Jul 07, 2015 Outside Anime Expo Recap
I planned on driving up to San Francisco over the Fourth of July weekend and missing Anime Expo. Then the trip fell through and I was stuck without a pass. What a bummer, until it occurred to me that I didn’t actually need registration. Unlike Comic-Con where I’d hope to attend a bunch of panels with Silver Age and underground comix legends and visit and support friends at their indie comics booths, the main attraction at Anime Expo is the fans themselves.
The generation of overly serious, fan-subbing, VHS-trading, “Japanimation” enthusiasts has been wiped out by fun-loving cosplayers who enjoy taking pictures of each other. It’s infectious, even for a Tezuka worshipper like me whose fandom peaked out with Evangelion and only casually follows directors like Miyazaki and Hosoda.
And also unlike Comic-Con, which is hermetically sealed so no one without a badge can even get close to the action, anyone can stroll into the Los Angeles Convention Center, hang out in the lobby, and people watch. In addition, it turns out that the Anime Expo lobby is not only a great place for otaku like my friend Bill, my wife, and me to spend a few hours, it’s also a great place to bring a child.
Wendy and I brought our seven-year-old daughter who loves Miyazaki movies, Kimba, and Sailor Moon. After being informed that one can walk up to anyone in cosplay and ask for a picture, she dragged me all over the lobby and had a blast. Photographer friends take note: having a cute kid ask for permission to take a photo is totally different from being that guy not in cosplay doing the same thing. So much more fun and feels less pervy, too.
But Eloise got more than cool pictures out of the experience. She observed that in anime (unlike mainstream American superhero comics) there are just as many (if not more) heroes who are women as there are men. And how cool was it for a Chinese little girl to see not only that there were fans of all colors but that all of them were trying to be Asian?
It was a bonus to run into a few friends on their way in or out: Ashley Mae from Keep, artist Saelee Oh, maybe others in cosplay that we didn’t even recognize. There were surely more inside the actual event but hopefully I’ll catch them at Comic-Con next week… Seeya in San Diego. We’re bringing Eloise there, too!
