FanCons.ca Press Releases


February 7, 2010

News for Anime Boston 2010:

Anime Boston announces second round of guests

Josh Grelle, Clarine Harp, Christopher Smith, J. Michael Tatum and artists Bob and Emily DeJesus

BOSTON, Feb 1, 2010Anime Boston is pleased to announce its second round of guests. Voice actors Josh Grelle, Clarine Harp, Christopher Smith and J. Michael Tatum as well as artists Bob and Emily DeJesus will attend Anime Boston 2010, April 2-4th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass.

A native Texan, Josh Grelle was raised on stage and in the art studios of Central Texas. He performed on stage at the Tin Building Theatre for over 15 years prior to starting work for ADV Films at the start of 2004. Since then he has worked for ADV Films (Seraphim) and FUNimation Entertainment on numerous projects.

Grelle is known for playing the outrageous Taishi in Comic Party: Revolution; Kyohei Takano in The Wallflower; Kenichi Shirahama in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple; Ren Kannagi in Kaze No Stigma and Kyoushiro in Shattered Angels. He can also be seen as Chaos in Tsubasa Chronicles; Ox Ford in Soul Eater; G-6 and various villains in Gatchaman; Viscount Wolkins in Pumpkin Scissors; and Hammer in Xenosaga: The Animation. Josh was also recently involved in the much anticipated Halo: Legends project, playing the role of "Haka" in Production I.G.'s "The Duel"

Aside from theatre and the Anime Industry, Josh has also worked at Marvel Comics and other studios around the world.

Clarine Harp was first cast by FUNimation Entertainment in 2003 to give life to the character of Tweedledee in Kiddy Grade. Since then, Harp has been featured in a broad range of roles: Sei in Burst Angel, Sanae in Akira Kurosawa's Samurai 7, Ginza in Speed Grapher, Kaede in Negima, Miss Katz in Shin chan, Asagi in Witchblade and Laura in RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ .

Harp can also be heard in El Cazador de la Bruja, Claymore, Jyu-Oh-Sei, Trinity Blood, Beck, Romeo x Juliet, Kaze no Stigma, Yu Yu Hakusho, Spiral, Fullmetal Alchemist, Case Closed, Evangelion 1.0, Hell Girl, Bamboo Blade, Aquarion, Desert Punk, Origin - Spirits of the Past, Mushi-Shi, Suzuka, Ouran High School Host Club, Ghost Hunt, Peach Girl, Sgt. Frog, One Piece, Save Me! Lollipop, Baki the Grappler and The Galaxy Railways.

Out of the booth, Harp spends her time producing DVDs for FUNimation, tending to her horde of rabbits and proudly spreading the gospel of sock knitting. She is also the inspiration behind the character Aubrey, a regular cast member on the popular web comic, Something Positive.

Chris Smith indulges his inner child every time he goes to work. Since the age of six, mesmerized by Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer, he's dreamed of being the voice of cartoon characters. Starting as background characters in Robotech and Captain Harlock, Smith now voices Ishidate and Shuura in Naruto; Rose and Wonderwiess in Bleach; Kittan in Gurren Lagann; Puppetmaster in Solid State Society; Hanamoto in Honey and Clover; Beloqui in Flag and many more.

His voice has also appeared in video games such as Street Fighter 4, World of Warcraft, Command & Conquer, Mortal Kombat, Samurai Warriors, Final Fantasy: Dissidia, Tales of Symphonia 2, Starcraft 2, Vandal Hearts 2, Lunia and many more.

J. Michael Tatum was nurtured on anime classics from the tender age of Star Blazers to become a voice actor/writer/ADR Director for FUNimation. Cast by sheer fluke as the warmhearted yet tormented Rikichi in 2005's Samurai 7, Tatum's inexplicable luck held long enough to see his flag hoisted on a slew of dream roles, most notably Kyoya Otori in the hit English language dub of Ouran High School Host Club. Other characters Tatum has voiced include: Doumeki in XXXHolic, Jiro Mochizuki in Black Blood Brothers, Isaac Dian in Baccano! God Eneru in the One Piece, Komui Lee in D-Gray Man, Dororo in Sgt. Frog, the titular loveable savage of Heroic Age, Lawrence in Spice & Wolf, and Scar in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Reaching beyond voice acting, Tatum branched out to voice director and adaptive screenwriting in 2007. His directing credits to date include Aquarion, Jyu-oh-Sei, Romeo X Juliet, Big Windup, and Rin, while his writing credits include substantial work on both Ouran High School Host Club, Heroic Age and Blassreiter.

Emily DeJesus is a writer, editor, story creator and manager of Studio Capsule. Robert and Emily met at a convention called Anime Central and haven't been apart since that day. Emily has always enjoyed manga and anime, but never thought it could be her job. Emily has worked with Robert for over 7 years now. She helps write the web comic "How to Loathe Drawing in the Manga Style" and has just finished writing her first children's book. She enjoys the business side of working for Studio Capsule very much and is grateful that she has an opportunity to work in the manga/comics business.

Robert DeJesus is a writer, story creator, illustrator, storyboard artist and character designer for Studio Capsule. Robert is no stranger to the anime and manga community. An Indiana born, self-taught artist, who got his first art career break when he sent an eight page short story to comic publisher, Antarctic Press in February of 1990. He has drawn manga inspired art for well over 19 years and has been published nearly all over the world. He has worked for many companies like Playstation Magazine, Marvel, Hasbro, and recently with Harper Collins Publishing.

Previous guest announcements included voice actors Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres and industry guest Tom Wayland.

About Anime Boston: Anime Boston is an annual three-day Japanese animation convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. Anime Boston 2010 will be held Friday, April 2 through Sunday, April 4 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston hotel. More information about Anime Boston can be found at http://www.animeboston.com/.

About New England Anime Society: The New England Anime Society was founded in 2001. Based in Massachusetts, The New England Anime Society, Inc. is an organization dedicated to furthering public education and understanding of the Japanese language and culture through visual and written media. More information about The New England Anime Society is available at http://neanime.org/.