2022 Guests of Honor

Due to the ongoing presence of COVID-19, modifications from normal convention appearances may be in place for all 2022 Guest Appearances.  Modifications may include masks, increased social distancing, and protective barriers. The types of safety protocols needed will have to be determined closer to the convention and based on the status of the overall pandemic environment by Labor Day. Please be flexible and understanding with any of these changes.  No international guests are planned for Nan Desu Kan 2022.

Major Attaway is a Classically trained Broadway Actor and Singer who has voiced the characters of Urouge in One Piece, Arcadios in Fairy Tail, Desmomd Rutaganda in Psycho Pass: The Movie, Naval in Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2, Clay in Borderlands 3, Regongar in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Trevor Ghalt in Battleborn, Sultan Vinegar on Snack World, Deskari in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and Ton Jravolta in Space Dandy, to name a few. He can also be heard in various roles on Smite, Dragon Ball Z Kai, High School DxD, Soul Eater Not, and Ghost in the Shell: Arise, among others.

You may have gotten to see him in his Broadway Debut! In 2017 he took over the Tony Award winning role of the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway! Major granted everyone’s wishes by bringing magic and glitter to a packed house 8 shows a week! He can even be seen in the final season of the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, as well as the first season of an upcoming HBO series.

Major is also a Twitch Affiliate! On his channel IPlayedMajor where he is a Major Player and also happens to be a Player named Major he’s here to provide a safe place for your headspace. He’s a variety streamer who also streams games he’s in and games he’d like to be in. We’re currently campaigning for Clay to be a Vaullt Hunter in BL41 #Clay4VauntHunter! Come hang out for a family friendly environment filled with lots of singing, silly voices, and self wellness encouragement. These days Major is excited to embrace the Con Life and community. He is currently working on revamping his Disney based Cabaret show called The Genies Jukebox and Biohacking his way to a stress free life with NuCalm.

Anthony Bowling has been working as a voice actor for Funimation since 2014 and performed in and directed many of their shows since then. Some of his more notable characters are Beets (Dragonball Super:Broly), New Zealand (Hetalia), Alciel (The Devil is a Part-Timer), Seiya (Cautious Hero), Chronostasis (My Hero Academia), Yuka (Fairy Tail) and Ukyo (Samurai 7) as well as voicing Grouse in the video game Borderlands 3.

He has directed shows such as One Piece, Date A Live S3, Mix:Meisei Story and Yu-No, which can all be seen at Funimation.com. He is thrilled to be here and get the opportunity to meet so many fans. For a full list of his credits you can check out his website anthonybowlingva.com or check out his twitter feed @Bowling4anime.

Jessica Cavanagh is a voice actor, theatre artist, and writer comprised of many different geekdoms smooshed into one lady-body. A voice actor with Funimation Entertainment (now Crunchyroll!!) for the past decade, Jess can be heard in over 100 titles but is most known for her roles in fan favorites My Hero Academia (as Deku’s sweet mama, Inko Midoriya!), Fairy Tail (Aquarius), Attack on Titan (Carla Jaeger…another fierce mama!), One Piece (Curly Dadan…also kind of a mama? Wait, are we seeing a trend, here??), Steins;Gate (Moeka), Black Butler (Paula), and Black Clover (Puli Angel). She can also be heard in Code:Breaker (Rui Hachiogi), Rolling Girls (Kaguya Nayotaki) Concrete Revolutio (Michiko Tozaki), Karneval (Iva), Katana Maidens (Akane Origami), Barakamon (Ikiko) and a slew of others.

As an ADR writer, she’s adapted hundreds of episodes of anime for an English-speaking audience. Some faves include Golden Kamuy, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Sakura Quest, My Senpai is Annoying, Smile Down the Runway, Kageki Shoujo, Banished from the Hero’s Party…, and Duke of Death and his Maid. Her semi-autobiographical play, Self-Injurious Behavior, based loosely on her experience as the parent of her autistic son and favorite human, Elijah, was presented off-Broadway in NYC in spring of 2019, followed by a production in LA later that year, produced by Joe Mantegna.  Jessica is particularly passionate about telling women’s stories now that she’s actually tried it, y’all, and she’s determined to spend the rest of her life doing as much of that as possible! 

