Let me disclaim this post. I’ve never been to an anime-only convention before yesterday. I know a lot of the press, some of the exhibitors, a few attendees and some of the organizers of the New York Anime Festival and I appreciate them having me down. As one of the proprietors of Anime After Dark, I have to be careful not to make this sound like some kind of an indictment of the genre fans or event organizers. It’s not. It’s really just a series of observations from an (inside) outsider’s prospective. Also, NYAF is my only experience with an anime convention, so some of my observations may be skewed, but I really think they will hold true for any event of this nature.

1. There’s a strange emphasis on cultural fetishism. I’m a lover of Japanese animation as well as certain design aesthetics. I never knew that there were so many fans who translate their love of animation into a strange fascination with the culture and heritage of the Japanese people. I saw martial arts demonstrations, musical acts, weapons for sale, people were eating sushi and drinking tea. It’s an odd sensation walking around in what I thought was a convention about animation and comics but is actually a cultural fair for Japanophiles. I was chatting with Michael Arias (of animatrix fame) not too long ago and a quote comes to mind.“Interestingly the fact that I am not Japanese was only brought up when the movie was released outside of Japan. No one here gives a shit – at least I was never conscious of being the “American born anime director” until I took the movie outside of Japan. It seemed somehow that the American audiences in particular needed to imagine the director as some kind of Zen monk who carries a sword and speaks in riddles to accept a movie as “anime” or “Japanimation”. Satoshi Kon fits the image much better than I do of course.”
2. The age range for this event is skewed very young. I wandered in to a room where they were showing a DVD projection of some property in which several girls were sitting and talking in a jacuzzi. The crowd erupted in laughter when one of the girl’s breasts began jiggling from the bubbles. It was a kind of laughter I hadn’t heard since I was young and Beavis and Butt-Head ruled all media. It was the laugh of sexual inexperience and sheltered upbringings.
3. I was drafted to assist with what people told me was the “hallway cosplay contest”. I’m not certain if that was the actual name or a style of contest. I’ve heard it used as a style, so that’s why I’m unsure. Anyway, the lesson I walked away with was that there were some great costumes and some not so great costumes. I’m familiar with a few websites that take pleasure in making fun of people who are wearing costumes that are a little bit off or not appropriate for their bodies. More directly, I heard some scathing comments from people hugging walls at the convention hallways. Standing in the judging room and listening to these costumed attendees speaking made me realize that many of these kids have crippling esteem issues. These people seem like they’re very unsure of themselves, but they love their anime and they love seeing their friends. These kids are not the top of the food chain in normal society. As that contest unfolded I realized exactly what kind of pathetic monsters both post and run sites that rip these kids apart. There’s no glory in pointing out how awful an actual awful costume is. It’s even worse when you’re doing it to people whose lives and sense of identity revolve around being able to come to events like this and feel accepted. It makes you a bully and what’s worse than that is it makes you about fifty feet lower on the totem pole from the people you ridicule. Imagine how awful your life must be to take pleasure in picking on people like that. It’s a cheap shot and I pity the people who get off on it. If these folks really feel so superior to these kids that means they are compassionless shells of people and no good will ever come to them. We’re all entitled to our opinions, but when you make the choice to boadcast your thoughts to the world you are granting an open invitation for others to challenge your idiology.
4. Performance art. It seems like there is a greater emphasis on music and performing at anime conventions. Skits, dance groups, musical acts… these all seem to be perpetually occuring. I’m curious as to why so many of the fans I saw attending are so eager to perform in some capacity. It’s a little more understandable that they would like to see bands and what-not, but even when the stage was clear you’d see a constant string of makeshift performances.

I’m not a convention-goer by nature. As far as “fan” conventions go I’ve been to one installment of Vulkon back in Central Florida as a lark and spent most of the time drinking at the lobby bar. When I started in genre entertainment a few years ago that was the impetus to attend New York Comic Con and Comic Con International. Due to a bout of illness I had to neglect going to Balticon, so that made my third convention (since becoming a professional in this aspect of entertainment) DragonCon. Each one of these conventions has been interesting in its own right, but by far this anime convention experience has been the most relaxed, but it’s also been the one that has made me feel the most alienated.

Anime After Dark is most likely not going to appease the type of people who attend these conventions. I think it’s a bigger draw for people like myself who love animation and cinema. I hope that these kids give it a try, but it’s nothing like these events and that’s what makes it so special.