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Anime St. Louis is an Anime Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri during the month of April. It was founded in April 2006 by Alisha Bingham, a student of Maryville University in response to the failed return of Kunicon , a traveling anime convention which was held in St. Louis for the first time the year prior to AnimeStL's creation. CONVENTION HISTORY April 8th, 2006 Anime St. Louis was first held on the Maryville University Campus on Saturday, April 8th. The one-day convention was first named Mini-Con, short for Miniature Convention, as the convention was both smaller and shorter than most official conventions, but at the suggestion of their star guest, Michael "Piano Squall" Gluck, the name was quickly changed to Anime St. Louis, which remains its title today. The Maryville University Anime Club, a student-run organization also founded by Alisha Bingham, hosted the convention with assistance from other Maryville student organizations and Webster University Anime Society. The campus student Maryville University Anime Club is devoted to the enjoyment and education of Asian entertainment and cultures, focusing specifically on Japanese animated features and customs. April 20th-22nd, 2007 Mini-Con was more of a success than the founders imagined, and after receiving numerous requests to extend the convention into a full three-day event, the staff requested a joint event with ShowMeCon , a seasoned sci-fi convention held in St. Louis. The ShowMeCon staff agreed, and Mini-Con was renamed Anime St. Louis for the joint, two-for-the-price-of-one convention. The Maryville Anime Club joined with the Webster University Anime Society, who had run their panel programming at Mini-Con to create a large enough staff for a three-day convention. Anime St. Louis 2007 was held at the Maryville Marriott Hotel . Noted guests included Vic Mignogna , the American voice actor of Edward Elric from the popular anime/manga FullMetal Alchemist ; Michael Gluck, also known as Piano Squall , a pianist who plays music based on the Final Fantasy video games; and Steve Bennett , an animator and webcomic artist noted for his work on such titles as Cat's Eye and Only You , among others. There were over 1000 paying attendees, and the convention was featured briefly on local Channel 2 news. Anime St. Louis 2008 Maryville University Anime Club and Webster University Anime Society are now the official conjoined hosts of the Anime St. Louis Convention, called AnimeStL for short. The Maryville University Anime Club is currently headed by Nicolas Frank, who took over the position as president of the Maryville University Anime Club after its founder graduated from Maryville. Webster University Anime Society is presided over by current president Katrina Panzer. Preparations for the 2008 convention have begun. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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