Sometime around 11/17/2023 I went to an anime convention with two of my best friends. Unfortunately one of my friends and I weren’t able to dress up in a costume because the tickets were bought at the last minute. But one of my friends dressed up in a plague doctor’s outfit to fit the character from the SCP universe known as SCP-049 otherwise known as the plague doctor. Despite it being an “anime” convention it wasn’t just home to anime but other franchises from video games, Dungeons and Dragons, etc. It was also a place where artists could sell the art that they made. I ended up buying a very expensive set of dungeons and dragons dice which was very worth it. But about the art itself. The art was really fun. There was so much to talk about such as the stickers that other freelance artists make about anime. One sticker set that I really wanted to buy but wasn’t able to afford was stickers of my little pony characters that were really well done in terms of cartoon proportions, color, shading, highlights, etc. It was a really cool combination of the my little pony art style mixed in with some anime. I feel like I’m going to regret not buying it 70+ years from now. But it’s really cool to see a community that supports each other and gives a platform to other artists all in the same general interests as one another. Sure they were there to sell, but the space was given to them by the very large community of people who love anime. While I personally am not that big of a fan of japanese anime, I am a very big fan of the sense of community that went into the convention. Speaking of the community, it was beyond cool to see everyone’s costumes. So many of the people there were dressed up either with their friends or by themselves as what they loved the most. People can come up with the most creative and interesting costumes that I have ever seen. Such as a costume of gear 5 Luffy from the anime/manga One piece with steam/clouds behind him lit by a string of lights. Is it a fire hazard? Probably, yes, but it’s also extremely fascinating to see the sense of passion and community held up by everyone. And the official stuff set up by crunchyroll was also very interesting. I took multiple photos including one of me on a chair next to a bunch of characters from the anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Lastly, it was honestly just such a blast being in a space that inspires me with people who I really care about. To compare the other places we went to the Art Show Fair was horrible. Because there was so much snobbishness and pretentiousness that came out of that art market. It was just beyond out of touch. But anime and animations such as those are honestly what I consider to be true(or at least much better) modern art. And unlike that art market this was a market that was open and brought together by the sense of community it built. And It was also just really exciting to be in that space with people I really care about.
