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Join us for our next Casa Con December 12-14, 2025

We started Casa Con in June 2020 as a response to everything that was happening in the world. People were stressed out and needed an escape. With cons gone, we saw many of our friends and creators struggling.

We wondered, what could we do?

Enter Casa Con.

It started out as an emergency con to help bring people together and give them an outlet to forget about the outside world and just have fun. Despite the short notice, we were able to pull off something amazing and the community loved what we had to offer. After that, we brought you two more events for a total of three cons full of speakers and guests from around the world.

Now the world is opening back up and there is hope in the air for in-person events. With that, we have decided that the June 2021 Casa Con will be our last summer event. Don’t worry though, we plan on having a Casa Con every year in December.

Of course, the party doesn’t stop when the con ends. By joining the Casa Con Discord server, you get to join our growing community, be a part of monthly events, and meet talented friends from around the world

2025 Schedule

Friday Saturday Sunday
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Opening Ceremony
Welcome to Casa Con!
11:00 am
11:10 am

Anime Tourism phenomenon
What is anime tourism and how does it impacts national and international tourism towards Japan.
11:30 am
12:30 pm

Feeling Japan: Affective Media Imaginaries
This talk explores how Japan is mediated affectively across media consumption and travel practices. Drawing on empirical research on Japanese games, anime, and films, as well as fieldwork with travelers, it argues that both media audiences and tourists engage with Japan through both concrete knowledge or place attachment as well as vague yet powerful emotional imaginaries
11:30 am
12:30 pm

Cast of “Nadenade” events: An initial ethnographic exploration
Preliminary ethnographic exploration of Japanese “petting” culture in VRChat
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The Fun of Fanfiction
This talk focus on how fans use and organise online events to experiment with storytelling, support each other’s growth, and create fandom as a social community. The talk contrasts AI-generated “fanfiction” with fanworks created by humans who are genuinely attached to the characters and universes they write about.
12:00 pm
1:00 pm
Why Playing Video Games Is a Kind of Labor
This talk explores how video gaming blurs the boundaries between leisure and labor, turning players from mere consumers into productive workers. Drawing on feminist “women’s work” studies and audience commodity theory, it examines League of Legends as a case of how free-to-play games monetize players’ interactions and emotional investment.
12:00 pm
1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Voice Acting 101
Join Aleksander Varadian, Ellis Knight, and Melissa White as they discuss the basics of getting into voice acting.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm

Why doesn’t this exist yet?! – Inventing the BevAll™ - Process to Patent
Join Jacob “Rocket” LaRocca as he discusses the process he went through in designing, prototyping, manufacturing, and ultimately patenting the BevAll™ Beveling tool.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Final boss vs Final breath: Pop culture death vs reality
Let's discuss how pop culture skews our idea of death with death doula Hope Wyatt
1:00 pm
2:00 pm

How to Find Your First VA Job
What does it take to land your first voice acting gig? Grant Corvin and Justin Cabanting discuss this and more.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Firing the Canon: Queer Representation in the Magical Girl Genre
1:00 pm
2:00 pm

Sylvie Bissonet Talk TBD
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Frames of Fandom
Join series authors Henry Jenkins and Robert Kozinets for a discussion of their new Frames of Fandom book series. The authors will explore the central paradox of modern fan culture: how fans act as powerful co-creators, generating immense cultural and economic value , while often finding their contributions embraced, restricted, and regulated by powerful industries in ways that are more parasitic than symbiotic.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
Illusions Deconstructed: A Conversation about Artificial Music Performances
In this panel, two presenters will discuss various aspects of musical performance that are brought to life through constructed and digital means. The first presenter will focus on a broader history of robot-like singing personas, better described as artificial people, before focusing on the contemporary rise of A.I. singer-songwriters. The second presenter will then dive deeper into how animated musical performances of digital/virtual personas, such as Vocaloid and media mix characters, are mediated through audiovisual relationships between cinematographic techniques and musical content.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm

Voice Acting 101
Join Marquiz Moore, Adam Diggle, and Rebecca Chiara Marano as they discuss the basics of getting into voice acting.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
Let's Talk Anime!
Join Gerard Caster, Roo Ryder, and Patrick Mealey as the discuss their favorite anime!
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Media Literacy and Networking as a Profesional
Join Hannah Alyea as she goes over some common missteps when it comes to media literacy and networking online and in person.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm

