We're excited to annouce the return of Ramen and Rice to AnimeFest for their third appearance!

Sisters Kim and Michelle Kwon live in the California Bay Area, and have been studying music since childhood. Also lovers of anime and games, they made their debut as the anime/game music duet "Ramen and Rice" 5 years ago at Fanimecon 2000. Since then, they have attended Fanimecon every year to play and also made an appearance at AnimeExpo 2002 in Long Beach. Both college students at Stanford, Kim (Ramen)has been studying violin for 15 years; and Michelle (Rice) has been studying cello for 14 years. Together, they arrange their own versions of anime/game music by ear and present them to the anime/game public to enjoy.

Visit their website for more information including their massive music list!

Greg Ayres is not your average voice actor. The once "Fanboy" turned VA started working for ADV Films just a few years ago, and in that short time managed to snag two of his favorite roles in anime. He was thrilled to voice the role of his favorite character Son Goku in Saiyuki, then just one year later Kaworu Nagisa in the Director's Cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Other roles include Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Negi Springfield in Negima, Heihachi in Samurai 7, Satoshi Hiwatari in DNAngel, Pope Alessandro XVIII in Trinity Blood, Tsuyoshi in Kodocha, Leo in Ghost Stories, Tsujido in Speed Grapher, and Gau Ban in Shadow Skill.He can also be heard in other anime titles such as Super Gals, Spiral, Macross, Mythical Detective Loki, Burst Angel, Gravion, Godanner, Pretear, Full Metal Panic, E's Otherwise and a whole lot more.

When he's not in a booth with headphones on, you can usually find him sporting Headphones behind "the decks" spinning. While he's not an "Anime-DJ" his love of anime and gaming culture always seems to seep into the mix to spice things up a bit. An ex-Nightclub DJ, Has really enjoyed the opportunity of stepping in at many a convention dance to make the walls thump and the booty's shake.

To find out even more information visit Greg's web site at www.gregayres.com

Chris Cason is a writer, director, and actor for FUNimation Entertainment. Beginning in 1997 (as the original Tien Shinhan and Mr. Popo in Dragonball Z), Cason has had the opportunity to be associated with many exciting properties. He has voiced characters such as Gluttony in Fullmetal Alchemist, Babbitt in Kodocha, Chamo in Negima, Wano in Desert Punk, Shu in Dragonball, Miyamoto in Yu Yu Hakusho, and Kazamachi in the upcoming Basilisk series. He can also be heard as characters in Samurai 7, Case Closed, Speed Grapher, Trinity Blood, Burst Angel, and Galaxy Railways. His ADR Directing and Assistant ADR Directing credits include DBZ Uncut, Case Closed, Galaxy Railways, Baki the Grappler, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragonball, Dragonball GT, and most recently, Negima. Born and raised in Dallas, Chris is very excited to be a part of this year's AnimeFest!

Florida-based artists Jared Hodges & Lindsay Cibos have worked together since 1998 creating illustrations, character designs, comics and more.

Their current project is the ongoing manga series published by Tokyopop called Peach Fuzz, a comedy about Peach, a ferret who thinks she's a princess, and her owner Amanda, who's hands she views as 5-headed monsters. Volume 1 came out last year, and Volume 2 is scheduled for release this upcoming September. Peach Fuzz won Grand Prize in the Tokyopop's second Rising Stars of Manga contest, and is currently being serialized in newspapers across America!

They are also the co-authors of Digital Manga Workshop, a how-to handbook on digital art, as well as participants in the upcoming how-to book, Mangaka America, both published by Collins Design.

You can see more of their artwork at www.jaredandlindsay.com.

Bruce Lewis (born Dallas, Texas, 1965) [pseudonym B-chan] is an American cartoonist, artist, and author.

Among the first comics artists to bring manga influences to American comics, Lewis wrote and drew the Robotech: Invid War Aftermath (1993-1994) series for Marvel's Malibu/Eternity Comics line. Since then he has worked with CPM Manga, Academy Comics and Argo Press. His most recent pure comics work was the comics novella "Dairooster 5!" and the short story manga "It Happened in the 7th Grade", both featured in 2002's Juku: A Comics Album.

An advertising artist and art director for some fifteen years, Bruce Lewis retired from the advertising field in 2003 to work full-time on drawing and writing about manga and other forms of cartooning. His forthcoming book on Japanese comics techniques, Draw Manga: How To Draw Manga In Your Own Unique Style will be published worldwide in 2005 by Chrysalis / Collins & Brown / Barnes & Noble Publishing.

