Guests of Honor

Gilles Poitras

March 18, 2024

Gilles was born in Quebec, Canada in 1951 and raised in a farm town in Northern California. As a child in rural California, he was exposed to a great deal of Japanese toys and games without even being aware of their origins, thanks to his many Japanese American school friends. In high school he became a fan of world cinema, and in 1977, he saw part of an episode of Space Battleship Yamamoto on a store display in San Francisco’s Japantown. From that day on, Gilles began going to every anime feature shown at the UC theater in Berkeley. Later on he discovered Cal Animage Alpha, UC Berkeley’s anime club. For years he attended regularly and even began to write his first articles on anime for the club’s newsletter the Konshuu, which then turned into an anime newsletter on Usenet. Eventually he wrote The Anime Companion, the first of his three books on anime. As a result of this writing he ended up speaking at many public libraries, doing presentations at anime conventions, curating an anime exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, introducing movies at the Smithsonian, and even teaching a class on anime for Pixar Staff.
All of this exposure to anime, and manga, quickly led to a growing interest in Japan. Gilles even began tracking down information on locations seen in shows.When he first went to Tokyo with friends it was to explore the city not as a regular tourist but as an anime tourist. Further trips and research resulted in a large set of notes that became foundational for his latest book Tokyo Stroll, a guide for wandering about over 20 neighborhoods in that city.

Gilles has been a long-time guest of FanimeCon, beloved by many attendees for his intimate knowledge of anime, manga, and traveling to Japan. FanimeCon is happy to have him join us once again for more stellar panels and events!

Website: https://www.koyagi.com

Social Media:
Twitter/X: @GillesLPoitras
Mastodon: @Gilles@sfba.social
Bluesky: @gillespoitras.bsky.social

VampyBitMe

March 12, 2024

Vampy is a cosplayer/Gunpla Builder residing in Los Angeles, California.She has been part of the cosplay and Gundam community for over two decades and loves spreading positivity in cosplay and crafting. She believes anyone can express themselves through the love of creativity and their passions! Besides cosplay, she also works in the games industry and loves streaming her passions on Twitch.She enjoys meeting passionate people in all different walks of life and currently hosts and travels to various shows for games and hobbies as well as meeting other creatives! She can’t wait to be back at FanimeCon 2024!

https://twitter.com/VampyBitme
https://www.twitch.tv/vampybitme
https://www.instagram.com/vampybitme

Yuu Hayashi

March 07, 2024

Born on April 2nd in Kanagawa, Japan, Yuu Hayashi got his start as a child actor with the Gekidan Himawari theater group. He is currently affiliated with Ken Production where he voices anime and game characters, and also provides voices for Japanese language dubs. 

Mr. Hayashi’s most notable roles include Ryunosuke Tanaka in Haikyuu!!, Manjiro “Mikey” Sano in Tokyo Revengers, Michizo Tachihara in Bungo Stray Dogs, and Takuma Ino in Jujutsu Kaisen. He also has roles in MobPsycho 100, Banana Fish, Vinland Saga Season 2, Kuroko’s Basketball, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

Aside from a successful voice acting career, Mr. Hayashi is also the vocalist for music unit SCREEN mode under the Lantis label. SCREEN mode has provided theme songs for Bungo Stray Dogs 2, Kuroko’s Basketball, Food Wars! The Second Plate, Gingitsune, and more.

FanimeCon 2024 is proud to host Yuu Hayashi’s first ever event appearance outside Asia!

Social Media
X – https://twitter.com/voice_singing
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/yuu_hayashi42/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@tube2201

Belladonna

February 26, 2024

Belladonna began in 2013 when long-time best friends Michelle and Rachel decided to embark on a wild journey to create J-fashion clothing and accessories for the American market.  Since then Belladonna has had the pleasure of showing collections in fashion shows all across the United States, and even a few international shows. Over the years Belladonna has grown and now offers plus size clothing, a large array of kawaii aesthetic jewelry, press-on nails, and everything from elaborate pieces to lolita fashion staples.

Belladonna and their stunning styles can be found at FanimeCon 2024’s J-Fashion programming all weekend. Check them out at the J-Fashion Elegant Fashion Show, the J-Fashion Market, and at panels and workshops throughout the con.

https://www.belladonnafashions.com

https://www.facebook.com/fashionsbybelladonna

https://www.instagram.com/belladonnalolita