Actor Akira Kamiya, last encountered by this site at Animazement, made
his ninth visit to Anime Expo - and he wasn't alone. As in previous
years, Kamiya brought a group of his acting students from the Nippon
Engineering College.
|
Akira joined those students in presenting a live dubbing demonstration
at the opening ceremonies. The scene they used was from the Izumo anime
whose original character design was created by one of the Japanese
guests. But the change at the ceremony was the number of American
acting guests on hand.
|
In previous years, Anime Expo has concentrated on Japanese actors and
artists as their guests of honor, but in 2005 they invited three dub
actors as "special guests," a major change for the Anaheim event. One
of those guests was actor Crispin Freeman, Alucard in Hellsing, a
familiar face and voice at conventions for the past six years who was
proud of his dub work in "Howl's Moving Castle."
|
Then came Colleen Clinkenbeard, who has rapidly advanced from playing
Eclair in Kiddy Grade to performing in and directing episodes of
Fullmetal Alchemist.
|
And purple-haired Greg Ayres, the dub voice of Chrono in Chrono
Crusade, had his on-stage "fanboy moment" - he couldn't believe that
he'd gone from being just another fan in the registration line at
Animazement to having a guest badge at Anime Expo.
|
The first Japanese artist to be introduced was Hiroshi Osaka, with
credits on the Wolf's Rain and Cowboy Bebop series, who said "I've come
here from Japan to learn about anime...to learn more about animation so
I can bring it home."
|
