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SaikouCon Returns to Allentown, PA for All-Star Sixth Year

Convention Features Several Returning and Brand New First Time Guests

4/2/18 Allentown, PA – SaikouCon, which means "best convention", is the large scale, annual anime convention of the Lehigh Valley. Boasting a dedicated staff of longtime Japanese anime and manga fans, SaikouCon is excited to be the only large scale annual convention dedicated exclusively to anime, manga, and Japanese culture and pop culture in this area of Pennsylvania. The convention grew out of web magazine Anime Ate My Brain Magazine (relaunching soon); the sibling to music focused web magazine, Tastes Like Rock Magazine. Both journalistic endeavors fall under the publishing wing of Nerdy Rock 'n Roller Productions.

The convention will always remain very hands on and attendee friendly every year, while also maintaining a safe atmosphere for attendees to enjoy the convention to their carefree fullest. SaikouCon promises to remain an all inclusive event where all are welcome to enjoy the fun, friendship, and saftey the con has offered in the past. As always, Cosplay =/= Consent is a very important issue to the staff of SaikouCon, and the same rules and regulations that made SaikouCon Years 1-5 safe havens for cosplayers will be enforced just as strictly at SaikouCon 2018.

After a rocky end to 2017, following the sale by owner and following permanent closure of the hosting venue for SaikouCon 2017, the Allentown, PA based anime convention is back for a sixth year that looks to surpass its fifth anniversary in 2017, with Allentown's Econo Lodge Conference Center stepping up and taking the convention in after the Holiday Inn Center City Allentown announced their closing and termination of all event contracts on December 8, 2017. The closure and fast reseating and re-establishing that the convention is indeed taking place in 2018 is the reason the con name hasn't been seen much on the news circuit, so get ready for a dosy of a read! TL;DR Version: SaikouCon is back and has a ton of exciting news... you know what, don't take the TL;DR route, there's too much awesome coming at you this year!

SaikouCon has a slew of returning guests from past years, and several new and very exciting additions for 2018; including some that lay groundwork for guests in future years as well as the new types of programming at SaikouCon. These new foundations are the reason this years convention has been named SaikouCon Evolution, the year will see more emphasis on classical Japanese Culture exploring Japanese Mythology more deeply than ever before in programming, leveled up video game experience (more on that later in April), exploring more aspects of Japanese Popular Culture than anime and exploring more of the North American adaptations Tokusatu franchises, a more varied screening docket of titles; sponsored by Funimation Entertainment this year. There will also be an even heavier emphasis on original music than in years past with more musical guests within one show than ever before.

Returning this year is fan favorite Guest of Honor, Gigi Edgley! Gigi first guested at SaikouCon in 2017 and had such an awesome that she wished to return once again, the cons first non-anime related actress, Ms. Edgley will in fact be pulling double duty this year as both a Guest of Honor celebrity and Musical Guest at the convention! Joined by her brother, internationally renowned guitarist Jake Edgley, the pair are touring the globe before and after their stop at SaikouCon with their Wanderland Tour; the duo will be performing as part of the convention's popular Cosplay Concert schedule for Saturday evening of SaikouCon 2018. Outside of her musical endeavors, Gigi is best known for playing the role of fan favorite character Chiana on Farscape, Gigi has a huge list credits including FX's Feud, USA's The Starter Wife, Enuattii, Rescue Special Ops, Tricky Business, SyFy's Showdown at Area 51, Quantum Apocalypse, Carlotta, Newcastle, Black Jack, repriing her role as Chiana in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Stingers, Secret Life Of Us, Beastmaster, Lost World, Water Rats, Day of The Roses and Nexus.

Also joining the ranks of Guests of Honor at SaikouCon this year will be Christina Marie Kelly, this is Christina's first time as a guest star at SaikouCon, she is an anime English dub actress with credits at both Sentai Filmworks and Funimation. Christina is also a stage actress with a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts in Acting from Houston's School of Theatre and Dance. You may recognize Christina's voice as Mine in Agame Ga Kill (as seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim/Toonami), Loki in Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?, Pepperoni in Girls Und Panzer: Der Film, Kisara Tendo in Black Bullet, and Sylphynford Tachibana in Himouto! Umaru-chan among many more. The convention staff are all happy to welcome Christina to the SaikouCon family, and hope you are too! For more about Christina, visit her website www.christinamariekelly.net.

