Every Memorial Day weekend for longer than H3 and I can remember, we’ve attended Animazement, Covid excluded. Animazement is a 3-day anime and Japanese culture convention in Raleigh that puts a focus on the animators, as well as the history and traditions, to better help audiences understand the media they are consuming.  This is in additional to meetups for magical girls and panels on “How to Improve Your Cosplay”. The result is a diverse crowd where everyone can usually find their favorite thing.

My Favorite Con

As much as I love Mad Monster, and I do, Animazement is my favorite event of the year. A lot of this has to do with H3. As his name indicates, Horror Hating Husband vastly prefers anime to spending a weekend surrounded by all things dark and spooky. Although, I think even he will admit that Mad Monster’s panels are better than Animazement’s. This year, we showed up at about 2:00 on Friday. We’re usually some of the first people in the door but this year, I have a day job that I love and had to wait till I got off work. Turns out things worked out perfectly. The dealer’s room had just opened, and Artist’s Alley was quiet. Almost too quiet.  That had more to do with it being Friday than the quality of the artists which was, as always, high.

One of the most interesting things about attending a show year after year is watching the change in artists and art styles. This happens for several reasons; trends change, the world in general changes, and cons compete for bookings.  Con management also should balance their pool of applicants to provide a wide variety of styles for every interest. Even doing that, the big trends are clear.  A couple of years ago, very glossy, sexy gatcha game girls were everywhere. This year, cute was in. 

Keeping Up With Trends

That was, for me and my wallet, a good thing. I think I spent less in Artist’s Alley than in previous years. I did buy quite a few stickers and charms and a couple prints, including one from Aziz, one of my favorite artists.  But cute is not my main thing for anime. I like it, but I crave violence. The lack of shonen representation would have been a bummer if I didn’t enjoy looking at everyone’s work so much.

Spending 2.5 days around people who are genuinely excited about a subject is the best feeling ever for me.  I have had great conversations with artists about how their love of a show or franchise has inspired their career. I also had an impressive conversation with a doujin dealer about the careers of some of the artists whose books he was selling. His knowledge of every artist was impressive.  It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, I am inspired by anyone who cares that much about what they do for a living. I hope someday to be as knowledgeable in my field as he is in his. 

Making New Friends

That’s the best part of Animazement. Everyone who attends can find someone to share their interest with. On Sunday morning, I watched two men excitedly discuss their favorite shows, writers, and directors. They had just met, but within seconds they were chatting like they knew each other for years, having a conversation that most people outside the convention hall wouldn’t understand.  Or be able to follow, given the speed of their dialogue. My favorite line from their conversation: “Real men watch shojo.”  Damn right they do. I didn’t expect Sunday to start with a breakdown of how toxic masculinity can be unlearned by consuming media exploring themes of emotional vulnerability, but there you go. 

Celebrity Sightings

Every convention has their celebrity guests. To be honest, for Animazement they’ve never been a major draw for me. We always try do a couple of panels with the Japanese voice actors.  Hearing their stories and perspectives on the industry adds more dimension and background to the media we consume. This year, we went to two Q&A’s: Koji Nagai, producer for My Hero Academia, and Hiroaki Hirata, voice actor for Sanji in One Piece and about a hundred other things.

Q&As are interesting as panels since they rely on the audience asking good questions, or a strong moderator to carry it if that doesn’t happen. I’ve never seen an audience run out of questions at Animazement.  But if they did, I have no doubt that the moderator and culture panelist JP Yates would step in. 

Getting behind-the-scenes stories is always cool. Plus, I get the added benefit of practicing my Japanese language listening skills (spoiler alert: they need improving).

Conventions and Community

Okay, it’s no secret that the economy is rough right now.  I’m not here to tell you to run out and spend money on a convention if it’s not in your budget. What I will say is that when things are bad, it is important to find your community.  If you can’t find one, look for places where you can start building one.  Now is the time to be around people you can be your authentic self with, even if it’s only for a weekend at a time.