John Swasey started down the road of anime in 1997, when he landed his first role in Golden Boy at ADV Films.  Since then, John has gone on to voice hundreds shows and characters with Sentai Films, Funimation, Rooster Teeth, ADV Films, Switchblade Films, Okratron 5000, Gearbox, Seraphim Digital and Illumitoons.  John’s wife once quipped that there are certain actors who might be the “Brad Pitt” of anime but John is the “Kevin Bacon” of anime. 

 Being a character actor has allowed John the freedom to voice bazillions of characters such as All for One in My Hero Academia, Kumatetsu, The Beast in The Boy and the Beast, Bols in Akame Ga Kill, Undertaker in Black Butler, Salvador in Borderlands II (VG), Gendo in Evangelion, Lord Death in Soul Eater, Hohenheim in Fullmetal Alchemist, Sir Crocodile in One Piece, Dodoria in DBZ Kai,  Hades in Fairy Tale, Zachary in Attack on Titan, Aramaki in Ghost in the Shell, Jinnouchi in Summer Wars, and El Rey in Nomad of Nowhere, as well as roles in numerous live action films including the ever popular spoof Lake Texarkana Gamera. 

 In 2004, John jumped to the other side of the “mic” to direct.  Some of the shows he has recently directed include Ushio and Tora, Squid Girl, Flip Flappers, Revue Starlight and Doreiku.   

In addition to anime, John has acted in hundreds of radio and tv commercials and several films including the cult fav…Dazed and Confused.

Olivia Swasey is a Houston-based voice actor who began her professional career as the Enron building baby. Though a newcomer to the anime world, Olivia is loving every minute of it. Anime has allowed her to meet incredible artists and fans and she is so proud to be a part of such a welcoming community.

Olivia has been heard in shows like Kakegurui (Kirari Momobami), 7Seeds (Ran), Vinland Saga (Ylva), Real Girl (Arisa Ishino) & Kandagawa Jet Girls (Fuka Tamaki). She has also been in Revue Starlight (Maya Tendo), BanG Dream! (Yukina Minato), & Girls Und Panzer (Momoga).

Recently, for the first time in 21 years, Olivia performed a cartwheel. Now that she has conquered the physical world, she looks forward to conquering her next project on the screen! 

Bill Butts is an African American voice actor, martial artist, and Twitch Streamer! His true passion is acting! He started off in theater which led to on camera and voice over work!

In his spare time Bill likes to hike, do speed runs in video games, and promote fitness in between promoting the importance of diversity within the voiceover industry. 

You can hear him as Slidin’ Go in My Hero Academia, Cioccolata in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Bakuzan in One Punch Man, Odin in Record of Ragnarok, Jackal in The Prince of Tennis, Uncle Tian in Genshin Impact and many more!

Nominated for Best Supporting Actor by BTVA for his iconic role as William T. Spears in Black Butler, Barry Yandell is a well-known and very busy regional stage actor and voiceover artist based in North Texas. 

Most recently, Barry lends his voice talent to the characters of Conehead in Fire Force, Zelada in Cop Craft and Kodai in Yu-No.  Fans will recognize his voice contributions in some of the most popular Anime series to date including Alexis Kerib in SSSS Gridman, Yoki in Full Metal Alchemist, Mr. 2 Bon Clay in One Piece, Little Demon in Soul Eater, Dwarf Shaman in Goblin Slayer, and Popuko in Pop Team Epic. 

Additional roles include an array of characters from Dragonball Z, Ghost in the Shell, Fairy Tail, and Attack on Titan to name a few.  Please visit Barry’s actor pages at IMDB.com and behindthevoiceactors.com for a full listing of characters and upcoming new roles.

Jim Foronda is a Texas-based voice actor, freelance ad copywriter, and cyborg. In 2001, Jim was writing commercials for Hasbro Toys when a budget miscalculation on a G.I.Joe campaign ended up with him cast as Cobra Commander, Duke, Heavy Duty, and a British reporter— all in one commercial. After a year of being asked to play characters like Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Mr. Potato Head in toy ads, he decided to pursue voice acting outside of his day job.