Jamie McGonnigal lives in New York City and enjoys his careers as Actor, Director and Producer. He is best known for his work in Weiss Kreuz (a.k.a. Knight Hunters) as Omi, Takeo in Magic Users Club, Kazuto in World of Narue and 4Kids F-Zero as Zoda. He has also been heard in Tezukas Jungle Emperor Leo (Lemonade), Pokemon (Hal), Yu Gi Oh! (Guardian), One Piece (Kuromarimo, Eyelash), The Gokusen (Uchiyama), Patlabor (Bud), The Weathering Continent (Tieh), Arcade Gamer FubukiI (Sanpieta), Kirby (Whippy), GTO (Raku, Live Action), Shadow Star Narutaru (Norio Koga), and many more. He is also plays the lead role, Johnny Garland in the new PS2 game Shadow Hearts: From the New World. In addition, he plays Ranmaru in the classic Yaoi title Kizuna and is currently working on the new original cartoon by 4Kids, Viva Pinata! Jamie has become well-known in New York City for his work as a producer and director with his concert productions of Pippin (starring Rosie ODonnell and Ben Vereen), Children of Eden (both for The National AIDS Fund), Embrace! 2004, 2005 & 2006 (to benefit The Matthew Shepard Foundation), SNOOPY! The Musical, starring Tony-Award Winner Sutton Foster, and the recent concert revival of The Secret Garden. Jamie is the Founding Artistic Producer of the critically-acclaimed World AIDS Day Concerts as well as a Founding Producer of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. He will be honored in the Fall of 2006 with a special award from the New England Theatre Conference for his contributions to American Theatre.

• Jamie's Web Site

Monica Rial is pleased to attend her 5th Animefest! She is proud to keep Dallas peeps from experiencing Monica withdrawals. She has been with ADVFilms for 5 years where she has worked on such shows as Gasaraki, Princess Nine, Steel Angel Kurumi, Excel Saga, Full Metal Panic!, Noir, Rahxephon, Angelic Layer, Azumanga Daioh, Megazone, Kiddy Grade, and Aquarian Age. Come by and say hi! Or Yay! Whatever makes you happy.

Rivkah is the artist, writer, and creator of STEADY BEAT. She has been a professional in the print industry for over seven years including commercial photography, design, marketing, and print production--in spite of never having completed college--and has promoted writers and artists across the U.S. However, STEADY BEAT is Rivkah's first personal creation. An artist new to the field of graphic novels, she has been pursuing comics since August 2003, dropping past ambitions in pursuit of her own dreams.

A self-proclaimed workaholic, she has this to say of herself, "I need art like I need my coffee. First thing in the morning and several cups to last me through the day."

Carrie Savage is so happy to be returning to AnimeFest for a second year! Carrie has had the awesome priviledge of playing characters such as Fuko in I, My, Me! Strawberry Eggs, Rakka in Haibane Renmei, Hakufu in Ikki Tousen, Nancy Makuhari in R.O.D. the TV, Maromi in Paranoia Agent, Shima in Stellvia, Sayoko in Melody of Oblivion, Koyomi in Girl's Bravo, Maia in Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Arimi in Marmalade Boy, Nina in Ultra Maniac, Ran in Texhnolyze, Peppo in Monte Cristo. And some new shows coming soon! She has also had a fun time voicing a few characters in recent video games and more anime shows as Kamichu, Dear.S, Rumiko Takahashi Anthology, Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Sakura Wars the Movie, Dangaizer 3, Aguarian Age the Movie, Ghost Talker's Day Dream, Samarai 7 and more.

Carrie also has a heavy background in Theater and is very small time film actress. She also loves traveling around the world helping struggling children and adults in 3rd world countries such as Africa and the Philippines, and feels very lucky to have been able to do so!

She absolutely loves voice acting for Anime and is looking forward to recording more shows in the future. She had a lot of fun last year at AnimeFest and is really looking forward to returning!

Randy Milholland will be at AnimeFest for his second year; the following is still most likely true: "rkmilholland is probably napping right now. Sometimes, at night, he dons little shoes with curled toes and a little hat and secretly aids overworked cobblers. Then he uses their stores to launder money. He grew up in a little patch of suburban sprawl between Dallas and Ft. Worth but currently enjoys life in Boston's ghetto. Under a full moon he sometimes transforms into a meerkat."

Robert is no stranger to the anime and manga community. An Indiana-born, self-taught artist who got his first art career break when he sent an eight page short story to comic publisher, Antarctic Press in February of 1990. He has drawn manga-inspired art for well over 18 years, and has been published nearly all over the world. He has worked for many companies like Playstation Magazine, Marvel, Hasbro, and now his most recent work with Harper Collins Publishing, just to name a few.

Robert and Emily met at a convention called Anime Central, and haven't been apart since that day. Emily has always enjoyed manga and anime, but never thought it could be her job. Emily has worked with Robert for over 6 years now. She helps write the web comic How to Loathe Drawing in the Manga Style and has just finished writing her first children's book. She enjoys the business side of working for Studio Capsule very much and is grateful that she has an opportunity to work in the comics business.

Studio Capsule is involved in creating a line of low print run doujinshis, portfolios, animated shorts, and other projects expanding Studio Capsule. Find out everything that's new with either Studio Capsule or Robert and Emily DeJesus their website or view more current information on Live Journal under user 'banzchan'.

• Studio Capsule Web Site

Doug Smith is an Artist/Voice Actor in the anime industry for Both ADV and Funimation and has voiced in over 30 ADV titles. Doug is most known for his role as Kintaro Oe, in "Goldenboy", but you can see his other works now in Funimation titles like, Case Closed, Grapler Baki and now DBZ. When he's not doing voice overs he's drawing and creating art for fans, so swing by his table and check out his art or hop online and visit his website: www.dougsmithart.com