StarBulletin.com

Texas denied, isles affirmed for actor's visit


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POSTED: Monday, November 17, 2008

It's days like today when I'm more than happy to have been wrong in the past.

Flash back with me to August, when Kawaii Kon, Hawaii's annual anime convention, announced that voice actors Caitlin Glass and Travis Willingham would be guests at next year's event. Glass was the voice of automail mechanic Winry Rockbell in “;Fullmetal Alchemist”;; Willingham was the voice of Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang in the same series. A third member of that cast, Laura Bailey, who voiced the homunculus Lust, also is among next year's guests.

At the time, I lamented that the “;Fullmetal Alchemist”; reunion would be lacking a prominent member: Vic Mignogna, the voice of Edward Elric and a three-time Kawaii Kon guest. Mignogna was listed as a guest at Anime Matsuri, an anime convention in Texas being held the same weekend as Kawaii Kon, April 10-12.

That was supposed to be the end of that ... until an e-mail last week from Kawaii Kon founder/co-director Stan Dahlin proved me wrong.

As it turns out, Mignogna has withdrawn from Anime Matsuri in favor of a fourth time attending Kawaii Kon. It's not an arrangement where he would divide his time between the two conventions, either; he will be here for all three days.

Mignogna isn't the only guest returning for another go-round. Also confirmed as returning for next year's show are voice actor Monica Rial and fan-favorite artists Robert and Emily DeJesus, making those three a perfect 5-for-5 in Kawaii Kon attendance.

In other convention-related news, fellow Star-Bulletin columnist and regular convention attendee Erika Engle recently pointed me to Kawaii Kon's Twitter feed. Twitter is a “;microblogging”; site where sentence-long tidbits of information get relayed to followers. Check it out at twitter.com/KawaiiKon, or for information presented in a more conventional (no pun intended) manner, visit www.kawaii-kon.org ...

 

Meeting roll call

» Oahu Anime Explorer: 6 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at HMC Academy, 555 N. King St. Visit www.oahuanimeexplorer.com for more details.

It's also time to RSVP for the group's annual Christmas party, to be held Dec. 13 from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Kaneohe Higashi Hongwanji Mission, 45-520 Keaahala Road. Pictionary and “;last man standing”; games and food catered by Ige's will be part of the festivities there. For more information or to RSVP, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ...

» University of Hawaii at Manoa Anime Manga Society: Holiday Gaming Party from 4:30 to 11 p.m. at Kuykendall Hall, third floor, on the UH-Manoa campus.

Featured will be two video game rooms, a potluck, showings of anime inspired by video games, a “;YouTube Room”; and a tournament featuring the new Xbox 360 karaoke game “;Lips”; in which the prize will be a new Xbox 360 game console. For more information, visit the club forums at www.animemangasociety.com ...

 

Coming up Sunday

Speaking of using video games as inspiration, Wilma and I will be looking at manga inspired by video games in “;Drawn & Quartered”; in the Sunday Today section ...