Juggling time between ad writing and voice work, Jim became a regular “pick up” player for Funimation, in shows like Dragon Ball Z, Case Closed, Panty & Stocking, Solty Rei, and more, along with supporting roles including Denny Bloch/Brosh in both runs of Fullmetal Alchemist and Marco Togni in Gunslinger Girl. Jim’s first video game role was Jackal in Spikeout: Battle Street, which he regrettably-yet-fondly refers to as his “almost a Jill Sandwich” moment. He went on to voice Apophis, Hyena, and others in Unreal Championship 2, Janempa in a bunch of Dragon Ball games, and 17 different characters across the Borderlands franchise.

In an ironic flip of the actor’s proverb, Jim’s day job quit him in 2013 when Hasbro changed ad agencies. Turning a layoff into an opportunity, he went to voice acting full-time. Since then, he’s voiced Muscular in My Hero Academia, Kumasa in If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It To The Budokan I Would Die, HEUSC in The Millionaire Detective: Balance UNLIMITED, Frankenzombie in Sleepy Princess In The Demon Castle, Geld I/Orc Disaster in That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, Mato/King Toma in Fairy Tail, Vander Decken IX in One Piece, and more. He’s been in several games too, including over 10 characters in SMITE (like TMNT’s Shredder!), Tom Banner in Killing Floor 2, and Oscar Mike, ISIC, Whiskey Foxtrot, and MINREC in Battleborn. And in 2019, was super-excited to take up the role of Claptrap in Borderlands 3.

In his spare time, Jim likes photography, games of the video and tabletop variety, occasional trips to Japan, building LEGO stuff, and working on a novel that he will probably never, ever finish. He loves his wife, Karin, and their three cats Takkyubin, Momiji, and Ikaruga. He also wishes Japari Park was a real place. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 8 years old, Jim wears an insulin pump. By medical definition that totally makes him an actual, for real cyborg. He has yet to jump over a house or lift an automobile with his bare hands.

Lauren Landa is voice actress born and raised in Los Angeles. In the last 15 years her voice has been in over one hundred different anime and video game titles, playing the voice of many beloved characters. Lauren is most known for roles such as the ninja beauty, Kasumi in Dead or Alive 5; the sexy Litchi Faye Ling in the popular fighting games BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, as well as the sequels BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, and Continuum Shift Extend; Chrono Phantasma; the badass Kyoko Sakura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the enthusiastic Yan Leixia in Soul Calibur V, the deadly Little Queen in Tales of Graces; the valley girl racer in pink, Boiboi, in REDLINE, the adorable zombie Squigly in Skullgirls, kind hearted Leia in Tales of Xillia, the innocent Chubo Sonken in Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians, the quiet Annie Leonhardt in the hit anime series Attack on Titan, One in “DrakenGard 3”, Nora in “Noragami”, Sailor Neptune in the VIZ Media’s Sailor Moon, Merlin in “The Seven Deadly Sins”, Lyra in “Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise”, Juno in “Beastars”, Female Robin in “Fire Emblem” and “Super Smash Brothers”, Kyoka Eden in Scarlet Nexus, Karin Kanzuki in Street Fighter V, Leila in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Tsukasa in Over the Moon for You, and many more!

For Updates and Announcements follow Lauren Landa on Twitter and Twitch!

Johnny Yong Bosch got his start fighting giant bugs as Adam Park, the Black Ranger, Green Zeo and Green Turbo Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It is a role that he would play for three and a half seasons on television, two motion pictures and two special guest appearances in future Power Rangers seasons.

After Power Rangers, Johnny became very involved in the world of voice over. His first major voice acting role was Vash the Stampede in Trigun. He later went on to voice Kaneda in Akira, Renton in Eureka Seven, Kiba in Wolf’s Rain, Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass, Izaya in Durarara and Yukio in Blue Exorcist, Sasori in Naruto, Artemis in Sailor Moon, Hajime in Danganronpa 2, Makoto Tachibana in Free!, Nate in Yokai Watch, Orga in Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, Haruo in Hi Score Girl, Zora in Black Clover, Jonathan in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Sabo in One Piece Stampede, Giyu in Demon Slayer, Lio in Promare, Broly in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Nine in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising and many more.

