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Sora Tokui

Sora Tokui is a Japanese voice actress, singer, manga artist, and VTuber from Chiba, Japan.
She made her voice acting debut in 2009 in the series Weiß Survive R and landed her first lead role in the following year as Nero Yuzurizaki in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes.

Most fans around the world know her as the iconic voice of Nico Yazawa from the Love Live! series and the group μ’s. As part of her work on Love Live! She has released numerous character songs as well as unit songs under the sub group BiBi.  She has also performed on stage at concerts as a part of the series, culminating in the group’s final performance at Tokyo Dome in 2016.

Additionally, Sora Tokui has also played several fan favorite characters including Hideri Kanzaki from Blend S, Maya Jouga from GochiUsa: Is the Order a Rabbit?, Reina in Noukin: Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Akari Nitta in Jujutsu Kaisen, Uzuki Nakano in Danchigai, Nijukki Hinako in BanG Dream!, and more.  She is also cast in the January 2025 series I Have a Crush at Work, and April 2025 series The Too-Perfect Saint.

In games, you may know her as Hook from Honkai Star Rail, Sasami Sasasegawa from Little Busters!, T.M. Opera O from Uma Musume: Pretty Derby,  Blanc from Goddess of Victory: Nikke, and others.

Sora Tokui is also a manga artist, having written works such as Mahou Shoujo Jitaku-chan, and her work Makeruna!! Aku no Gundan!, which later got adapted into an anime.

In 2020, she also started a YouTube channel, and streams on occasion with a Virtual YouTuber avatar.

Follow Sora Tokui:
Twitter(X): tokui_sorangley
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sora_tokui
Official Website: https://avex.jp/tokuisora/

Cosplay Chess Applications are open for another week!

You can apply here: 2025 Sakura-Con Cosplay Chess Application

If you’ve never been in Cosplay Chess before and just want to sample the carnage, consider applying for our Improv Cosplay Chess where the audience gets to be a part of the action! If you’d rather watch from the sidelines, we are also looking for Stage Ninjas to help with special moves and to keep the fights moving along. No headbands required, but there will be running involved! If you have any questions about Cosplay Chess, please feel free to send an email to cosplay.chess@sakuracon.org.

Hope to see you at Sakura-Con 2025!

Trina Nishimura

Trina Nishimura began her acting career at the age of nine in community theater and began touring in theatrical productions at age 13. From meager beginnings to a long career on stage, on screen, and in voice work, Trina’s most notable roles in voice acting span over two decades and include over 350 titles.

Fans will recall Trina’s many dutiful portrayals as Mikasa Ackerman in Attack on Titan and Attack on Titan Junior High, Jiro Kyoka in My Hero Academia, Kurisu Makise in the Steins;Gate iterations, Mizune in Soul Eater, Naoko and Double Dee Seven in Borderlands 3, Natsume in Deca- Dence, Sally in Black Clover, Minami in Yuri!!! on ICE, Navirou in Monster Hunter, Lan Fan in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Milly Thompson in Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Sherry in Fairy Tale, Mari in Evangelion 2.22 and 3.33, Ran-Mao in Black Butler, Sarah in Love Live! Sunshine!!, the young Akito Soma in Fruits Basket, Etie from the popular game Fire Emblem Engage, several different skins in Smite, and Popuko in the popular Pop Team Epic to name a few.

Some other exciting pieces of her work include Rachel in Baccano!, Francesca Lucchini in Strike Witches, Sohara in Heaven’s Lost Property, Aiko Kudo in Baka and Test, Asuka in Magical Girl Spec Ops, Sen in Ben-To, Ako in And you thought there is never a girl online?, Sally in Black Clover, Hameline in Radiant, Chain in Blood Blockade Battlefront,  and the list goes on.

Though her voice and talents have taken her, and her characters to every corner of the globe … her heart will always belong to Texas.

Follow Trina on social media for more information about upcoming roles and appearances @TrinaNishimura on Twitter and Facebook and @TrinaNish on Instagram.

Guest Announcement: Simba Tsuchiya

Sakura-con is pleased to welcome Simba Tsuchiya (voice of Shuji Itō from Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-)!

