FanCons.ca Press Releases


January 23, 2006

News for Sakura-Con 2006:

Sakura-Con announces three new guests of honor

Seattle, WA 1/23/2006 - Sakura-Con is pleased to announce the addition of three Guests of Honor for Sakura-Con 2006: Goro Taniguchi, Takahiro Kimura and Hideyuki Kurata, all known for the excellent series GUNxSWORD (TV). For more details please visit our guests page at www.sakuracon.org. More exciting guest announcements are on the way!

Goro Taniguchi is the talented Director of many well known anime such as GUNxSWORD, Infinite Ryvius (TV) and s-CRY-ed (TV). He also has credits for storyboards on many other series, for example: Yu-Gi-Oh! (TV), After War Gundam X (TV) and Honey and Clover (TV). Additionally, he has served as a Creative Producer, Assistant Director or Production Coordinator on series including: Gasaraki (TV), Mai-HiME (TV) and Earthian (OAV).

Takahiro Kimura is the creative force behind the Character Design and Animation Direction of such series as GUNxSWORD (TV), Betterman (TV) and Dirty Pair Flash 1, 2, & 3 (OAV). As either Animation Director or Character Designer, he has to his credit, work on Bastard!! (OAV), Mobile Fighter G Gundam (TV) and SD Gundam Force (TV). His Key animation work includes series such as: Golden Boy (OAV), Kumagure Orange Road (OAV) and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (movie).

Hideyuki Kurata is the script writer for GUNxSword. He is well known as the ingenious creator of Read or Die (manga, OAV and TV) and Kamichu! (manga and TV). He has also written screenplays and/or scripts for Magical Girl Pretty Sammy (OAV), Battle Athletes (TV and OAV) and Excel Saga (TV). He is currently working on the screenplay for the much anticipated Hellsing OAV.

ANCEA (Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association) is proud to sponsor the ninth annual Sakura-Con, March 24th - 26th, 2006 at a new location; the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Downtown Seattle Washington. The Washington State Convention and Trade center has 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and over 50 meeting rooms. Sakura-Con has roughly tripled its capacity for attendees from 2005 so there is no longer a cap at 5100 attendees. No more turning folks away at the door if Sakura-Con can help it!

Sakura-Con is the premiere Pacific Northwest convention devoted to Japanese animation (anime), comics (manga), gaming and traditional East Asian culture. It is a destination event for industry leaders, celebrities, fans and artists.

Please come for Sakura-Con 2006 with thousands of enthusiasts to explore the contemporary and traditional cultures of East Asia. See premieres of new shows and video games, meet the creators behind the art, behold many people in outlandish costumes, and dance the night away. Pre-Register now and save substantially versus at the door prices. For more information please visit our website at http://www.sakuracon.org.

FULL CONVENTION MEMBERSHIP RATES
$45 until 2-28-2006

The first 6000 pre-registered attendees receive a free 30 min GameWorks gameplay card.

$60 at the door
Children age 6-12 are half-price
Children under 6 are free

ANCEA is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about Asian popular and traditional culture. They organize several events every year in order to promote this goal. Sakura-Con is the largest of these events.

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