June 4, 2010
News for Otakon 2010:
Otakon 2010 welcomes two American guests
Baltimore, MD (June 4, 2010) – J. Michael Tatum known for roles such as Kyoya Otori in Ouran Host Club and Scar in Full Metal Alcemist will be a guest at Otakon 2010. This will be his first appearance at Otakon. Nurtured on Anime classics from the tender age of Star Blazers, this fan turned into a voice actor/writer/ADR director.
Discovered by Funimation visionary ADR director Christopher Bevins, who cast him as Rikichi in 2005's Samurai 7, Tatum then went on to be cast in many roles, most notably Kyoya Otori in the hit English language dub of Ouran High School Host Club. Other characters he's had the good fortune to play include: Doumeki in XXXHolic, Jiro Mochizuki in Black Blood Brothers, Isaac Dian in Baccano! God Eneru in the new dub of One Piece, Komui Lee in D-Gray Man, Dororo in Sgt. Frog, and the titular loveable savage of Heroic Age, Lawrence in Spice and Wolf, and Scar in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
He has also been featured in Romeo X Juliet, Speed Grapher, Trinity Blood, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Black Cat, Nabari no Ou, Ghost Hunt, School Rumble, The Tower of Druaga, Aquarion, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, Shuffle, Shigurui, Glass Fleet, Mushishi, and the feature-length film Vexille,among many others.
In late 2007, he branched out into ADR directing and adaptive scriptwriting for Funimation as well. His ADR 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, Initial D and Blassreiter. He is currently working on a number of exciting projects due for release later this year .
Baltimore, MD (June 4, 2010) – Voice actor Jerry Jewell will be a guest at Otakon 2010. This will be his first appearance at Otakon. Anime fans will recognize him from his dynamic resume.
Jerry Jewell can be heard as Kyo Sohma in Fruits Basket, Jimmy Kudo in Case Closed, Taira in Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Barry the Chopper in Full Metal Alchemist, Happiness Bunny in Shin-Chan, Rin Tsuchimi in Shuffle, Zellman Clock in Black Blood Brothers, Tony Frost in Blue Gender, Suzaku in Yu Yu Hakusho, Jin in Yu Yu Hakusho, Vino/Claire Stanfield in Baccano, and Akito Hayama in Kodocha.
His voice can also be heard in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Black Cat, One Piece, Tsubasa, Trinity Blood and numerous other roles.
Otakon 2010 will be held July 30 – August 1 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its seventeenth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Since 1999, Otakon has been held in Baltimore, Maryland; currently, Otakon is one of Baltimore's few large, city-wide events, drawing over 25,000 individual members for three days each year (for a paid attendance of over 70,000 "turnstile" attendees). Otakon is a membership-based convention sponsored by Otakorp, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff – we are run by fans, for fans.
For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see http://www.otakon.com/otakorp/index.asp
For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2010, see http://www.otakon.com/
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