Actor and voice actor, born in 1996, Tokyo. He trained his physical ability through Japanese dance and classical ballet, and worked as an action actor. He was fascinated by “voice acting” on stage, and is now active as a genre-less expressive actor. He has voiced various roles including Shuji Itō in “Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX-Beginning-“, Balgo in “BURN THE WITCH“, Tsutomu Goshiki in “Haikyuu!!”, Tatara Fujita in “Welcome to the Ballroom”, Shotaro Futaba in “Backflip‼”, Raphael in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”. He also participated in stage productions of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” and “Love’s Labor’s Lost”. In 2020, he won the “Best New Actors” of the 15th Seiyu Awards.

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Cosplay Line Up Frames

Sakura-Con loves cosplay, and we wanna see your lineup! So share what you’ll be wearing with our official cosplay lineup frames!

To use a frame, just download the image as a PNG and place your cosplay plans using your preferred image editor. Don’t forget use #sakuraconcosplaylineup and #sakuracon2025 in your posts so our community can see!

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TurtleMe

Under the pen name TurtleMe, Brandon Lee blends Western and Eastern influences in his award-winning series, The Beginning After the End (TBATE). TBATE is the first English webnovel to webcomic series to receive an anime adaptation with its premiere in April 2025 on Crunchyroll. This long-running popular action-fantasy web novel and webcomic are available on Tapas Entertainment. It is also available as a graphic novel from Yen Press.

TBATE has garnered over 700K followers across its webnovel and webcomic on Tapas and has been honored with the prestigious Japanese Piccoma Award in both 2021 and 2022. The series has also been released internationally in countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, France, Germany, Mexico, and India.

When he’s not writing, TurtleMe can be found indulging in his love of books, comics, and games. He also enjoys spending time outdoors, taking walks with his wife, Grace, and their dogs, Roy and Brie, who often get into mischief.

Website: https://www.turtleme.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtleme93/
X: https://x.com/turtleme93
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@turtleme93

Xander Mobus

Xander Mobus is a voice over actor from LA. You might know his work in Persona 5 as Joker, Super Smash Bros as The Announcer, The Hands and Ren Amamiya, Jujutsu Kaisen as Toge Inumaki and Aoi Todo, League of Legends as Sett, Boruto as Inojin and Momoshiki, and Street Fighter V as Abigail. He’s also played major characters in Soul Calibur VI, One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100, Demon Slayer, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hunter x Hunter, A Hat in Time, Detective Pikachu, Erased, Naruto, Rising of the Shield Hero, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Warriors, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Sword Art Online, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Blue Exorcist, Monster Hunter and many more!

Guest Announcement: TurtleMe

Under the pen name TurtleMe, Brandon Lee blends Western and Eastern influences in his award-winning series, The Beginning After the End (TBATE). TBATE is the first English webnovel to webcomic series to receive an anime adaptation with its premiere in April 2025 on Crunchyroll. This long-running popular action-fantasy web novel and webcomic are available on Tapas Entertainment. It is also available as a graphic novel from Yen Press.

TBATE has garnered over 700K followers across its webnovel and webcomic on Tapas and has been honored with the prestigious Japanese Piccoma Award in both 2021 and 2022. The series has also been released internationally in countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, France, Germany, Mexico, and India.

Read More »

Cosplay Chess Applications Are Open!

Applications for 2025 Cosplay Chess went live on Sunday, February 16th at 12:00PM Pacific,
Application Link: 2025 Sakura-Con Cosplay Chess Application

Applications will be open until March 17th, 11:59PM PST. The theme for the all-ages Main Game is Red Vs Black, the same colors as our chessboard! The theme for the 18+ Late Night Game is Brains Vs Brawn.

We also have the Sunday Improv Game, where anything can happen!  

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Guest Announcement: Reol

Sakura-Con is pleased to announce Reol will perform at this year’s convention!

Reol began creating and releasing music in 2012, and quickly hit 1 million subscribers. She was later chosen for the first global YouTube campaign, “Artist on the Rise”.

An internet-born songwriter, record producer, and rapper with clear electronic and rock influences, her music is a distinctive fusion of western and Asian pop. Her music is defined by her expressive voice combined with appealing, upbeat melodies. Currently, she has over 1.71 million Youtube subscribers with a total of 1.08 billion views, and her hit song, “THE SIXTH SENSE” exceeded 100 million streams. Reol is gaining international popularity with her one-and-only joyful, bitter dark, twisted, and kawaii vibes.

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