Voice Acting with Disability
Join Mia Page, Christina Costello, and Nickolette Kong as they discuss how you can be a professional voice actor while being disabled.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Inside Japanese Baseball
Baseball historian Robert Fitts will discuss the differences between Japanese and American baseball and share the insights from his new book In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball. The talk is designed to introduce Japanese baseball to American fans and will focus both on the unique aspects of play and the fan experience.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm

Live Scene Reading - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
Want to be a voice actor? Now is your chance to read some lines and have voice actors provide feedback! AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Japanese Festival Tour: Variety, Creativity, Change
This presentation introduces Japanese festivals, or matsuri, emphasizing their diversity, creativity, and flexibility. We’ll explore some common elements of matsuri and take a whirlwind tour of large and small festivals performed around Japan.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm

Magical Girl vs. Horror
Why do some girls become sparkly and adorable when they transform, while others turn monstrous or grotesque? In Japanese pop culture, the magical-girl boom and the horror boom have repeatedly risen side by side. This talk explores how both genres tap into different forms of social anxiety--especially anxieties about girlhood, the body, and changing identities--and thereby reveals how cuteness and the grotesque at opposite ends of the spectrum are deeply interconnected within the same pop-culture imagination.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Materials for Cosplay and Propmaking
Join Jacob “Rocket” LaRocca to discuss how he and others designed, tested, and eventually built a 20 foot tall Erlenmeyer flask in the middle of the desert in order to break a world record, and then how it was very quickly beaten again.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
Commercial Voice Acting, How and Why
Marquiz Moore and Justin Cabanting explain what commercial voice acting is and why you want to get into it.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm

When CPU became AI
This talk will explain how we moved in video games from having what it has been called CPU to enemies to the "magical" acronym AI and will present the history from more rule-based games to more dynamic games of nowadays.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
Framing Fans in Manga History: Manga's First Century
In this panel, Andrea Horbinski talks about her new book Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905-1989. This academic history focuses on manga's development in the 20th century through the lens of formats and fans, showing that both have driven manga's popularity from "high-collar" political cartoons to globally beloved medium.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm

The importance of voicing small characters
Join Meggie-Elise, Erica Muse, and Charles Nguyen as they discuss why small characters are just as important as major ones in anime, cartoons, and more.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Day in the Life of a Voice Actor
Join David Cui Cui, Vanille Vasquez, and Luis Bermudez as they discuss what it's like for a VA to be in sessions, doing business development, what they're up to when it's slow, and everything else in between
5:00 pm
6:00 pm

The Art of Translating Anime
Have you ever wondered how translators handle some of the toughest jokes and phrases in your favorite anime? Join industry veteran translator Katrina Leonoudakis to learn how translators craft accurate and entertaining subtitles with the help of linguistics, translation theory, and creative writing techniques. No Japanese knowledge required!
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
Popular Media and the Folkloresque
Many forms of contemporary popular media—anime and manga, video games, Hollywood films—present material that can be understood as folklore. They may adapt elements of traditional cultures from the real world, or invent fictional folklore of their own, or both. This talk will consider some popular cultural uses of what has come to be called the folkloresque with an eye to illustrating the importance of tradition in these media, while also pointing out some of the problems with these kinds of adaptations.
5:00 pm
5:30 pm

Hareluya II BØY, Hidive's Secret Streaming Gem
This 1997 series was the first Shonen Jump anime to debut in late-night, was the first delinquent anime to debut on TV, & had been nigh-impossible to watch for well over two decades, but is it worth checking out now? Come learn what the show is about, its unique manga origins, & why it's an anime that definitely deserves being rediscovered today.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm

How to Remote Voice Acting
Even if you don't live in a major hub like NYC, LA, or Austin, you can still be a professional voice actor. Patrick Mealey, Melissa White, and Meggie-Elise discuss how to get set up as a remote voice actor.
5:30 pm
6:30 pm

An overview of Japanese indie game events
This talks will discuss how to you participate in major events for games in Tokyo and what to expect.
6:00 pm
6:45 pm

