Special Guests
Guest Index
Dan Salvato
Dan Salvato is an independent developer best known for creating Doki Doki Literature Club, one of 2017's most surprising hits in gaming. Born from Salvato's interest in both anime and horror games, DDLC has reached over 5 million downloads worldwide and is one of the highest-rated games on Steam, also winning the SXSW Cultural Innovation Award. After leaving his desk job in 2016, Salvato moved to Boise, Idaho and founded Team Salvato to pursue his dreams full-time. Following the success of DDLC, Salvato plans to continue making interactive media for fans around the world to enjoy.
Epikuro
Toronto based DJ, producer, and event promoter Epikuro continually seeks to push the boundaries anime celebration. Blending dance music together with otaku culture, Epikuro forges nostalgic and thrilling musical experiences infused with fresh beats and thick bouncy-bass. In 2013 Epikuro founded founded Kawaii Bass to create a space for anime dance events in Canada. Whether it's at conventions, dance clubs, or his very own Kawaii Bass parties, Epikuro is a magical adventure that will make your kokoro go doki-doki.
Michelle and Twisk
Michelle Franklin is author of seventeen books, including the many fantasy books in the Haanta Series, including Baba Connridh, the Marridon Novellas, Frewyn Fables, Tales from Frewyn, and is also the author of the bestselling Introvert series, beginning with I Hate Summer. Her latest book, Creatures of Fairytale and Myth, a collaboration with Fate of the Norns, brings ancient monsters from Celtic and Viking mythology into a humourous fantasy setting, and the follow-up novel about the fan-favourite Myndil the Missionary will be out later this year. She is currently working the Frewyn Music Project, an album of folk songs from her fantasy series. She is also a game enthusiast and an avid otaku, but she would never tell you that herself.
Twisk is an internationally known illustrator and colourist from Poland, currently based in the U.K. She is the official artist and cover designer for the Haanta Series, and specializes in creating highly detailed, brightly-coloured, fantasy-themed pieces. Her full art credits include book illustrations, role-playing games, world maps, branding logos, armour and weapon schematics, and even tattoo designs. She has been a published artist for fifteen years, is a devout World of Warcraft player, and loves all fantasy-related books and films.
Misty Chronexia
Misty Chronexia is a very tall, very bald, Anime YouTuber with over 1.2 million subscribers from Quebec! You may have heard him on YouTube via his countless Anime Top 10s, rankings of all kinds, "Guess the Anime" Challenges or his "Anime of the Week" series. In the past few years, he made his debut creating his own animated series called Chronexia and the Eight Seals. Please come meet him during the convention for an autograph on the spot, casual chats, YouTube inquiries or anything in-between. His anime knowledge is bound to astonish you… it's limitless!
Nux Taku
A YouTuber that specializes in anime, manga and memes with 500k+ subscribers. Primarily focusing on the Shounen demographic, he tackles different anime themes and characters on a philosophical level trying to draw inspiration from the medium as well as from a completely satirical standpoint not taking things too seriously. Praise Lord Twigo.
Sunrise
Sunrise is a 9 member girl group based in Montreal focused on recreating performances from the popular anime series Love Live. Their bright smiles and high energy dance covers are sure to warm your heart and cheer you up on gloomy days! Sunrise’s motto is “Never give up!” and they show that very happy determination both in convention and in their shows! Find them on all social media as LoveLiveSunrise and let your mind rest a minute by following their daily adventures!
Valérie Harvey
Valérie Harvey lived in Japan for a year and a half where she fell in love with her adopted city, Kyoto. She has written several books about this country, including two novels, Les Fleurs du Nord, which won the 2018 Parallel Universe Youth Award and L'Ombre du Shinobi, a story about ninja in ancient northern Japan. She recounts her experience in the travel chronicles Passion Japon. She also recently translated into French the work of Misuzu Kaneko, a children’s poet, with Nous sommes tous différents et nous sommes tous beaux.
She has directed seven short documentaries for the Konnichiwa こんにちは series on YouTube that show and explain various topics in Japan, such as weddings, calligraphy, the Kyoto seasons, waste management, trains (including the Hello Kitty shinkansen!), Japanese wines and the Okinawaian identity.
As a sociologist, she is a regular contributor to the ICI Radio-Canada Première radio show Les Éclaireurs to talk about the world, and very often Japan!
She has also composed several songs in Japanese and performed classics from Disney, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, and even won the Special Jury Prize at the NHK World's We Love Japanese Songs Contest with her rendition of the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song.
Zeiva Inc.
We have been working together since the time we studied at the Art Institute of Seattle in 2002. Eventually, we created our own small team of indie game developer that focused on making Original Anime Games. Most of our creations are Adventure Games and Visual Novels such as X-note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Train of Afterlife, Anicon - Animal Complex and more. This is our first time in Canada, and we are really looking forward to it.