Anime- a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children. Most people hear the word anime and do not know what it is. Some probably don’t recognize that they have most likely seen an anime at one point in their life.

Ever watched Pokémon? That’s an anime. How about Dragon Ball Z? Naruto? Even Avatar: The Last Airbender is an anime.

Anime may not be the most popular form of entertainment, but it is very popular. Enough that conventions are created to bring people together who like anime and manga (a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, typically aimed at adults as well as children).

Multiple cons are anime/manga specific such as, Kotoricon, Zenkaikon, Otakon, Anime Next, and so many more. Regarding these conventions, Kotoricon happened to have come and gone successfully once again this year at our very own Rowan College at Gloucester County on Jan. 8-9 2016.

Voice actor, Broadway director/producer, and activist, Jamie McGonnigal was Kotoricon’s first and only guest 7 years ago and has been a guest with his own panel every year since, except one year where he had broken his foot a week before the con.

He voices Barry, Trip, and Grumpig in Pokémon and has had other roles in One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Viva Piñata. Growing up McGonnigal wanted to be an actor and did musical theater in New York. A friend of his had been the one to refer him to the Pokémon producers.

McGonnigal has been to plenty of other conventions and they can be chaotic. Attendance has ranged from 30 to 15,000 people depending on the con. Most that he’s attended don’t even exist anymore.

He talked very highly of Kotoricon saying that it has a hometown feel and was small, but it’s been growing and the size allows for intimacy.  “The con has grown so much and there’s not a lot of cons in the area so it gives kids who find community a place to go,” he said. “They feel like they belong and [the convention] gives a sense of ‘there are others like me.’ It’s very powerful.”

Similar to McGonnigal and his start is voice actor Damon Mills. Mills never set out to be an actor. He was very shy and quiet in school. It wasn’t until high school that he fell into acting.

He would mess around at home with acting online and working on impressions. He thought of it all as more of a hobby. Yet, as fate would have it, a few professionals approached him encouraging him to go for voice acting.

Mills asked questions, began to audition, and even moved from Hawaii to the East Coast to find work. You may hear him act in Pokémon XY, Yiik, and Holy Knights.

This was Mills’ first year at Kotoricon and it’s all because of his good friend Michelle Knotz. Knotz has been a guest for the past couple years and recommended having him as a guest.

“[The con] is really well organized. The staff is great and it’s not a crazy, chaotic mess. I would love to come back,” he stated.

An attendee this year, Tyler, loves that the con is “small and comfortable” because it means you meet new people and see them more than once throughout the convention. She also likes that it wasn’t super expensive like other cons can be.

The most expensive part of a convention is an attendee’s cosplay. On average a costume can range from $100-$200 whether you buy the whole outfit or make it yourself. Obviously not all of them will be in that range. It all depends on the costume.

An attendee, Dawn Farrell, cosplayed as her own dark, cyber version of Pikachu from Pokémon. “I really like Pikachu, but I added some of my own style.”

She wore yellow cargo shorts, Pikachu ears, and a really cool headband with a neon yellow top that had black sleeves.

Most attendees come in a costume or in something that represents their favorite anime. This year there were lots of fantastic costumes. There were Stormtroopers wandering around, a few Kylo Ren, cat characters from a game called Cat Collector, Harry Potter characters, Pokémon, and even a John Cena.

But wait! These people don’t spend all of their money on their costumes. The con has so much more to offer than cosplayers walking around and going to panels. There is a Dealer’s Room in which venders may set up a stand and sell products. The Dealer’s Room tends to have more material items such as comics, manga, games, dolls, action figures, etc.

Just outside the DR is Artist Alley. In Artist Alley, these venders set up their own hand made products to sell. Most of what is set up is artwork like paintings, prints, and other handmade materials.

One of the venders, Robert Lambert (AKA Bobbo the Gnome) sets up his stand, The Needle Gnomes, right at the end of the two main aisles in AA. Lambert is a fiber artist, which means he works with yarns and crocheting.

By popular demand, the plushies are the crowd favorite. They are made with a Japanese style known as “amigurumi” which roughly translates to stitch gritter. Some that were displayed and sold were plush BB-8’s, Darth Vaders, Princess Leias, Pokémon characters, and more. He also was selling a double bed sized Captain America blanket he made.