Maintaining Mental Health and Expectations as a VA
How do you keep yourself mentally healthy when working through difficult scenes in a story. And how do you keep going despite rejections or not hearing anything? Grant Corvin and Roo Ryder discuss in this panel.
6:30 pm
7:30 pm

Transcultural Tokusatsu: The Curious Case of Kamen Rider
Why has it taken 54 years for the English-speaking world to get access to this foundational superhero franchise?
7:00 pm
8:00 pm
Things You'll Need as a Beginner Voice Actor
June Yoon and Belsheber Rusape discuss all the things you might forget about when starting off as a voice actor and how to get these things affordably.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm

When Tokusatsu Meets Anime
Discover how the dynamic world of tokusatsu has been reimagined over the years through the art of animation.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Crafting Fandom and Fandom Crafting
This talk explores the world of fannish crafting, covering the kinds of things people make and what they mean. We'll talk about what it means for people to sell their fan crafts, how artists’ alleys that you see at conventions differ from free shares of gifts like online exchanges and archives. Bring pictures of your own fannish crafts to share in the chat!
6:00 pm
7:00 pm

Voice Acting, Content Creation, and Where They Meet
Join Brian Long as he discusses his background as a voice actor and content creator and how to leverage them to forge a career path.
6:00 pm
7:00 pm
Hard Truths as a Freelancer
Belsheber Rusape, Brandon Acosta, and Mia Page discuss the truths behind being a freelance voice actor.
6:30 pm
7:30 pm

Closing Ceremony
Announcing cosplay contest winners, mini painting winners, and more!
7:40 pm
7:50 pm
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Convention Policy Demon Hunters
Trickssi, Ali, and Fey from the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network and Benjamin Woo and Kathryn Fedchun from the RoCCET Lab at Carleton University share what they've learned from reviewing and analyzing the codes of conduct and anti-harassment policies from hundreds of fan conventions.
7:00 pm
8:00 pm
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Godzilla: Atomic Monster, Cultural Mirror
This presentation traces the evolution of the Godzilla franchise from 1954 to today, exploring how each era reflects Japan’s shifting cultural anxieties—from nuclear trauma and Cold War tension to environmental fears, economic uncertainty, and the search for national identity. Viewers will see how Godzilla serves as both a destructive force and a cultural mirror, embodying the fears and hopes of the times in which each film was made
8:00 pm
9:00 pm
The Role of Anime in Education
Nathaniel Candalario discusses his latest publication in this presentation and the use of anime in studying social phenomena, as seen in several cases in Asia.
8:00 pm
9:00 pm
9:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Larping in Japan: Immersive Experiences finding a Home between Cosplay and Escape Games
Together with Hoshikuzu, representative of the Japanese larp association CLOSS, we will explore how Japanese larp has found its footing by blending familiar play cultures. It borrows from the puzzle-solving thrill of escape games and the visual expressiveness of cosplay, making it easy for newcomers to join. From horror mysteries to ninja adventures, these immersive experiences invite people to step into other worlds together
9:00 pm
10:00 pm
10:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Translating Taste: Strategies and Marketing for Communicating Food
This presentation explores how food in Japanese manga communicates emotions, relationships, and social change. Rather than simply satisfying hunger, food often functions as a narrative symbol that expresses family ties, friendship, and personal growth.
10:00 pm
10:30 pm

Friday

  • Opening Ceremony
    11:00 am - 11:10 am
  • Anime Tourism phenomenon
    11:30 am - 12:30 pm
  • Feeling Japan: Affective Media Imaginaries
    11:30 am - 12:30 pm
  • Cast of “Nadenade” events: An initial ethnographic exploration
    12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Voice Acting 101
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Why doesn’t this exist yet?! – Inventing the BevAll™ - Process to Patent
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Frames of Fandom
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Media Literacy and Networking as a Profesional
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Voice Acting with Disability
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Materials for Cosplay and Propmaking
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Day in the Life of a Voice Actor
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • The Art of Translating Anime
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • Crafting Fandom and Fandom Crafting
    6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
  • Voice Acting, Content Creation, and Where They Meet
    6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
  • Convention Policy Demon Hunters
    7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  • Godzilla: Atomic Monster, Cultural Mirror
    8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
  • Larping in Japan: Immersive Experiences finding a Home between Cosplay and Escape Games
    9:00 pm - 10:00 pm
  • Translating Taste: Strategies and Marketing for Communicating Food
    10:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Saturday

