DEPTFORD TWP. ? What do demons, doctors and the Batmobile have in common?
One word: KotoriCon.
Since first opening its doors on the Gloucester County College campus in 2010, the ?little anime convention with a big heart,? as it is billed by its organizers, has ballooned in attendance by about 400 percent.
More than 1,000 attendees made their way through registration lines at the convention Saturday afternoon, and with the increased headcount, the annual event has expanded to not just a celebration of Japanese culture and animation, but of ?fandoms? including Star Wars, Dr. Who, and video games, among others.
?It?s mostly grown through just word of mouth, said Ed Knorr, who graduated from GCC last spring, but remained active in the school?s Japanese Anime Guild to help organize the convention this year. ?Because it?s so small, people have more time with the voice actors we bring in. Also, it?s a lot cheaper than some of the other, bigger conventions.
?People must like it, because there are a lot more than we expected out there this year.?
Those words were backed up nearly unanimously by the masses of people who turned out ? mostly from South Jersey, but also from Delaware, Maryland, New York and Connecticut, and nearly all dressed as their favorite television or movie characters ? to navigate their way through the 60 vendor tables, 24 panels, four voice actor panels and eight anime screenings.
The festivities were spread across three campus buildings, centered around the College Center. Outside, attendees could take a break next to a replica of the Batmobile from the 1960s live-action Batman television show.
?It?s a great atmosphere here,? said 16-year-old Dylan Maslowski, from Blackwood. He was dressed as the 11th Doctor from the popular BBC television series Dr. Who. Beside him was 14-year-old Grace Febrin, donning a TARDIS T-shirt. Saturday was their first KotoriCon, and it was no surprise that the Dr. Who panel was the highlight of their day.
?I?ve been to other anime conventions, including Zenkaikon in King of Prussia, but I haven?t been to one in a while,? said Maslowski. ?I figured I needed to get back in the convention scene, and this was right up the street.?
It was Febrin?s first convention, ever.
?It?s big,? exclaimed the Washington Township resident.
Terry Browning, wearing the uniform of a Star Wars storm trooper and leading around his 7-year-old son Logan, dressed as Ash from the television show Pokemon, is also a veteran of larger conventions.
A regular attendee of New York Comic Con and Wizard World Philly, Browning, who made the drive from Neptune, said the smaller KotoriCon on the county college campus is a welcoming, relaxed event.
?It?s nice, friendly and fun,? he said. ?Those other ones are a lot more corporate and busy, and sometimes you can?t even look at stuff because of all the people.?
Similarly impressed was Dan Daugherty, a Ewing Township resident by way of Baltimore, whose LARP (Live Action Role Playing) group, Seventh Kingdom, had put on a fighting demonstration on the convention floor.
?It?s more than I expected; when I heard it was at a college, I thought it would be smaller,? said Daugherty, 25, whose Seventh Kingdom character is a diabolist sorcerer. ?I?m enjoying it.?
At its heart, the one-day convention is a charity event, this year raising money for not only Hurricane Sandy victims, but also the human rights organization Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), which runs an ?underground railroad? throughout southeast Asia ushering North Korean refugees to freedom. LiNK also provides protection and aid to North Korean refugees hiding in China.
?The idea was to offer something people from the area could enjoy, while supporting charity,? said Dr. Susan Glenn, faculty advisor for the college?s Anime Guild and chairwoman of the convention. ?What I like about it, is kids from the area can have a convention, without having to travel too far, and the volunteers get really excited for it.
?It?s a lot of work to put it on each year; it?s already too big for me,? she added with a laugh. ?But it really is a great event.?
Contact Jason Laday at 856-845-3300 ext. 228 or jladay@southjerseymedia.com.Source: http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2013/01/little_anime_convention_draws.html
the hartford illinois primary 2012 michael bay zsa zsa gabor illinois primary trayvon martin 911 call kiribati
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.