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Press Release: Anime Midwest 2012, one of the largest up-and-coming anime conventions to happen in the Chicagoland region, is tremendously exuberant to announce the appearance of three cast members from the new FUNimation Panty and Stocking dub will be appearing at the Anime Midwest 2012 convention. Voice actors Jamie Marchi (Panty), Ian Sinclair (Chuck), and Joel McDonald (Brief), will join Anime Midwest 2012 in Lisle, Illinois this July for three days of autograph sessions, discussion panels, screenings, and more.

Jamie Marchi is the lead character, Panty, and is also the lead writer for the show, which announced its English cast at Anime Central 2012. Some of Jamie's most popular roles are from Hetalia (Narrator), Soul Eater (Liz Thompson), Witchblade (Masane Amaha), Sgt. Frog (Aki Hinata), YuYu Hakusho (Juri), Fruits Basket (Motoko Minagawa), Black Cat (Rinslet Walker), Spice and Wolf (Chloe), Rin (Mimi), Blassreiter (Amanda Werner), Negima(s) (Haruna), Burst Angel (Meg), Claymore (Helen), One Piece (Miss Valentine), Strike Witches (Shirley), The Tower of Druaga (Fatina), Ga-Rei-Zero (Mei), Ouran (Chizuru Maihara), FMA (Rebecca, Rick), as well as the unforgettable Miss Polly from Shin Chan. A few of her more recent roles include Rosario + Vampire (Ms. Nekonome), The Sacred Blacksmith (Penelope), Sekirei (Uzume), Legend of the Legendary Heroes (Milk), Sengoku Basara (Matsu), Baka and Test (Shouko), and Heaven’s Lost Property (Mikako Satsukitane).

Jamie has behind the scene experience whipping out script adaptations for several shows including Hetalia, Hetalia: Paint it White, Spice and Wolf, Sgt. Frog, Yamada’s First Time, Baka and Test, Okamisan, Oh! Edo Rocket, Strike Witches, and Negima?! amongst other "yet to be announced" ridiculously awesome titles. She’s also directed Hetalia (Season 3), Spice and Wolf, Sgt. Frog and Negima?!.

Ian Sinclair will be Chuck in Panty and Stocking. Ian got his first voice work when he visited Funimation Studios as a college student in 2004, and a director asked him if he'd like to jump in the booth for a one-liner. Unbeknownst to that poor director, that insignificant character ended up being an extremely small, yet still recurring, role, and Ian had to be called back in.

As a native of Dallas, Ian graduated from TCU with a degree in Theatre, returned home, and began his career as a stage actor where he won awards such as Best Local Actor in Dallas of 2009. He continued at Funimation, gradually working his way up from one line characters until his break as Dallas Genoard in Baccano!, a show which he Assistant Directed. Since then he has performed in roles such as Toraji Ishida in Bamboo Blade, Douglas Rosenberg in El Cazador de la Bruja, Sobi Nakajima in Linebarrels of Iron, Haruki in Master of Martial Arts, Akoz in Casshern Sins, Kaoru Seo in Sekirei, Shinze Kamiu in Shikabane Hime, Liam in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Ginei Morioka in Rosario + Vampire , Marc Cole in Spice and Wolf II, Toyama in Oh! Edo Rocket, Bora in Fairy Tail, Romano in Hetalia, Shu Koibuchi in Princess Jellyfish, Tatsumi in Shiki, Bardroy in Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), and most recently Ryner Lute in Legend of the Legendary Heroes.

As a director, Ian has worked on Initial D, Spice and Wolf II, both seasons of Black Butler, and a few others he can’t talk about… yet. Additionally, Ian can be heard in numerous radio/TV spots, as the voice of Baron Flynt in the video game Borderlands, and as the “Cool” custom voice in Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi.

Joel will be providing the voice for Brief. As a director, Joel has worked on shows including Initial D, Tsubasa Chronicles,, Heroic Age, Kenichi, Spice and Wolf, Big Windup!, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, and Sgt. Frog. He has also written for shows like Claymore, Big Windup!, Ga-Rei: Zero, STRAIN, DBZ: Kai, D. Gray-man, Sands of Destruction, and Linebarrels of Iron. Joel's acting credits include Okami-san (Ryoshi), Sekirei (Minato), Big Windup! (Hanai), Baccano! (Jacuzzi Splot), Nabari No Ou (Yoite), Initial D (Takumi), Rin (Mary), Chrome-Shelled Regios (Haia), D. Grayman (Jasdero), Baka and Test (Kubo), Linebarrels of Iron (Yajima), and Heroic Age (Iolaos).

Since age 7, Joel was acting in plays at school and church, which led to community theatre, high school theatre and speech tournaments, which somehow turned into a BFA in Acting and Directing from Sam Houston State University. From there, Joel began acting professionally. In 2006, after years of freelance stage work in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Joel stumbled upon voice acting. And to everyone's surprise, he was a passable ADR director and adaptive screenwriter, and has worked in some capacity on over 80 titles to date.

All three guests will be available in various panels, interview sesions, Q&A sessions, and more. They will be joining numerous announced and yet-to-be-announced guests, including Random aka MegaRan, The Pillowcases, V is for Villains, Level Boys, FanService Renji, Party Monster DJs, DJ Oso, and DJ Jeffito. Convention events include a cosplay masquerade contest, anime screenings, autographs, fan panels, workshops, a formal ball, multiple rave dances, and many many others.