  • The Fun of Fanfiction
    12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Final boss vs Final breath: Pop culture death vs reality
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • How to Find Your First VA Job
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Illusions Deconstructed: A Conversation about Artificial Music Performances
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Voice Acting 101
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Inside Japanese Baseball
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Live Scene Reading - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Commercial Voice Acting, How and Why
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • When CPU became AI
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Popular Media and the Folkloresque
    5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  • Hareluya II BØY, Hidive's Secret Streaming Gem
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • How to Remote Voice Acting
    5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
  • An overview of Japanese indie game events
    6:00 pm - 6:45 pm
  • Maintaining Mental Health and Expectations as a VA
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
  • Transcultural Tokusatsu: The Curious Case of Kamen Rider
    7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  • The Role of Anime in Education
    8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Sunday

  • Why Playing Video Games Is a Kind of Labor
    12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Firing the Canon: Queer Representation in the Magical Girl Genre
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Sylvie Bissonet Talk TBD
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Let's Talk Anime!
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Japanese Festival Tour: Variety, Creativity, Change
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Magical Girl vs. Horror
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Framing Fans in Manga History: Manga's First Century
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • The importance of voicing small characters
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Things You'll Need as a Beginner Voice Actor
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • When Tokusatsu Meets Anime
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • Hard Truths as a Freelancer
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
  • Closing Ceremony
    7:40 pm - 7:50 pm
Friday Saturday Sunday
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Opening Ceremony
Welcome to Casa Con!
11:00 am
11:10 am

Feeling Japan: Affective Media Imaginaries
This talk explores how Japan is mediated affectively across media consumption and travel practices. Drawing on empirical research on Japanese games, anime, and films, as well as fieldwork with travelers, it argues that both media audiences and tourists engage with Japan through both concrete knowledge or place attachment as well as vague yet powerful emotional imaginaries
11:30 am
12:30 pm