In another first for SaikouCon, they have just announced on March 30, the addition of Erin Cahill to their Guests of Honor for 2018, better known as Jennifer "Jen" Scotts, the Pink Ranger of Power Rangers Time Force! Erin is joining SaikouCon to help celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise in North America!! Erin is also known for her appearances in several sci-fi, horror, comedy, and drama films and television series such as Supernatural, Resident Evil: Vendetta (both voice work and motion-capture for protagonist Rebecca Chambers), Boogieman 3, How I Met Your Mother, The Order, CSI: Miami, Power Rangers Wild Force (reprising her role as Jen Scotts), Ghost Whisperer, Stitchers, Sleepy Hollow, Garfunkel and Oates, The Pursuit of Happyness, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 & 3, Power Rangers Hyperforce (again reprising her role as Jen Scotts), and most recently Criminal Minds among many many more. All of the above and Erin is helping the convention expand deeper into the realms of Tokusatsu fandoms being the first Power Ranger to guest with them.

Returning as Featured Guests again are popular cosplayers Koralene and Foxxy (better known as Toxixfoxx), this year will be Koralene's fourth year as a Featured Guest at SaikouCon, and Foxxy's third, even though she did act as a Guest Judge for the convention's Cosplay Contest in 2014 before her first time as a Featured Guest in 2016. Both Koralene and Foxxy will be judging the Cosplay Contest once more in 2018, both will also have tables in the convention Merchant Hall, Foxxy will be the MC of the convention's Charity Auction Concert (more on this in a few moments), and more events within the convention for both young women in the coming months. There will be more Featured Guest announcements in April and May.

Music has taken on a larger role at SaikouCon 2018 with more bands, solo artists, and DJs than ever before! With original music taking center stage, as always, and the con has packed the house with returning headlining band The Adarna, TiA, Kohei Hattori, DJ Awesomus_Prime, REAKT returning for his third year performing at SaikouCon, The Wanderland Tour featuring Gigi Edgley and Jake Edgley, and more yet to be announced! This will mark The Adarna's fifth year with SaikouCon and they will be performing their customary solo show better know as the SaikouCon Friday Night Concert, presenting panels throughout the convention weekend, and headlinging the Cosplay Concert on the Saturday night of the con.
TiA is best known in the US for her song "Ryuusei", which was used as an ending theme for the Naruto anime! Another popular song of TiA's, "Promise", is used as the second opening theme for "Yakitate!! Japan". She was signed to Epic Japan at the age of 16 and soon was awarded Japan's Gold Disc. TiA has performed at Carnagie Hall, the Apollo Theater, Madison Square Garden, and has won several competitions and talent exhibition events as well since moving to the US from Japan in 2014. Kohei is also from Japan and has been making a name for himself too in the New York City music scene as MC for events that were part of Japan Fes, McDonald's Gospelfest, has been featured on the Steve Harvey Show, has opened for Wu Tang Clan, held and performed events at Jay-Z's mother's restaurant in Newark, NJ and more! Kohei and TiA will be performing during the Cosplay Concert and signing autographs before and after their performance at the concert.

This is DJ Awesomus_Primes first time spinning at SaikouCon, Awesomus_Prime will be laying down his custom, Geek Culture inspired tracks at the possibly once in a lifetime SaikouCon Eclipse Party! The SaikouCon Lunar Eclipse Party will be taking place on SaikouCon Friday scheduled for 10 PM in the Special Events Hall! Also performing at the Eclipse will be REAKT! REAKT first performed at SaikouCon's Cosplay Concert in 2016, he had such a great time he wanted to return in 2017 for the Saikou Dance Fever Party, and now for 2018 will be performing at the first SaikouCon Eclipse Party on SaikouCon Friday and at the cons first Charity Auction Concert on SaikouCon Saturday! Charity Auction beneficiaries will be announced in May of 2018, if the Charity Auction Concert is popular enough, the con may make all future charity auctions a merger of the auction and a concert, stay tuned!
REAKT, for those new to the SaikouCon Music Scene, is an EDM artist from Japan now living and actively performing in New York City while also touring the United States and Japan.