Johnny’s voice can also be heard in numerous video games. Providing voices Nero in Devil May Cry 4 and 5 (including motion capture), Kuhn in .hack//G.U., Adachi/Narukami in Persona 4, Almaz in Disgaea 3, Emil in Tales of Symphonia, Guy in Tales of the Abyss, Firion in Final Fantasy Dissidia, Bumblebee in Transformers: War for Cybertron, Yang in Street Fighter IV, Zero in Marvel VS Capcom 3. Yukimura in Sengoku Basara, Torian Cadera in Star Wars The Old Republic, Zero in Smash Bros, Iron Fist In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and Kung Jin in Mortal Kombat X

Amelie Belcher is an award-winning artist, painter, art instructor, comic creator and pod cast host.

Known for her comedy based art education presentations, she has travelled the world teaching thousands of budding artists the secrets to starting their own journeys down the path to artistic expression with an eye geared toward Anime and Manga styled creations. She is known for her web comics, “Bounty Haunters” and “The Real-Life Adventures Of Ami Chan”. You can read her work on her website www.amiarmy.com.

Amelie is also known for her latest artistic adventures including an ongoing series of fine art watercolor and gouache paintings dedicated to the one and only Jeff Goldblum she calls “The Gold Bloomery”. More recently, she has also begun combining a life long passion for painting and theme parks. Follow along with her as she paints her way across the wide world of parks on her instagram ipaintparks.

She and her husband, Levi Castello, also host the popular pod cast “Laser Discotheque”, a show about watching movies on the least convenient format ever produced…Laserdiscs. You can give a listen on the pod catcher of your choice or visit the website at https://laserdiscpod.com/.

Texas-based actor Wendy Powell absolutely loves what she does, performing in all forms of media: film, television, radio, narration, and video games. But where her character-creating skills truly come to life is in anime! Mirroring the shapeshifting abilities of her iconic Fullmetal Alchemist role Envy, she changes her voice into anything and everything imaginable, including quirky robots, mysterious omnipotent aliens, little old fox ladies, wispy exorcists, and everyday human beings.

Wendy attended Texas Christian University, majoring in Theater. She’s also an alumna of the Disney College Program, studying editing on The Rocketeer and The Rescuers Down Under. After graduating in 1993, she’s worked steadily as a professional actress ever since.

In 2000, Wendy first began working with Funimation as Amick Hendar in Blue Gender, and from there she just kept on going! Her most well-known roles include Ilena in Claymoire, Mukuro in Yuyu Hakusho, Miss Merry Christmas in One Piece, and as a “guest star” Popuko in Pop Team Epic! Of course, Wendy’s vocal transformations can be heard in so much more, including My Hero Academia, Overlord, Space Dandy, Fruits Basket, Case Closed, D. Gray Man, Fairy Tail, Sengoku Basara, Prince Adventures, Sgt. Frog, and… well, how much time do you have, because at over 120 titles, this list could go on for a while…

Wendy has also performed in videogames such as The Gunstringer, Bloodrayne 2, Spikeout: Battlestreet, and as the enigmatic “Watcher” in Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. She confesses that, while she plays characters in videogames… she’s kind of bad at actually playing videogames. (^_^;)

Wendy’s passion for acting is matched only by her passion for teaching. For over a decade, she has taught middle school theatre, grateful for the opportunity to educate and encourage young actors. She also loves meeting people at conventions, which lets her share her love of acting in person. When not behind the mic or in front of the classroom, Wendy enjoys the outdoors, reading nonfiction, and floral design. She lives in Dallas with her husband, her seven-year-old son, and a menagerie of animal companions: a black Labrador, a white German Shepherd, a bearded dragon, a leopard gecko, and a turtle (named Crusher).

Heather Martin (aka. HeatherAfter Cosplay) is an artist, model and longtime cosplayer. A part of the convention scene since 1996, her passion for cosplay and all things pop culture led Heather to quickly become a Master level cosplayer. She has been honored to be a cosplay judge and/or guest at conventions throughout the country, as well as represent various businesses and charity organizations as a cosplay model and spokesmodel. Sony Entertainment’s video game department, Marvel, Image Comics, Amazon, and Google are just a few of the companies that she has worked with, and her cosplay and artwork have appeared in numerous publications worldwide. 

