Anime fan a star at the Bowl

Agoura High 10th-grader Ashley Parish was selected from among hundreds of en- trants to perform Sept. 21 with the Los Angeles Philhar- monic at the Hollywood Bowl in a special event cel- ebrating thee popular movies, "Final Fantasy."

Ashley and several other lucky winners appeared on- stage in eye-catching cos- tumes, portraying characters from video games.

Ashley, 14, is a devoted longtime "cosplayer," who at- tends conventions costumed as key characters from popu- lar Japanese animated televi- sion series, movies and video games.

During an anime (Japa- nese animation) convention last summer at the Long Beach Convention Center, Ashley's performance landed her an award for best overall performance.

While the Westlake Vil- lage resident's passion for anime is expensive and time- consuming, it has sparked a passion for the Japanese lan- guage.

"Anime helped me not only to learn Japanese on my own, but it has also motivated me to take Japanese classes at Moorpark College twice a week," Ashley said.

Her mother, Jill Parish, said "I believe pursuing inter- ests outside school is very im- portant in enhancing children's academic achieve- ment as well as emotional well-being."