That’s right, Michele Knotz is going to be a guest at AnimeNEXT 2012!!

You may have heard of Michele Knotz from a little well-known anime series called “Pokémon.” Now in their 15th season, Michele returned as the voice of Team Rocket’s Jessie and so far picked up a few new Pokémon, Woobat, Swoobat, Minccino, and the female Snivy. Before season 14, Michele voiced May, Nurse Joy, the Pokédex, Piplup, Manaphy, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Chimecho, Beautifly, Masquerain, Dustox, Cacnea, and many others. She also voiced Misty for the Pokémon 10th Anniversary Special, “The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon.” In the Pokémon Special, “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate” she voiced Chikorita. Other anime roles include Hajime Yagi in “The World of Narue,” Takako Kawashima in “Shootfighter Tekken,” Matsumoto and various additional characters in “To Heart,” Razali, Cindy, Greta, and The Fairy in “The Third,” Ogiue Chika in “Genshiken,” Koyuki Asagiri in “Kujibiki Unbalance,” Chou’un Shiryuu in “Ikki Tousen,” Tomoe and Airi in “Queen’s Blade,” and Potaru Tanaka and Inumi in “Magical Witch Punie-Chan.” As far as video games go, Michele has voiced the Pokémon Trainer, Squirtle and various other Pokémon for the Nintendo Wii’s: “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” Piplup and many others in “PokéPark Wii – Pikachu’s Great Adventure,” Snivy, Piplup and many others in “PokéPark 2 Wonders Beyond,” and various characters in “Heathcliff the Fast and the Furriest.” But Michele doesn’t just work on anime and video games. She’s also a script adapter for various dubbing projects and lends her voice to many other types of work. To see all of Michele’s credits, pictures, and listen to her voice demos, check out her web site at: http://micheleknotz.com/

AnimeNEXT would like to announce that Leah Clark will be a guest at AnimeNEXT 2012!

LEAH CLARK Leah is a voice actress and script writer for FUNimation Entertainment. Her voice acting career began when she appeared as Girl B in an episode of Case Closed and stole the show… in her own mind. She credits the overwhelming amount of female characters in Negima! and an odd talent for creating sheep voices for the opportunity to play her first major role, Nodoka Miyazaki which then opened the door for several other memorable roles to follow.
Some notable voice works are: Saki Morami in Eden of the East, Kagura in Ga Rei Zero, Minami in Baka and Test, Homora in Seki Rei. Suzuka in Suzuka, Fuyuki in Sergeant Frog, Blair in Soul Eater, Akane in Rumbling Hearts, Paris in Shin Chan, Miya Miya in Bamboo Blade, Hikari in Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0, Noah in Full Metal Alchemist, Coby and Miss Doublefinger in One Piece, Tenho in O Edo Rocket, Hanabusa in Nabari No O, Maru in XXX Holic and Eri in School Rumble.
Her writing credits include Yamada’s First Time, Seki Rei, Suzuka, Sasami, The Magical Girl Club, Strike Witches, Baka and Test, Gunslinger Girl, Baccano and Peach Girl.
This year, Leah can be heard as Jiji in Princess Jellyfish, Doyle in Pokemon, Carlita in the Pokemon Movie, Minami in Baka and Test—Season 2, and a couple more awesome shows that you’ll hear about sooner or later.
As an ADR Director, Leah has helped the casts of Sasami, the Magical Girl Club, The Tower of Druaga, STRAIN, and a couple Case Closed movies on their way to voice acting greatness. As her first love is the stage, Leah studied musical theater at Circle in the Square on Broadway in New York City. Much of her theatrical credits are in children’s theater and she has taught acting and improv to students ages 8-16 at Dallas Children’s Theater and Zach Scott Theater in Austin.

Look for Leah’s other production works online soon under the name Red Dog Nine—a company founded by her and Todd Haberkorn that likes to roll around in bed with Heal By Rain and make “creativity babies.”
Special thanks to Benjamin Oscar and Michael Gaspersic for running the Official Leah Clark Fan Club. Much love and squishes to the Leaflets! Join today on Facebook!!

AnimeNEXT would like to announce that Kyle Hebert will be a guest at AnimeNEXT 2012!

Kyle Hebert is a Los Angeles-based anime and video game voice actor whose credits include Street Fighter X Tekken / Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (Ryu), Naruto (Kiba), Bleach (Aizen, Ganju), X Men Arcade (all male voices) and Gurren Lagann (Kamina). He is best known as the Narrator and Teen Gohan from the Funimation dub of Dragonball Z. Other notable roles include Soul Eater (Masamune), Ouran High School Host Club (Kazukiyo Soga), Fullmetal Alchemist (Vato Falman), Tales of Symphonia (Richter Abend) and Star Ocean (Dias, Arumat, Crow). Kyle also provides voices in numerous video games including Soul Calibur V, Saints Row: The Third, Sonic, Final Fantasy XIII, World of Warcraft, Devil May Cry 4, Dynasty Warriors, and Resident Evil. He writes and voices all the promos for filmmaker, Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Internet Radio. He also provides private online voice acting practice / critique sessions for beginners. For more info, visit www.kylehebert.com.

Japanese leading Fashion Brand h.NAOTO introduces to the US another designer, GRAMM. GRAMM had a debut in 2008 at the Autum/Winter collection in Japan. This brand has a theme of Dark Fantasy created by Z8. GRAMM’s story was based on the Fairy Tale “Wonder Trip of Alpuuro and Roque.” The story is about two people who look for 5 keys inside a dream world. The brand was originally designed to match the imagery of fantasy and fairy tale stories along with the GRAMM story.

This brand’s fashion is made with laces and the shape allows for a comfortable fit. This brand is known to be the next generation of Lolita, and getting even more popular in Japan.

Designer Z8 studied and graduated from Tokyo Mode Gakuen. She started working att S-inc, which is a Fashion company from the h.NAOTO brand. In July 2008 GRAMM had her debut under the h.NAOTO brand. Oct. 2009, Debut in Tokyo Collection.