Takahiro Omori began his career as an animator in the 1980s and made his directorial debut in 1996 with Baby and Me. Since then he has directed series such as Hell Girl, Princess Jellyfish, and fan favorites Durarara!!, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and BACCANO!, on many of which he also acted as sound director. He is known for the life-like quality of his characters that he achieves by imagining them as real people. Under Mr. Omori’s direction, the film Hotarubi no Mori e, produced by the same staff as Natsume’s Book of Friends, won the Jury Award at Scotland Loves Animation in 2011 and the Best Animation Film Award at the 66th Mainichi Film Awards.

Yumi Sato is an animation producer at the well-known animation studio Brain’s Base. She has worked with director Takahiro Omori on all his Brain’s Base productions: BACCANO!, the Natsume’s Book of Friends series, Princess Jellyfish, Durarara!!, and Hotarubi no Mori e. Most recently, Ms. Sato served as animation producer of the love comedy My Little Monster.

Author and librarian Gilles Poitras will be at FanimeCon to share his vast knowledge of anime, manga, and related fan culture. His extensive resume displays a large body of work, from author of many popular books, such as The Anime Companion, Anime Essentials, and the Anime Companion 2, to contributor to magazines, including Newtype USA and Otaku USA. Mr. Poitras is also the “Access Services Librarian” at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, and serves as a senior board member of Mechademia, an annual scholarly anthology of essays on anime, manga and fan culture. He has also given all-day workshops for librarians, introduced anime films at the Smithsonian, and even taught a course on the subject of anime for Pixar staff.

This year Mr. Poitras will have a number of panels where a variety of topics will be covered. For those who are new to anime and are curious as to all that it entails, Mr. Poitras will hold his popular “Anime (and Manga) for Parents (and other Grownups)” panel, where he will discuss a variety of aspects of anime and manga. This special panel is available to everyone and does not require a FanimeCon membership for entry.

7!! is a four-piece band from Okinawa with an infectious pop sound thanks to their vocalist NANAE’s sweet voice. With their high energy performances and NANAE’s female perspective, 7!! attracts many young fans. Their debut 2011 single ‘Fallin Love’ was featured as the theme song for popular film ‘High School Debut.’ Since then, their music has been featured in a variety of shows including Fuji Sankei Group’s morning news program ‘FCI Morning Eye’ with the song ‘Nijiiro’, and in the anime series ‘Naruto Shippuden’ with the song ‘Lovers.’ In late 2012, 7!! had their single ‘Bye Bye’ used as the theme song for ‘Kimi to Boku’ and in early 2013 had their most recent single ‘Sayonara Memory’ used as the ending theme for ‘Naruto Shippuden’. The band is expanding it’s fan base with successful animation tie-ins. Last year, they performed in Jakarta for the first time in overseas.

With their music available in 19 countries on iTunes and Amazon and their first full-length album ‘Dokidoki’ out now in Japan 7!! has quickly become a burgeoning force in the Japanese music scene. FanimeCon is thrilled to have them perform at this year’s MusicFest event, which will take place on Saturday during FanimeCon 2013.

Boasting over 100 different roles in anime alone over his fourteen year career, Chris Patton has had a number of notable roles that fans are sure to recognize, and FanimeCon is proud to have him attend FanimeCon 2013.

Having worked with companies like FUNimation, OkraTron 5000, ADV Films, and Sentai Filmworks, Mr. Patton’s talent has been on display in some major roles, such as Greed in the Full Metal Alchemist series, Sosuke Sagara in the Full Metal Panic! Franchise, and Keima Katsuragi from The World God Only Knows series. He has also played lead roles in a few other anime series, including RahXephon, and Air Gear. Mr. Patton has also lent his talent to a number of stage shows, over fifty Audiobooks, and even a few of the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai video game titles as Turles.

Although Tsuyoshi Nonaka’s name isn’t one commonly brought up in America, numerous fans are likely to have seen and own toys designed by him while growing up. Mr. Nonaka has spent 25 years working for Bandai Co. LTD working as a toy designer and planner being responsible for the Toei Metal Hero Series and Super Sentai Series (known as the Power Rangers in the United States). He has also worked on a number of the Kamen Riders series and has created the successful brand in Japan called Chogokin-Damashii which has produced a number of die-cast high end figures enjoyed by serious collectors, including his own childhood favorite Mazinger Z (Tranzor Z).

In addition to working in the field of toys, Mr. Nonaka has provided mechanical designs for a number of mecha-centric shows including ‘Mazinkaiser SKL,’ ‘Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z-Hen,’ and D.I.C.E. Since joining Bandai America Inc. Mr. Nonaka has become the head of ‘PLEX International Design, US Division’ and has worked on toy designs for the Power Rangers franchise, Ben 10 franchise, and other properties by Bandai America Inc.

Mr. Nonaka loves to see what his fans can come up with – so if you can draw, he would love to see your best Power Rangers artwork. Bring it to his panel on Sunday at 11 AM in the Panels Room II for an evaluation from the expert, himself!

Darrel Guilbeau has only been a voice actor since 2004 but his industry-wide experience started in the late 80′s with roles in TV and movies. Since becoming a voice actor he has lead his talents to a number of series, including Bleach, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Cyborg 009, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, GunxSword, Kekkashi, Space Pirate Captain Herlock, and Stellvia. His major roles in animation include Rikuo in Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clain, Mikado in Durarara!!, and Amaimon in Blue Exorcist.

Outside of anime, Mr. Guilbeau has worked on a number of video games, providing the voice to Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He has also worked with Square Enix to be the voice of Wylfred in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, Lekius in Dawn of Mana, and Layle, the main character to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Mr. Guilbeau can also be heard throughout the Dynasty Warriors franchise, as Taishi Ci, Nagamasa Azai, and Mitsuhide Akechi.

The four-piece band based in Shibuya exploded onto the music scene in June 2010 with their very first single, “Complication.” The single quickly reached number one in downloadable tracks, ranked 11th on the Oricon Weekly ranking, and was featured as the opening theme for the animated series “Durarara!!” ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D went on to have songs featured in the anime series Bleach with “song for…” and “IN MY WORLD,” the second opening theme for Blue Exorcist.

In 2011 the band collaborated with the creators of Durarara!! to release their first album “DRRROOKiEZ!! – ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D respect for DRRR!!” featuring “DROP,” the opening theme for the PSP game Durarara!! 3-way Standoff.

ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D attracts Rock and J-Pop fans through their unique sound which includes Rock, Punk, and Emo. They have performed for their fans over 100 times in a single year and every time, the audience was hungry for more. The band’s influence has also expanded to fashion with collaborations with SRH Clothing in San Diego and Shibuya-based Subciety.

Hiroyuki Yamaga has been an honored guest of FanimeCon since in 1997 (excluding 2011, where he was missed) – which makes FanimeCon 2013 his 16th year as a Guest of Honor! Mr. Yamaga has been busy as the Executive Producer and Project Planner of EA’s Rock (a sentai parody) and directed Wagner’s Das Rheingold to huge success. In the past, Mr. Yamaga has worked on many aspects of anime production within GAINAX, serving as the Executive Producer on FLCL and the Neon Genesis Evangelion Death & Rebirth movie. He has also worked on screenplays for Mobile Suit Gundam 0080, in addition to directing a number of shows, including Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Mahoromatic, and Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise (which he wrote and directed).