Depending on what product he is making, they can range from taking 45 minutes to finish or multiple days, possibly weeks.

Lambert’s Captain America blanket is the largest piece he’s made and the largest stuffed animal he’s made is a life size Dobby from Harry Potter. His personal favorites to make are dragons. He loves that he can make them all different colors and when he’s half way done there’s a little face looking at him.

Lambert does this as his full time job and promotes his products at conventions and Renaissance Faires. He has gone as far south as Del. and as far north as Mass.

Lambert has been a vender at Kotoricon for the past 5 years. He too enjoys the smallness of the con and its intimacy. “It’s a smaller crowd and you have knowledge of one another,” he said. “It’s not same old stuff either. It’s a perfect con for someone who has never been to one.”

For some is was their first con, but many who attend are those who loved it so much they had to come back.

“It’s a great time all around,” Gina Fuscellaro ’17 said in regards to the con. “It’s a lot of fun and you get to be with your friends.”

This was only Fuscellaro’s second year, but she enjoyed it so much last year and was more than glad to return with her friends who she laughed and referred to as “nerds.” She thought that the con was put together very well and likes that it has grown since last year too.

Hailey Hoose ’17 had also attended and she was able to cosplay this year. On Friday she made an appearance as Dipper from the TV show Gravity Falls. Saturday she spent the day as the ‘rose vest’ version of Ryan Ross from Panic! At the Disco.

Hoose made the vest herself and it didn’t take her too long seeing as her idea wasn’t too complicated to create.

She was actually the one in her friend group to have discovered Kotoricon. “I saw it in the newspaper, but it was after it already happened. I decided then that I really wanted to go the next year.”

She described the convention as a great starter con. There’s approx. 2,000-3,000 people and it is at a really great place that’s close to home.

Programming Director, Amanda Cancelmo, has been a volunteer for Kotori’s staff for the past six years. She first heard about the con in her senior year of high school because it was at the college she wanted to go to, RCGC.

She remembers how much smaller the con was and is happy to see how much it’s grown. It had gone from being one room for the venders and a few classrooms for the panels.

Now the University Center is used for the arcade, registration, and photoshoots; College Center is used for venders; and classrooms all over the Instructional Center are used for panels. The con was even granted permission to use the fine arts center for special shows that were put on by groups such as +2 Comedy.

The volunteer staff is there to try to keep everything running smoothly. They check your badges (dog tags) when entering the buildings to make sure you are permitted to be there. They check in on panels to make sure nothing too chaotic breaks out. Also, they try to make the con as much fun for us as possible.

Kotoricon offers so much to its attendees. Voice actors from our favorite anime guest star and hold their own panels where you can play games, talk, ask questions and so much more. Arcade games and video games are brought in to fill in the time gaps. Friends are made.

Generally, everyone who goes enjoys themselves because they are in a community of others like them. It’s like a safe haven. You can go and be who you are without being judged by today’s society.

For those who don’t understand why people like anime, manga, or any else that relates to either, each person interviewed gave a piece of advice to help you understand not only the material, but even the conventions themselves.

McGonnigal said, “It’s a world where geeks get to be geeks. A wonderful, judge free zone. People are proud to be who they are and proud to find a community of people who share similar likes and experiences.”

“Keep an open mind,” said Lambert. “Try to relate it to something like sports. Fans basically cosplay as their favorite players and even go as far as to play fantasy games.”

Mills reminded that “there is more to [anime] with the plots and characters. You get to know the characters through the monologues of what’s going through their minds. People also don’t seem to realize that anime is all different genres, it’s not just one singular thing.”

“It’s not too different from American cartoons. They just have different styles,” states Fuscellaro.

Hoose said, “For whatever reason you like football or drawing, I feel the same about anime,”

“Everyone has hobbies and interests. People like different things than other people. Some like eccentric and out of the box,” said Tyler.

Farrell suggests to “just try it. You can’t judge if you don’t try it and sometimes a series can be really awful until the end, but you wouldn’t know if you didn’t try.”

Finally, Cancelmo said, “it’s not just about the show, fandom, or how. It’s about community, being excited to see other people’s cosplays and having stories to tell about being together.”

Kotoricon- the little convention with a big heart.