Kids taking pictures with “Big Hero 6” star Baymax, a 70-year-old couple cosplaying characters from an obscure online video game, and everyone in between filled the Raleigh Convention Center May 21-24 for the 18th annual Animazement.
Games, panels, competitions, shows and featured guests are just a few of the event’s main attractions. Animazement was originally created by a group of NC State students in 1997 after they formed an anime club at the university.
The convention is entirely run by volunteers, and drew in more than 11,300 people this year. The event’s featured guests included voice actress Linda Young from “Dragon Ball Z,” Japanese animator Shingo Yamashita, whose works include the popular series “Naruto,” and producer Toshifumi Yoshida who is currently working on the Pokémon Company International.
Jeff Basladynski, Animazement’s department head of media relations and photography and NC State alumnus, walked around shirtless and with scratches drawn his face so he could cosplay as martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Though he would get stares if he were a department head for any other event, Basladynski fit right in with everyone else with the pair of nunchucks he carried around on Saturday.
A major highlight of the con was its Dealer’s Room, where a wide range of small businesses and independent artists set up tables to sell everything from anime and hand-drawn art to tiny top hats.
Noah Hardy represented Aardvark Screenprinting, which sells printed T-shirts and sweatshirts, many of which have special designs and characters on them. While his parents started the business and have done science fiction conventions since the ‘80s, it wasn’t until 2003 when they started attending anime cons.
“We find people at anime conventions to be a lot kinder,” Hardy said. “It feels more like a community than it does like an elitist atmosphere.”
Hardy said in the eight or nine years his family has been going to Animazement, the convention has grown tremendously in both number and size. He said a lot of the growth is due to the people who have grown up with Animazement telling friends about the event.
“There’s a lot more dealers here than there used to be,” Hardy said. “But that doesn’t hurt our business because when a convention is run well, when they actually care about their vendors and don’t just try to squeeze money out of it, it makes for a better, much more profitable show.”
Animazement also provided struggling businesses the opportunity to make a better profit than they do throughout the year. One of these companies was Anime Pavilion, a small business based in Virginia which sells anime and manga.
Jennifer Wood, one of the store’s representatives, said they went into business in 1989, before the days of online streaming when anime was much harder to acquire from Japan. Lately, however, she said sales have been down, which is likely the result of the massive popularity of sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“If we don’t make our numbers this year [the owner] wants to cut this con, so I’m hoping we make the numbers today because everyone here is so nice, and there’s a lot of southern hospitality,” Wood said.
Basladynski, however, said online streaming is a major reason for the increased interest in anime in the United States, during the last four to five years especially. He said the easy access to anime online has helped garner more interest outside Japan and has allowed it to expand its representation. One of Animazement’s biggest sponsors this year was Crunchyroll, an online streaming source specifically for anime.
“They have thousands of obscure anime shows you have never heard of,” Basladynski said.
This year saw a lot of first-time con goers, such as Brian Koonce, who came cosplaying as the villain Amon from “Legend of Korra.” As he talked with me in full costume, his mask covering the entirety of his face, he said this certainly won’t be his last Animazement.
“I’ve been hearing about this convention for a while now,” Koonce said. “All these people are interested in the same things I am, and, yeah, I’m probably going to do this every year now.”
In addition to the panels, cosplay contest and photo sessions with guests, the convention was primarily a time for fans to come and spend time with each other.
“I think the biggest thing with our con compared to a lot of comic cons that I’ve been to is that everyone here is so specific genre-wise that they love to just sit down and chat about anime, play a board game, hang out,” Basladynski said. “Seventy percent of the people here don’t even go to any of the events. They just come out here and chill with their friends.”
See more in Animazement 2015 Photo Gallery
Editor’s Note: Jeff Basladynski’s was originally named as director of photography and media. This is incorrect. Basladynski is the department head of photography and media relations.