Anime Midwest will be held July 6-8, 2012, at the Wyndham Hotel & Convention Center in Lisle, Illinois, just east of Naperville and about twenty minutes from downtown Chicago. Rooms for the convention can be reserved online at http://animemidwest.com/location for only $99.99 per night. Registration is online for only $30 until June 10th, or $35 at the door for a weekend pass. Online registration can be found at http://animemidwest.com/register

More information about Anime Midwest's events, guests, and more, can be found at http://animemidwest.com/

Press Release: Anime Midwest 2012 is excited to announce performances by Random aka MegaRan, Level Boys, and V is for Villains at the Anime Midwest 2012 convention. Anime Midwest is a national fan conference (think Comic-Con) that will bring together thousands of attendees for a three-day weekend filled with autograph signings, special guests, an exhibit hall, concerts, costume contests, and events. Anime Midwest will be held July 6-8, 2012 at the beautiful Wyndham Executive Conference Center in Lisle, Illinois. Additional guests are slated to be announced as the convention approaches.

RANDOM (a): Unpredictable, Following no particular pattern, deterministic...a system whose evolution cannot be predicted exactly. Random, aka Random Beats, aka Big Ran personifies what Hip-Hop should be: Spontaneous, fun, and true. Every album conveys a different theme, a different vibe and a different emotion.

Welcome to The Random Experience, where You Are the Music.

Born Raheem Jarbo in Philadelphia to a southern mother and African father, Random’s songs are filled with all of the heartache, pain, triumph, tragedy and fun that come with everyday living. A Philadelphia native and Phoenix transplant, graduate of Penn State University and middle school instructor, Random speaks to the everyman, transcending race or class barriers.”I never want anyone to predict my next move,” he says.

You can, however, expect the unexpected from Random, hence the name. After teaching himself to make beats on the MTV Music Generator software for PlayStation, Random landed a job at a Philadelphia studio as a producer and engineer. During downtime, he would create his first demo tape. This led to Random signing with indie label RAHM Nation Recordings and releasing his debut album, The Call in 2006. Random made waves by going way left of his backpack roots when he released “Mega Ran” in 2007. It was an album completely comprised of sampled 8-bit beats from the hit video game series “Mega Man.”

This led to an unprecedented barrage of work from Ran. The album (and its follow up, Mega Ran 9) virtually exploded after video game corporation CAPCOM offered Random a special licensing agreement, and calling on Ran to perform at Comic-Con and other special events. In 2009, Random signed a deal with Japanese record label River City Records and released RANDOMONIUM, a collection of previously released material. In 2010, Random collaborated with critically acclaimed producer K-Murdock to release FOREVER FAMICOM, a conceptual album paying homage to the 8-Bit NES and 16-Bit Super NES video game consoles.

In 2011, less than a year after the success of FOREVER FAMICOM, Random teamed with AZ producer LOST PERCEPTION to create “Black Materia,” an immense album experience that chronicled the events and story of the classic video game Final Fantasy VII. This album went on to rank in the top 10 of its categories on Amazon and iTunes, beating out mainstream stars such as Kanye West and Lil Wayne. in November, he released the final piece of the Mega Ran trilogy, Mega Ran 10, with CDs and even a special blue vinyl. A month later, Ran released "The Memorandum," a throwback hip-hop experience with AZ hip-hop artist Mr. Miranda. A remixed and remastered version of the Black Materia album was released Jan 31, 2012.

Today, Random is no longer a teacher by title, but still travels the world to entertain and educate through the gift of music. From the clubs and lounges to the packed comic and gaming conventions all over, Random’s music has managed game and movie soundtrack placements and press coverage in Playstation Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Phoenix New Times, URB Magazine, Game Developer, Nintendo Power, and more. Something old..something new...something Random. More about Random can be found at http://animemidwest.com/guests with links to Youtube videos of his most popular music.

The Level Boys are working on their second CD (first official LP), after passing out their first promotional EP at shows like C2E2 and performing. Next Level or NLV, is a label started by K-1 and managed by K-1 and J Rell. K-1 started off just making beats, but soon started rapping. Level Boys can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Levelboys

V is for Villains is a new breed of entertainment. Mixing the visual styles of Steampunk, Carnival and Noir, with the musical taste of Nine Inch Nails, Prodigy, and your favorite film score; V is for Villains will take you on a journey through the imagination that your mother couldn't prepare you for. Most groups often say that they intend for "world domination"...V is for Villains might actually mean it.... Their official website can be found at http://www.visforvillains.com/

Anime Midwest 2012 will converge on the Wyndham in Lisle, Illinois from July 6th to July 8th, 2012, with three full days of unique programming, concerts, exhibits, and events lasting as late as 2am. Attendee registration for the convention starts at just $25 for the entire weekend, which includes access to all convention events. Much of the convention is catered with free rice and soda, included in that price.

Last year's Anime Midwest featured special guests from top-selling, award-winning video games like Portal 2 and Team Fortress, in addition to anime shows like Dragon Ball Z and Soul Eater.

Full information about the convention can be found online at http://animemidwest.com/

Anime Midwest 2012 Announces Appearance of Panty and Stocking Cast Members

Anime Midwest 2012 Announces Random aka MegaRan, Level Boys, and V is for Villains

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