark elf, and foxgirl.
“My anime convention was suspended in person and reincarnated in a virtual world?!”

Yep, Ohayocon 21 is going digital! Thanks to the pandemic, we are not hosting our in-person event. But there are still fun things to do! We’re hosting gaming tournaments, special guests, chatrooms, and a virtual Artist Alley and Dealers Room this January. Access is completely free via the Ohayocon Public Discord Server!

We know it is not the same—and we’re not trying to pass it off as a real, live convention. But we do have some tricks up our sleeve. We’ll run gaming tournaments on a similar schedule to last year, starting later this calendar year. We’re also in talks with some of our special guests to do talks or chats, and that’s something you’ll only be able to enjoy during the convention weekend. Additionally, we know this year has been very tough on artists and dealers who depend on conventions as a platform for sales, so we’re going to have a special online area just for them. So come relive old (better?) times with us and drop in for a chat!

With that said, we need to tell you that we’ve moved the dates one weekend later, to January 22-24, 2021. Don’t forget to update your calendars! As always, if you need to talk, please contact us and we’ll be in touch. See you soon!

P.S. We know this news is disappointing—it’s sad for us, too—but we hope you’ll support us through this like you always do. Our leadership team has been debating this for months, and we’ve come to the conclusion that this is the best choice for our attendees, staff, special guests and exhibitors. With a diverse group of planners and attendees, many of whom are at high risk or immunocompromised, we strongly believe this is the best choice given the global pandemic. Thank you all for your support—we’re looking forward to seeing you again!

On:
In: Official Releases

We’re excited to show off all these guests for Ohayocon 20! Click on any of them to learn more about them.

Voice Actors

Industry Speakers

Nabeshin, Industry Speaker, Legend, Director
Toshifuma YOSHIDA, Industry Speaker
Studio Capsule Industry Speaker, Art, Comics, Conventions
Amanda Winn Lee, Industry Speaker, Mom, Voice Actor, Scribe
Katsura Sunshine Cultural Guest Rakugo Storyteller
Shin Kurokawa Industry Producer, Director, Musician
Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons Artist
Rosearik Rikki Simons Voice Actor, Writer, and Artist
Red Gallagher Author, Artist Megatokyo
 

 

Musical Guests

Kevin Woo Musical Guest Singer, Actor, TV Host, Influencer
Diana Garnet Musical Guest J-pop Star
Caleb Hyles Musician

Fan Guests

Oriana Peron Fan Guest Drag Queen
Flork of Cows Fan Guest Webcomics
Momo Kurumi Cosplay Cosplayer, Seamstress, Artist
Sewn Together Reflections Fan Guests Cosplayers, Writers
H D C Fabrication Fan Guest Cosplay
Dennis Daniel Fan Guest Podcast and Panels

 

Lady Dragon Creations Fan Guest Cosplay, Style
Akakioga Cosplay, Fan Guest, Cosplay, Advocacy
Mogchelle Fan Guest Cosplay

On:
In: Official Releases

Hi there! It’s Oct. 1, only about three months until Ohayocon 20, and we want to let you know what’s happening. Here’s some news:

Registration

Panels

Cosplay

Gaming

  • Want to take on Ohio’s best PC gamers? Tournament signups are available now! We’re offering: League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (one of the first Teamfight Tactics tournaments in the history of anime conventions), Overwatch, and CS:GO! The registration deadline is Oct. 31, 2019, so sign up today! (We’re still working on our console tournament offerings.)
  • DMs, submit your Game Event Application and join the fun!
  • We’ve updated the Indie Gaming Showcase page so you can see all the exciting new (and returning!) independently designed games we’re featuring this Ohayocon.

Special Guests

  • We have already announced some special guests for the Fan Guests, Voice Actors, and Industry Speakers categories. These are not all of them, of course, so be sure you’re subscribed to our Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as our email update list (sign up below or to the left, depending on where you’re reading this).

Volunteering

  • Our new staff application is still available, as is the Kohai Program application, if you want to join us. The new staff application is due Oct. 15, 2019 for priority consideration; there is no deadline for the Kohai Program application.
  • On that note, we want to announce a new, shorter staff service-hour quota option: for only 15 hours of scheduled work (compared to the standard 25), you will receive every benefit offered to staff except for lodging. If you’re in the Columbus area, or already have a room with your friends, this is a great way to help and still have plenty of time to enjoy your favorite Ohayocon activities! Let’s work together.

And that’s it! We invite you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on all things Ohayocon. We also have an email update list: sign up below or to the left (depending on where you’re reading this). As always, you can browse our Frequently Asked Questions page and access our contact form from there. See you soon!