Cast of “Nadenade” events: An initial ethnographic exploration
Preliminary ethnographic exploration of Japanese “petting” culture in VRChat
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The Fun of Fanfiction
This talk focus on how fans use and organise online events to experiment with storytelling, support each other’s growth, and create fandom as a social community. The talk contrasts AI-generated “fanfiction” with fanworks created by humans who are genuinely attached to the characters and universes they write about.
12:00 pm
1:00 pm
Why Playing Video Games Is a Kind of Labor
This talk explores how video gaming blurs the boundaries between leisure and labor, turning players from mere consumers into productive workers. Drawing on feminist “women’s work” studies and audience commodity theory, it examines League of Legends as a case of how free-to-play games monetize players’ interactions and emotional investment.
12:00 pm
1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Why doesn’t this exist yet?! – Inventing the BevAll™ - Process to Patent
Join Jacob “Rocket” LaRocca as he discusses the process he went through in designing, prototyping, manufacturing, and ultimately patenting the BevAll™ Beveling tool.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Final boss vs Final breath: Pop culture death vs reality
Let's discuss how pop culture skews our idea of death with death doula Hope Wyatt
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Firing the Canon: Queer Representation in the Magical Girl Genre
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Frames of Fandom
Join series authors Henry Jenkins and Robert Kozinets for a discussion of their new Frames of Fandom book series. The authors will explore the central paradox of modern fan culture: how fans act as powerful co-creators, generating immense cultural and economic value , while often finding their contributions embraced, restricted, and regulated by powerful industries in ways that are more parasitic than symbiotic.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
Illusions Deconstructed: A Conversation about Artificial Music Performances
In this panel, two presenters will discuss various aspects of musical performance that are brought to life through constructed and digital means. The first presenter will focus on a broader history of robot-like singing personas, better described as artificial people, before focusing on the contemporary rise of A.I. singer-songwriters. The second presenter will then dive deeper into how animated musical performances of digital/virtual personas, such as Vocaloid and media mix characters, are mediated through audiovisual relationships between cinematographic techniques and musical content.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
Let's Talk Anime!
Join Gerard Caster, Roo Ryder, and Patrick Mealey as the discuss their favorite anime!
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Voice Acting with Disability
Join Mia Page, Christina Costello, and Nickolette Kong as they discuss how you can be a professional voice actor while being disabled.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Inside Japanese Baseball
Baseball historian Robert Fitts will discuss the differences between Japanese and American baseball and share the insights from his new book In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball. The talk is designed to introduce Japanese baseball to American fans and will focus both on the unique aspects of play and the fan experience.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Japanese Festival Tour: Variety, Creativity, Change
This presentation introduces Japanese festivals, or matsuri, emphasizing their diversity, creativity, and flexibility. We’ll explore some common elements of matsuri and take a whirlwind tour of large and small festivals performed around Japan.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Materials for Cosplay and Propmaking
Join Jacob “Rocket” LaRocca to discuss how he and others designed, tested, and eventually built a 20 foot tall Erlenmeyer flask in the middle of the desert in order to break a world record, and then how it was very quickly beaten again.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
When CPU became AI
This talk will explain how we moved in video games from having what it has been called CPU to enemies to the "magical" acronym AI and will present the history from more rule-based games to more dynamic games of nowadays.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
Framing Fans in Manga History: Manga's First Century
In this panel, Andrea Horbinski talks about her new book Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905-1989. This academic history focuses on manga's development in the 20th century through the lens of formats and fans, showing that both have driven manga's popularity from "high-collar" political cartoons to globally beloved medium.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Day in the Life of a Voice Actor
Join David Cui Cui, Vanille Vasquez, and Luis Bermudez as they discuss what it's like for a VA to be in sessions, doing business development, what they're up to when it's slow, and everything else in between
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
Hareluya II BØY, Hidive's Secret Streaming Gem
This 1997 series was the first Shonen Jump anime to debut in late-night, was the first delinquent anime to debut on TV, & had been nigh-impossible to watch for well over two decades, but is it worth checking out now? Come learn what the show is about, its unique manga origins, & why it's an anime that definitely deserves being rediscovered today.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
Things You'll Need as a Beginner Voice Actor
June Yoon and Belsheber Rusape discuss all the things you might forget about when starting off as a voice actor and how to get these things affordably.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Crafting Fandom and Fandom Crafting
This talk explores the world of fannish crafting, covering the kinds of things people make and what they mean. We'll talk about what it means for people to sell their fan crafts, how artists’ alleys that you see at conventions differ from free shares of gifts like online exchanges and archives. Bring pictures of your own fannish crafts to share in the chat!
6:00 pm
7:00 pm
An overview of Japanese indie game events
This talks will discuss how to you participate in major events for games in Tokyo and what to expect.
6:00 pm
6:45 pm
Hard Truths as a Freelancer
Belsheber Rusape, Brandon Acosta, and Mia Page discuss the truths behind being a freelance voice actor.
6:30 pm
7:30 pm

Closing Ceremony
Announcing cosplay contest winners, mini painting winners, and more!
7:40 pm
7:50 pm
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Convention Policy Demon Hunters
Trickssi, Ali, and Fey from the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network and Benjamin Woo and Kathryn Fedchun from the RoCCET Lab at Carleton University share what they've learned from reviewing and analyzing the codes of conduct and anti-harassment policies from hundreds of fan conventions.
7:00 pm
8:00 pm
Transcultural Tokusatsu: The Curious Case of Kamen Rider
Why has it taken 54 years for the English-speaking world to get access to this foundational superhero franchise?
7:00 pm
8:00 pm
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Godzilla: Atomic Monster, Cultural Mirror
This presentation traces the evolution of the Godzilla franchise from 1954 to today, exploring how each era reflects Japan’s shifting cultural anxieties—from nuclear trauma and Cold War tension to environmental fears, economic uncertainty, and the search for national identity. Viewers will see how Godzilla serves as both a destructive force and a cultural mirror, embodying the fears and hopes of the times in which each film was made
8:00 pm
9:00 pm
The Role of Anime in Education
Nathaniel Candalario discusses his latest publication in this presentation and the use of anime in studying social phenomena, as seen in several cases in Asia.
8:00 pm
9:00 pm
9:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Larping in Japan: Immersive Experiences finding a Home between Cosplay and Escape Games
Together with Hoshikuzu, representative of the Japanese larp association CLOSS, we will explore how Japanese larp has found its footing by blending familiar play cultures. It borrows from the puzzle-solving thrill of escape games and the visual expressiveness of cosplay, making it easy for newcomers to join. From horror mysteries to ninja adventures, these immersive experiences invite people to step into other worlds together
9:00 pm
10:00 pm
10:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Translating Taste: Strategies and Marketing for Communicating Food
This presentation explores how food in Japanese manga communicates emotions, relationships, and social change. Rather than simply satisfying hunger, food often functions as a narrative symbol that expresses family ties, friendship, and personal growth.
10:00 pm
10:30 pm