As mentioned above, The Wanderland Tour, the brainchild of Gigi and Jake Edgley is coming to SaikouCon's Cosplay Concert! Jake Edgley is a Legendary Universal Rockstar featured on the Voice and one of the hottest musicians to come out of Australia! Gigi Edgley is an international Superstar! Some of her credits include Farscape, host of Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, Feud: Bette and Joan, Singing at Stan Lee's Comic Con and 95th Birthday celebration too! Together they are traveling the world on The Wanderland Tour! Come out for a night of exquisite tunes, international stardom and brace yourself for an evening of music delight!
Gigi and Jake Edgley have travelled the earth making tunes and sharing the Love. With all the craziness going on in the world it's time for us to help each other out, get together, forget about our worries and have a jam. Cause life's too short not to!
The Wanderland Tour is coming your way! Check out www.wanderland.love to see how you can be a part of this awesome adventure together.

Joining SaikouCon 2018 as Special Guest cosplayers will be Bfarve Cosplay and 8BITAmbitions! Bfarve is a Berwick, PA based cosplayer, new to the cosplay scene, but is fast becoming a staple of the Pennsylvania cosplay and convention communities. 8BITAmbitions is a Pennsylvania based cosplayer and photographer specializing on con photography, 8BITAmbitions will be hosting some panels and aiding with cosplay events at SaikouCon this year. We are excited to have 8BITAmbitions with us this year and hope you are too, join her in leveling up our cosplay during SaikouCon Evolution!

SaikouCon has recently filled its Merchant Hall for 2018 as well! The convention will be releasing its list of over 70 Merchants on May 1, 2018. To clarify, the con has completely merged the Dealer Room and Artist Alley into the Merchant Hall, so have no fear, there will be Dealers and there will be Artists and Artisans, they have just been merged into one super sweet combo hit!

SaikouCon 2018's Guest List (so far):

Guests of Honor:
Christina Marie Kelly Voice, Film, & Stage Actress
Gigi Edgley Film, TV, & Stage Actress
Erin Cahill Film & TV Actress, Pink Time Force Power Ranger
More Coming Soon!

Featured Guests:
Koralene Cosplay
Foxxy Cosplay
More Coming Soon

Musical Guests:
The Adarna
TiA
Kohei Hattori
DJ Awesomus_Prime
REAKT
The Wanderland Tour feat. Jake Edgley & Gigi Edgley
More Coming Soon!

Special Guests:
Bfarve Cosplay
8BITAmbitions Cosplay


To Pre-Register for SaikouCon 2018 badges visit www.saikoucon.com/registration.html and make sure to note the returning designations for Teen and Adult badges to attend the convention, the designations do away with the need for parental consent forms for SaikouCon guests age 13-17, attendees 12 and under receive free admission but MUST be accompanied by a SaikouCon Badge Holding Attendee chaperone age 18 or older at all times! SaikouCon is family friendly, but is not designed for young children under 12 to fly solo. Pre-registration closes July 20, 2017 at midnight (the midnight going into Saturday July 21 not 12:01 AM on July 20 to clarify), there will be no extensions this year, so get the pre-reg savings while you can! There will also be no price jumps during the pre-registration period this year! Full registration details at the link provided above, please review before registering to attend SaikouCon 2018. VIP Registration is only available during the Pre-Registration period in advance of the convention once more this year, VIP Registration closes on June 23, 2018 at 12 AM.

The Econo Lodge Conference Center is located at 1151 Bulldog Drive, Allentown, PA 18104. The Econo Lodge Conference Center offers several on-site amenities to SaikouCon attendees; the 904 West Restaurant for breakfast/lunch/dinner, the 904 West Lounge for adult beverages and non-con nightlife, free WiFi, outdoor swimming pool for attendees that book rooms with the Econo Lodge, ambiance for photoshoots, 200+ sleeping rooms in total, and very friendly staff!

Rooms in the convention's block of rooms at the Econo Lodge Conference Center, may be booked by calling (610) 395-3731, and requesting a room in the SaikouCon Room Block; there will be no booking link on their website just for SaikouCon as in years past, Econo Lodge's website is controlled by the master franchise and they are unable to set up specials for individual locations. Booking through their website will not place you in our block of rooms and may result in higher room rates than our Block's $99 plus tax per night for two occupants. Rooms with three or more people will be an extra $10 per person over the initial two occupants (i.e. three person rooms will be $109 per night plus tax, four person rooms will be $119 plus tax per night etc.).


To get the latest up-to-the-minute news follow SaikouCon on http://www.saikoucon.com, http://facebook.com/SaikouCon, http://twitter.com/SaikouCon, http://instagram.com/officialsaikoucon, http://saikoucon.tumblr.com, and SaikouCon's listing on animecons.com: http://animecons.com/events/info.shtml/9619/SaikouCon_2018

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