News

Kyle McCarley grew up (but not really) in Kansas and moved to Los Angeles at age 18 to study acting. After getting hooked on playing World of Warcraft with his buddies, he co-wrote, co-directed, and voiced several characters in a fan-made online radio play loosely set in that universe. Once he finished his Theatre degree at the University of Southern California, he decided to further pursue that passion in the form of a career in voice acting. Kyle’s voice can now be heard in anime, video games, cartoons, audiobooks, live action dubs, TV and radio commercials, industrial ads, and even a talking toy plunger.

Notable anime credits include Mikazuki Augus in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama in Mob Psycho 100, Narancia Ghirga in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Red Blood Cell AA2153 in Cells at Work: Code Black, Koku in B: The Beginning, Ryo in Devilman Crybaby, Joe Shimamura, a.k.a. 009, in Cyborg 009: Call of Justice, Aoba Kuronuma in Durarara!!x2, Shinji Matou in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Ryota Watari in Your Lie in April, Helbram in Seven Deadly Sins, Claudia Hodgins in Violet Evergarden, John Steinbeck in Bungo Stray Dogs, Iruka Umino in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Gran in Granblue Fantasy: The Animation, Kirii in Blame!, Joichiro Nishi in Gantz: O, Silas Norman in The Asterisk War, and Ikuya Ogura in Ajin: Demi-Human.

Junichi Hayama is a Japanese animator with more than 30 years of experience. He began his career in animation in 1983, and he trained under Masami Suda on Fist of the North Star. He served as director, character designer, and chief animation director on the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood anime film. His other animation director credits include Be-Bop-Highschool, Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu, InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler, Yu-Gi-Oh! TV anime series was the Key Animator for the 2016 Yu-Gi-Oh Movie, Dark Side of Dimensions. 
Most recently, he worked as an Animation Director and Key Animator on the ONE PIECE FILM: RED Movie.

Sakura-Con is excited to announce our mascot contest for 2023 is officially open!

From now until May 13th 11:59 PST submit your artwork for a chance to see your artwork represent Sakura-Con 2023!

For rules and how to submit visit the Mascot Contest page!

Junya was born in Tokyo on October 19^th.  His major works include Yuji Itadori from JUJUTSU KAISEN, Seishu Inui from Tokyo Revengers, Jona Busta from Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, and Pannacotta Fugo from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.

He also dubs for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man in MCU’s Spider-Man series, which includes Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn –

“Dear Sakura-Con attendees, I’m so sorry, but due to my overwhelming work schedule I won’t be able to attend Sakura-Con this year. I was really looking forward to coming to Seattle to be with you all and I know you’ll have an amazing con together. It breaks my heart that I can’t be there. Hopefully I’ll be able to see you at some future event. Stay safe, have fun and keep supporting each other. I love this community and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”

Katelyn Gault grew up near Seal Beach, California. From an early age, Katelyn developed an affinity for the performing arts. She studied piano and eventually classical voice, and participated in several theatre productions and show choir shows. Katelyn went on to earn her B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Chapman University. She then moved to Los Angeles, and has been pursuing her passion for acting and storytelling ever since. 

Katelyn works in film, television, voiceover and theatre. Most notable VO credits include: Kisara in Tales of Arise, Rondine in Monster Hunter Rise, Fenneko in Aggretsuko, Tanith in Fire Emblem Heroes and more!  

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and fur babies.

For more information about Katelyn you can visit her imdb page: imdb.me/katelyngault or her website: www.katelyngault.com. 

You can also follow her on Twitter: @katelyn_gault. 

The new Convention Center maps are now available in the

Hotels & Travel > Locations page.

See the Locations page for more information.

Director of TRIGUN STAMPEDE. Beginning with a background in live-action film, Kenji joined the animation industry more than a decade ago.

Kenji learned animation directing while working with Director Satoshi Nishimura, director of the 1998 Trigun animation series. In 2017, Kenji began working with studio Orange on Land of The Lustrous as an episode director. Now he is making his mark with his dynamic camera work and action sequences, and his directorial debut with TRIGUN STAMPEDE (2023). 

Looking for Gaming Tournament Staff:

We still have staff opening in the Gaming Tournament room, if you would like to volunteer this year at Sakura-Con please email Gaming@sakuracon.org for more information.

Chief Producer at studio Orange. Waki is TRIGUN STAMPEDE’s lead production producer. In 2007, Waki joined the animation studio Madhouse.

After working with producer Yuichiro Saito at Madhouse, in 2011 he joined Mamoru Hosoda’s Studio Chizu as one of its founding members. At Studio Chizu, Waki was involved with projects including ‘Wolf Children’ (2012), and ‘Boy and The Beast’ (2015). Then in 2016, Waki joined the animation studio Orange and worked on ‘Land of the Lustrous’ (2017) as Producer and since then as Chief Producer on ‘BEASTERS’ (2019) and ‘Godzilla S.P’ (2020). Waki is also producing ‘TRIGUN STAMPEDE’ (2023) for studio Orange.