Your Hosts

Art by Alberto Rios and shaloop

Mike is a bit of a hot blooded starving artist. Currently situated in Milwaukee, WI, he serves as the host and producer this podcast which fully exploits his fascination with all this Japanese Pop Culture related. At the same time, he writes for Otaku USA Magazine and does a bit of voice acting on the side, appearing in productions like The Falcon Banner for Darker Projects. He also owns three henshin belts, a mini-sized Super Robot army on his desk, and has braved the 36 Chambers of Electro-Shaolin.

For all Audio Drama information, check out the Story Arc Wiki Entry

Art by Kara Dennison

Ai was Mike’s earliest co-host on the show, although she doesn’t like to dwell on this, solely because she still hates her voice from back then. Originally arriving with him from the future, she was believed dead in the middle of the major conflict in Series 3. However, through a series of circumstances that would entail a whole other paragraph, she became a show regular once more as of Series 5. Currently, she serves as the computer for RaiDecker (the podcast’s mobile base of operations), projecting herelf via mobile holographic projector.

The voice of reason, Ai is the closest thing our intrepid host/producer has to family and can be found regularly keeping him in check. That said, she can become as hot-blooded as her “brother” when push comes to shove. Her only flaw: Her growing list of guilty pleasures, including Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side, her growing Anglophilia, and anything to do with Takehito Koyasu.

She and Sylene tend to be in something of a love-hate relationship, the two of them bickering over the most ridiculous things at times. Sylene delights in calling her “SynthPop”, due to the distortions in her voice, much to her dismay.

For more character info, check out Ai’s entry on the Story Arc wiki! Follow her on Twitter!

Art by Kara Dennison

Appearing in 2007, Sylene joined the R5 Crew during the Epic ACEN Trilogy, filling the void left by Ai’s demise. Though she seems like the playful, laid-back tease one of the group, don’t underestimate her! She can get fired up at the drop of a hat, and lord forbid you get her mad…..

Though she is a Cyber Assistant, she is, like Ai, a Trace Hybrid. She’s made with a C.A. base, technically making her android but in her own words, she’s more of “a hop, step, and a jump away from being half-human.” In addition, she possesses a prototype V-Shifter which allows her to transform into a modified car at a moment’s notice. (Mike still finds the whole thing weird.)

For more character info, check out Sylene’s entry in the Story Arc wiki. Follow her on Twitter!

Art by Kara Dennison

Created as part of a collaboration project between Ai, Mike, and Robo Garage back during Series 1, Mai was activated and sent to Mike following Ai’s demise with the intent for her to be the new co-host. This would have been the plan if not for the Zodiac capturing her mid-flight and delaying the delivery by a few months.

Upon her rescue and re-activation, Mai swore herself to Mike’s side and dedicated herself to serving him in any function needed. (Within reason of course, pervs). As she was programmed to be a maid, she refers to Mike as either Mike-sama or Goshujin-sama, refusing to leave Mike’s side in some instances. She refers to Sylene “Onee-sama” or Sister. This annoys her to no end of course but she regrettably permits it.

Mai’s personality is slightly innocent in nature due to her recent activation, making her curious about the world around her and at the same time emotionally sensitive and prone to cry when upset about something, something that usually works in her favor as nobody (especially Mike) can turn her down when in tears. This can be blamed on the programmers at Robo Garage who modeled her after a typical girl you’d find in a maid cafe in Akihabara.

She has no weapons to speak of (yet) but she remains a vital asset to the R5 Crew.

For more character info, check out Mai’s entry on the Story Arc Wiki!

ALLIES IN ARMS:

-Will English

You can’t go to a convention on the Midwest Con Circuit and find somebody who doesn’t know who this guy is. Will English, once known as Card Captor Will, is known for his charm, his masquerade stand-up comedy, and also for being the only guy Mike knows who can pull off crossplaying as Card Captor Sakura without giving him night terrors.

Will moonlights on R5, appearing during most convention episodes and also doing an occasional Rantspace segment. Recently, Will and Mike have started up an off-shoot of R5 entitled “Conversations With Will” where the two of them ramble on over the phone over all things geek. Truly a fine addition to the R5 Crew.

-Ron “Soulcrash” Ladao

Is there any way to describe this force of nature that can do him justice? Ron, like Will, is one of Mike’s oldest convention allies. With his video team, The Soulcrash Crew, Ron has covered the likes of Katsucon and Anime Central for the past few years. Mike even tag-teamed with Ron and MarzGurl Productions to produce the con-doc, “The Soulcrash Crew Presents: Reactor 2005″.

Ron appears during most of the convention episodes, lending Mike a hand for video and occasional segments. He also bears the curse of being pointed out as a Narutard during a press conference at Anime Central 2008. Sorry man…

-Keith “Justice” Hayward

Founder of Henshin Justice Unlimited and the guy responsible for some of the more awesome content for R5 Central, Mike first crossed paths with Keith Hayward at Anime Central 2004, his first ever anime convention. The two of them walked past each other on a skywalk, Mike just barely noticing his Japan Hero shirt, who could imagine that they would properly meet the following year and become the greatest of allies?

Keith appears occasionally on R5, whether it’s gathering exclusives for the show like Power Morphicon footage and behind the scenes of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight or just showing up and being his awesome self on convention episodes.