Banzaicon News
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Event Update: Cosplay Contest
Ready to take the stage and bring your cosplay to life? Banzaicon 2025 is now accepting sign-ups for the Main Cosplay Contest! Whether you’re stepping into the role of your favorite character or showing off your craftsmanship, now’s the time to shine. Remember, sign-ups for the Main Cosplay Contest will close on February 25th, 2025, at 11:55 p.m. Check out the rules and sign up through the link below!
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Guest Panelist Announcement: Samurai Dan
The husband and wife team of Daniel and Jillian Coglan are full-time martial art instructors, running a traditional samurai training center in Iowa, and have a combined 35 years of experience.
Beyond their martial skills, the dynamic duo collaborated to write, direct, host, and star in a 12 episode TV series entitled, “The Way of The Samurai.”
Daniel is also an author, with several martial art articles published, and is currently working on his second full-length novel.
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Guest Announcement: Risa Mei
Risa Mei is a singer, voice actress, motion capture artist, and suit actress with dwarfism based out of Los Angeles, CA. She started singing and dancing at the age of 7 and toured around Southern California, New York, and Las Vegas as both a soloist and with various sing and dance groups. During high school, she created a Youtube for music and singing. After graduating high school, she went on to study at Azusa Pacific University and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.
During college she became the lead singer of punk rock band Psycho Bando and performed at various events in Southern California, including Anime Expo. She then went on to co-create 4TE, a remotely created Japanese electronic pop girl group and released three singles, all while living and performing in Osaka at Universal Studios Japan where she performed for shows like The Amazing Sesame Street – a stunt show, the One Piece Premiere Show and events, and Halloween Horror Nights.
Upon her return to California, Risa joined the Jim Henson Company’s cast of Word Party on Netflix as the motion capture and voice actress of Tilly the Tortoise, and then soon joined Funimation in a variety of shows including Sing A Bit of Harmony as the lead Satomi Amano, My Senpai is Annoying as Futaba Igarashi, and Shadows House as Rum and Shirley! You can also hear her in Eleven Art’s theatrical release House of the Lost On the Cape as Hiyori, Hoyoverse’s Genshin Impact as Sangonomiya Kokomi, and Inti Creates’ Azure Striker Gunvolt as Shiron.
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Guest Panelist Announcement: The Chalk Twins
Devon and Lexi are the Chalk Twins. The Chalk Twins are masters of murals as these twin sisters work together to create chalk artwork of epic proportions. Throughout the event you can watch the Chalk Twins as they complete their masterpiece. We encourage you to get down low and talk to them about art, geeky stuff, twin stuff – whatever you like. They don’t bite. We promise.
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Photoshoot Submissions now open!
The photoshoot submission form is now open for Banzaicon 2025! Follow the link below to submit your photoshoot for your favorite fandom(s) by March 2nd, 2025 at 11:55 p.m.. Don’t miss the chance to gather with fellow fans and showcase your cosplay. We can’t wait to see the amazing photoshoots you’ll create!
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Performance Guest Announcement: Kazha
Kazha is a rock band founded by a Japanese Singer/Bassist Kazuha Oda and a Guitarist Hideki Matsushige. The band has been touring in the U.S.A. with their Artist visa.
Kazuha is a classically trained singer worked in various genres of music from Classic to Heavy Metal. She worked with wide variety of Grammy Award-winning recording artists and producers including Bob James and Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell.
In October of 2018, Kazha released their self-titled third album “Kazha”. Kazha represents a new future of music: a fusion of cultures and musical view points that create their sound, combining the softness of a falling feather and the heaviness of a hurricane.
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Calling All DJs!
Think you’ve got what it takes to make the crowd go wild?
Do you have the skills to spin the sickest beats and keep the energy high all night? If you’re ready to take center stage at the con’s rave, now’s your chance!
Follow the link below to submit your DJ application using our new form.
Already applied recently? Please submit again as this is a brand-new form. -
Panel Submissions Open!
Panel Submissions for Banzaicon 2025 are now open. Panel submissions close January 3rd, 2025 at 11:59 pm. Panel acceptances and waitlist notifications will be sent out early January.
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Artist Alley 2025
Artist Alley applications are now open for Banzaicon 2025. Applications will close at midnight on January 20th, Final acceptances will be e-mailed by January 29th. Follow the link below to apply today!
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Pardon Our Dust
Over the next few weeks you may notice some changes on the website. We will be updating the website in order to try and provide a better experience to you and make information more readily available. If you notice anything that we might have missed please feel free to email us at webkeisafari@gmail.com with the details! Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to seeing you next year!