OHTM #1: The Convention Disease

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Just a note, this will be my new series as all the other bloggers have something to fit them. So from now on this will be the OTHM. Feedback is a must, but it does not have to be positive. Enjoy

con·ven·tion noun \kən-ˈven(t)-shən\:

a: the summoning or convening of an assembly

b: an assembly of persons met for a common purpose; especially : a meeting of the delegates of a political party for the purpose of formulating a platform and selecting candidates for office

c: the usually state or national organization of a religious denomination

So most serious anime fans have been to at least convention, whether it be a home town convention or a major state or national one. Truthfully they are one of the few times (besides being online) where I can really go headfirst into anime and truly talk about and make new friends (along with hitting on girls at the dance, surprisingly I am rather successful. Last year I got 5 phone numbers which I promptly misplaced on the bus ride home, oops.) Just to give you guys an idea my hometown con is Sakuracon and I have been attending for 3 years now ( one more long parenthesis before we begin, if you are in the area or are completely in love with me come out and visit I would love to hang out. Also AAA members you should at least hit up the West coast baby, and then I could go and hang), and so I began to wonder where anime cons started. Obviously Japan, but now let us junk in Folium’s OHTM (Otaku History Time Machine or anything else you pervs can think of) powered by sausage and go check out the past.

So probably the most famous otaku con would be Comiket, a Japan based con that originated in 1975. I you haven’t heard of comiket then shame on you, but I will explain it anyways. Comiket was (and still is) a convention that is based greatly on fans selling manga called Doujinshi which can be original manga or fanfiction of a favorite anime, manga or game, this is what Kimiko writes. As the convention grew in became a biyearly event with one taking place in Winter and the other in Summer. Now being the most famous otaku convention Comiket easily has over half a million guests a year, but when it began in 1975 it had only about 600 attendees and 32 doujinshi groups.

Now moving over to the Western frontier anime did not begin to show up at conventions till the 1980s where mecha and sci-fi anime would be aired at science fiction conventions or multigenre conventions. This is how many people became interested in anime as even though it was rarely subbed and never dubbed they could see amazing robot fights and laser guns. It also set anime into the convention world along with a crowd of already geeky sci-fi nerds who would be willing to pay $20.00 and there soul for a couple of raw anime tapes. And from this point conventions begin to pop up, often following the Japanese traditional anime convention of hosting it over a couple of days, having industry guests, cosplaying, and dealers. These larger conventions began to sprout in the early 1990s with appearances of such conventions as AnimeExpo, AnimeFest, and Project A-kon. At this same time Australia and Europe were also beginning to gain anime conventions.

And from there it began to spread… like a disease taking over the young who were free from their protected sheltered lives at home. Where the mother could hide the father and children when a loli girl or balloon breasted girl crossed the T.V. And so it was these college youths who helped to get conventions running through volunteer and also putting them together. Even today nearly all anime conventions are fan and volunteer run, and I must say I have total respect for all of you who do that. This will be my first year as a volunteer and I look forward to it.

And that is the spread of anime conventions, and now let me show you a list of the damage they have caused.

Canada (11)

  • Animethon
  • Otafest
  • Anime Evolution
  • Tsukino-Con
  • Ai-Kon
  • Animaritine
  • Anime North
  • Dotcon
  • Naru2U
  • Otakuthon
  • G-Anime
United States (70)

Brazil (1)

  • Anime Festival

 

Europe (9)

Asia/Pacific (11)

Sincerely and Trolly,

Folium