SaikouCon 2017 Welcomes Voice Actors Oscar Seung and Leah Clark as Guests
3/14/17 Allentown, PA – SaikouCon, which means "best convention", is the large scale, annual anime convention of the Lehigh Valley. Boasting a dedicated staff of longtime Japanese anime and manga fans, SaikouCon is excited to be the only large scale annual convention dedicated exclusively to anime, manga, and Japanese culture and pop culture in this area of Pennsylvania. The convention grew out of web magazine Anime Ate My Brain Magazine (relaunching later this year); the sibling to music focused web magazine, Tastes Like Rock! Music Magazine. Both journalistic endeavors fall under the publishing wing of Nerdy Rock 'n Roller Productions.
The convention promises to remain very hands on and attendee friendly every year, while also maintaining a safe atmosphere for attendees to enjoy the convention to their carefree fullest. As always, Cosplay =/= Consent is a very important issue to the staff of SaikouCon, and the same rules and regulations that made SaikouCon Years 1-4 safe havens for cosplayers will be enforced just as strictly at SaikouCon 2017. SaikouCon 2017 will feature many diverse and entertaining panels, workshops, activities, events, screenings, gaming tournaments, and much more!
SaikouCon welcomes their first Guest of Honor for 2017, Voice, Theater, and Screen Actor Oscar Seung! Oscar's anime voice credits include Yuri!!! on Ice (Seung-Gil Lee), Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru (Kasen Kanesada), Show By Rock!! (Oboro), All Out!! (Yutaka Shinshi), Shounen Maid (Ibuki), One Piece (Daruma), Prince of Stride: Alternative (Nanpei Aoba), Fairy Tail, The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Garo: Crimson Moon, and SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist among others. This is Oscar's first year appearing at SaikouCon, the convention hopes all of their attendees are as excited as the con itself it is to welcome him to the SaikouCon family!
The convention also welcomes back Leah Clark! Leah last joined SaikouCon in 2015 and the convention is very happy to have her back for their Fifth Anniversary show! Some of Leah's notable English dub roles are Blair in Soul Eater, Kanzaki in Assassination Classroom, Saki in Eden of The East, Minami in Baka and Test; and some of her new roles for 2017 include Kobayashi in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Mari in Yuri!!! On Ice, and Aria in Aria The Scarlet Ammo AA. Leah is also an accomplished ADR director, script writer, and stage actor.
In addition the Clark and Seung, the convention is also bringing in to their Featured Guest rost, fan favorite panelist group, The Manly Battleships®! The Manly Battleships® are a group of fun-loving guys and gals that have formed the greatest programming group on the east coast convention circuit. Veteran panelists combine their powers with a circle of long time con-goers, otaku, and deviants to form the new titan at the front of the con scene. The Fleet's arsenal offers a lot of a lot, and a little of everything! SaikouCon's show runners are excited to have the group with them finally, for several years SaikouCon and The Manly Battleships® have attempted to join forces, but logistics never worked on the convention's side to have the group out, this year has finally changed that.
SaikouCon 2017's Guest List (so far):
Guests of Honor:
Oscar Seung Voice Actor
Leah Clark Voice Actor
Featured Guests:
Koralene Cosplay
Foxxy Cosplay
The Manly Battleships®
More Coming Soon!
Musical Guests:
The Adarna
REAKT
DJ Teez
To Pre-Register for SaikouCon 2017 badges visit www.saikoucon.com/registration.html and make sure to note the returning designations for Teen and Adult badges to attend the convention, the designations do away with the need for parental consent forms for SaikouCon guests age 13-17, attendees 12 and under receive free admission but MUST be accompanied by a chaperone age 18 or older at all times! SaikouCon is family friendly, but is not designed for young children. Pre-registration closes August 12, 2017 at midnight (the midnight going into Sunday August 13 not 12:01 AM on August 12 to clarify), there will be no extensions this year, so get the pre-reg savings while you can! There will also be no price jumps during the pre-registration period this year, now that pre-reg is open all prices will remain static; 3 Day Adult and Teen General Admission badges are $30 per badge and 1 Day (Friday or Saturday) Adult and Teen General Admission badges are $15 per badge, 3 Day Adult and Teen VIP badges are $60 per badge (includes VIP meet and greet with all SaikouCon 2017 Guests of Honor and exclusive mini-poster for autographs), 1 Day (Saturday only) Adult and Teen VIP badges are $35 per badge (includes VIP meet and greet with all SaikouCon 2017 Guests of Honor and exclusive mini-poster for autographs).
The Holiday Inn Center City Allenton is located at 904 Hamilton Street, Allentown, PA 18101 (please note this Holiday Inn is in Allentown, PA; we are not returning to the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Breinigisville, PA that SaikouCon 2013 and 2014 were held in). The Holiday Inn offers several on-site amenities to SaikouCon attendees; the 904 West Restaurant for breakfast/lunch/dinner, the 904 West Lounge for adult beverages and non-con nightlife, free WiFi, indoor swimming pool for attendees that book rooms with the Holiday Inn, ambiance for photoshoots, 200 sleeping rooms in total, and very friendly staff!
Rooms in the convention's block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Center City Allentown, may be booked by following the special booking link at www.saikoucon.com/convention-info.html, as always reservations for the block of rooms is first come, first serve. The Holiday Inn Center City Allentown is smoke free and pet free, and pursuant to Pennsylvania state law rooms can not be reserved by persons under the age of 21 years, nor can they be checked into by any person under the age of 21 years; please plan your booking and stay at the Holiday Inn Center City Allentown over the course of SaikouCon 2017 accordingly. The Holiday Inn Center City Allentown is offering SaikouCon attendees a discounted nightly rate of $124.99 plus tax and fees, the SaikouCon room block is open and is starting with availability of 50 rooms, please book through the link provided above to ensure you receive the SaikouCon rate on your room.
The convention will always feature some of the best live entertainment themed to Japanese culture and pop culture, as well as the best in J-Rock, J-Pop, and nerd/geek culture musical acts from all over the US and beyond.
All of this plus top creators, writers, artists, distributors, industry insiders, English dub and original Japanese voice talent, some of the best cosplay talent, shows, masquerades; and so much more!
To get the latest up-to-the-minute updates follow SaikouCon on http://www.saikoucon.com, http://facebook.com/SaikouCon, http://twitter.com/SaikouCon, http://instagram.com/officialsaikoucon, and SaikouCon's listing on animecons.com: http://animecons.com/events/info.shtml/8229/SaikouCon_2017