Friday

  • Opening Ceremony
    11:00 am - 11:10 am
  • Feeling Japan: Affective Media Imaginaries
    11:30 am - 12:30 pm
  • Cast of “Nadenade” events: An initial ethnographic exploration
    12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Why doesn’t this exist yet?! – Inventing the BevAll™ - Process to Patent
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Frames of Fandom
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Voice Acting with Disability
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Materials for Cosplay and Propmaking
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Day in the Life of a Voice Actor
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • Crafting Fandom and Fandom Crafting
    6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
  • Convention Policy Demon Hunters
    7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  • Godzilla: Atomic Monster, Cultural Mirror
    8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
  • Larping in Japan: Immersive Experiences finding a Home between Cosplay and Escape Games
    9:00 pm - 10:00 pm
  • Translating Taste: Strategies and Marketing for Communicating Food
    10:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Saturday

  • The Fun of Fanfiction
    12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Final boss vs Final breath: Pop culture death vs reality
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Illusions Deconstructed: A Conversation about Artificial Music Performances
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Inside Japanese Baseball
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • When CPU became AI
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Hareluya II BØY, Hidive's Secret Streaming Gem
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • An overview of Japanese indie game events
    6:00 pm - 6:45 pm
  • Transcultural Tokusatsu: The Curious Case of Kamen Rider
    7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
  • The Role of Anime in Education
    8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Sunday

  • Why Playing Video Games Is a Kind of Labor
    12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
  • Firing the Canon: Queer Representation in the Magical Girl Genre
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Let's Talk Anime!
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Japanese Festival Tour: Variety, Creativity, Change
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Framing Fans in Manga History: Manga's First Century
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Things You'll Need as a Beginner Voice Actor
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • Hard Truths as a Freelancer
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
  • Closing Ceremony
    7:40 pm - 7:50 pm
Friday Saturday Sunday
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Anime Tourism phenomenon
What is anime tourism and how does it impacts national and international tourism towards Japan.
11:30 am
12:30 pm
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Voice Acting 101
Join Aleksander Varadian, Ellis Knight, and Melissa White as they discuss the basics of getting into voice acting.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
How to Find Your First VA Job
What does it take to land your first voice acting gig? Grant Corvin and Justin Cabanting discuss this and more.
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Sylvie Bissonet Talk TBD
1:00 pm
2:00 pm
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Voice Acting 101
Join Marquiz Moore, Adam Diggle, and Rebecca Chiara Marano as they discuss the basics of getting into voice acting.
2:00 pm
3:00 pm
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Media Literacy and Networking as a Profesional
Join Hannah Alyea as she goes over some common missteps when it comes to media literacy and networking online and in person.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Live Scene Reading - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
Want to be a voice actor? Now is your chance to read some lines and have voice actors provide feedback! AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
Magical Girl vs. Horror
Why do some girls become sparkly and adorable when they transform, while others turn monstrous or grotesque? In Japanese pop culture, the magical-girl boom and the horror boom have repeatedly risen side by side. This talk explores how both genres tap into different forms of social anxiety--especially anxieties about girlhood, the body, and changing identities--and thereby reveals how cuteness and the grotesque at opposite ends of the spectrum are deeply interconnected within the same pop-culture imagination.
3:00 pm
4:00 pm
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Commercial Voice Acting, How and Why
Marquiz Moore and Justin Cabanting explain what commercial voice acting is and why you want to get into it.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
The importance of voicing small characters
Join Meggie-Elise, Erica Muse, and Charles Nguyen as they discuss why small characters are just as important as major ones in anime, cartoons, and more.
4:00 pm
5:00 pm
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
The Art of Translating Anime
Have you ever wondered how translators handle some of the toughest jokes and phrases in your favorite anime? Join industry veteran translator Katrina Leonoudakis to learn how translators craft accurate and entertaining subtitles with the help of linguistics, translation theory, and creative writing techniques. No Japanese knowledge required!
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
Popular Media and the Folkloresque
Many forms of contemporary popular media—anime and manga, video games, Hollywood films—present material that can be understood as folklore. They may adapt elements of traditional cultures from the real world, or invent fictional folklore of their own, or both. This talk will consider some popular cultural uses of what has come to be called the folkloresque with an eye to illustrating the importance of tradition in these media, while also pointing out some of the problems with these kinds of adaptations.
5:00 pm
5:30 pm