Keep an eye out for Heather’s panels, and look for her online at the ‘HeatherAfter Cosplay’ Facebook page which features daily updates:  http://www.facebook.com/HeatherCosplay/

Illustrator Jason P. Martin (MartinArt Studios) has worked professionally for many years at various companies and studios. These include MARVEL, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Image, Xbox, Playstation, IGN, Disney and many more. Jason also designs logos, shirt and convention art while also creating works for various RPG’s, games and movies. He lives happily with wife Heather and their son.

Make way for Queen D! The self-proclaimed southern queen of crossplay! (What a mouthful!)

Queen D is a fourteen-year seasoned cosplay veteran, emcee, and burlesque performer! Known for her wild antics and insane style of hosting shows, causing general chaos, and eating chicken nuggets!

A known makeup artist, she has traveled all over the country blessing peasants…Uh…attendees with her shenanigans. She will be hosting a variety of panels throughout the NDK weekend, teaching general cosplay knowledge, stage presence, posing, and makeup! Known as the queen of late night at conventions, she is infamous for her 18+ panels so be sure to attend if you are of age!  Queen D is so thrilled to be back in the city with no air and once again a guest at NDK!

Alisa Freedman is a Professor of Japanese Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender at the University of Oregon and the Editor-in-Chief of the U.S.–Japan Women’s Journal. Her books include Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost, Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road, an annotated translation of Kawabata Yasunari’s The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, and co-edited volumes on Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan, and Introducing Japanese Popular Culture. She has published widely on Japanese modernism, Tokyo studies, youth culture, gender, television, humor as social critique, teaching pedagogies, and digital media, along with publishing translations of Japanese literature. Alisa has been nationally recognized for excellence in mentoring and enjoys presenting at cultural events like anime cons and Japan festivals. 

Harmony Gold has been active in the production, acquisition and distribution of quality programming worldwide since its inception in 1983, producing some of the television industry’s classic and history-making programs, including Shaka Zulu, Robotech, Macross, Heidi, and Around The World in Eighty Days, among many others.

A graduate of the lighting design program from Emerson College, Kevin McKeever has been working in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. He has worked in theater production at world class venues such as the Goodspeed Opera House, the Emerson Majestic Theater, Foxwoods Casino, and the Mohegan Sun Resort which he helped open in 1996.

His television production credits include Jackass, Kids Say the Darnedest Things, Guinness Book of World Records, Krypton Factor, Farmclub.com, The 60’s as well as various television commercials. His film credits include Mystery Men, For Love of the Game, and Billy Frankenstein. Kevin has also served as Assistant VP of Production for feature film producer and New York Times best-selling author Lynda Obst.

Kevin’s first official assignment in the Robotech universe was as an audit of Robotech’s television ratings and viewer demographics during its original run in the 1980s. Kevin’s analysis of the ratings in a cost effective manner along with his years of production experience made him a natural candidate for the Robotech team.

SPECIAL ZOOM PANEL GUEST

Mr. Jun Sugawara is the founder of the NPO Animator Supporters. The organization was founded in 2011, and he has been working to improve the low wage problem in the anime industry ever since.

The NPO currently provides housing assistance at the Animator Dormitory for new animators. So far, over 50 new animators have resided at the Animator Dormitory, in which some of them have gone on to become directors and animation directors. At the Animator Dormitory, located in Tokyo, new animators can stay for less than 30,000 yen per month including rent, utilities, and a stable internet connection.

Zoom Panel Description
Panel Title: Low wage problem in the Japanese Anime industry
Description: Japan’s anime industry is worth more than 18 billion dollars a year, but low wages is a reality for many animators for decades. What is the problem? Mr. Sugawara, who founded the NPO to solve the problems, will talk about the problems lying in the industry.  He will also talk about the music anime video he collaborated with an US game/anime music creator. 

Teca, part of the World Cosplay Summit Team USA 2020/2022, is an award-winning cosplayer who specializes in competition, craftsmanship, and presentation. With nearly twenty years of experience, she has won over thirty awards as well as hosted panels and judged contests at more than twenty-five events across the country. Teca has worked as an official cosplayer for industry events as Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal for VizMedia, America from Hetalia for FUNimation, Kyouko Sakura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica for Aniplex, Marida Cruz from Gundam Unicorn for Bandai, and has also worked with Japanese bands such as Kalafina and CHEMISTRY.