How to Remote Voice Acting
Even if you don't live in a major hub like NYC, LA, or Austin, you can still be a professional voice actor. Patrick Mealey, Melissa White, and Meggie-Elise discuss how to get set up as a remote voice actor.
5:30 pm
6:30 pm

Maintaining Mental Health and Expectations as a VA
How do you keep yourself mentally healthy when working through difficult scenes in a story. And how do you keep going despite rejections or not hearing anything? Grant Corvin and Roo Ryder discuss in this panel.
6:30 pm
7:30 pm
When Tokusatsu Meets Anime
Discover how the dynamic world of tokusatsu has been reimagined over the years through the art of animation.
5:00 pm
6:00 pm
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Voice Acting, Content Creation, and Where They Meet
Join Brian Long as he discusses his background as a voice actor and content creator and how to leverage them to forge a career path.
6:00 pm
7:00 pm
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Friday

  • Anime Tourism phenomenon
    11:30 am - 12:30 pm
  • Voice Acting 101
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Media Literacy and Networking as a Profesional
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • The Art of Translating Anime
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • Voice Acting, Content Creation, and Where They Meet
    6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Saturday

  • How to Find Your First VA Job
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Voice Acting 101
    2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Live Scene Reading - AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Commercial Voice Acting, How and Why
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Popular Media and the Folkloresque
    5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  • How to Remote Voice Acting
    5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
  • Maintaining Mental Health and Expectations as a VA
    6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Sunday

  • Sylvie Bissonet Talk TBD
    1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
  • Magical Girl vs. Horror
    3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • The importance of voicing small characters
    4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • When Tokusatsu Meets Anime
    5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
No events available!

2025 Panelists

2025 Voice Actors

Adam Diggle

Voice Actor

Brian Long

Voice Actor

Charles Nguyen

Voice Actor

Christina Costello

Voice Actor

David Cui Cui

Voice Actor

Ellis Knight

Voice Actor

Erica Muse

Voice Actor

Gerard Caster

Voice Actor

Hannah Alyea

Voice Actor

Jacob Takanashi

Voice Actor

June Yoon

Voice Actor

Justin Cabanting

Voice Actor

Luis Burmedez

Voice Actor

Marquiz Moore

Voice Actor

Meggie Elise

Voice Actor

Melissa White

Voice Actor

Mia Page

Voice Actor

Nickolette Kong

Voice Actor

Patrick Mealey

Voice Actor

Roo Ryder

Voice Actor

Vanille Velasquez

Voice Actor

2025 Guest Speakers

Ace Marrok

Filmmaker

Art School Janitor

Illustrator

Benjamin Woo

Associate Professor

Bjorn-Ole Kamm

Junior Associate Professor

Clair Nguyen

Lecturer

Douglas Schules

Associate Professor

Dr. Janina Scarlet

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Gerardo Lopez

Assistant Professor

Giuseppe Samo

Adjunct Professor

Henry Jenkins

Provost's Professor

Hope Wyatt

Health Care Worker

Hoshikuzu

Founder of CLOSS

Jacob “Rocket” LaRocca

Craftsman and Inventor

Jeffrey Tolbert

Associate Professor

JR Liparito

Instructor and Faculty Advisor

Kathryn Fedchun

PhD Candidate

Kumiko Saito

Associate Professor

Liudmila Bredikhina

PhD Candidate

Nansong Zhou

PhD Student

Nathaniel Candelaria

Assistant Professor

Robert Fitts

Curatorial Consultant

Samantha Close

Associate Professor

Sophia Staite

Lecturer

Susana Tosca

Professor

Takako Kawabata

Associate Professor

Thessa Jensen

Associate Professor

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