Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a major city full of a wide variety of people. There’s always something going on despite the time of year. From Feb. 17 through the 19, Milwaukee held its own Anime-Con downtown in the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Wisconsin Convention Center. It is Wisconsin’s largest Anime convention, attracting around 9,000 attendees. This year marked the convention’s tenth anniversary.
The convention’s schedule was packed tight with planned programming, guest panels and cosplay meetings. The guests included voice actors from popular shows, famous professional cosplayers and costume designers, comic and manga authors, as well as martial artists. They each had their own personal block on the schedule where fans could listen to them talk, and ask questions. Other scheduled programs included fun activities such as “Bad Fanfiction Reading,” “Pokémon Bingo,” “Learn Basic Japanese,” “K-Pop Ultimate Dance Challenge,” “Dragonball Z Ultimate Fan Trivia” and much more. They had plenty of adult and R-rated activities like speed dating and an anime bar, but they also included many children activities geared for the younger crowd.
There was even a theater room and a manga library filled with hundreds of books. One of the busiest places was the 24-hour gaming room which was filled with new and old video games that anyone could play. The exhibit hall was also bursting with people. Inside, dozens of vendors had set up booths to sell anime merchandise, clothing, movies, books and real swords. There was also an artist alley inside where local artist could display and sell their prints, buttons, stickers, and keychains.
Personally, I drove all the way home to Milwaukee last Friday night so I could take my 11-year-old brother, Jake Baciak, to Anime-Con this year. He is a huge fan of One Piece, Dragonball and Naruto so he was really excited to go. He has been waiting for months for the date to come and even managed to save up more money than I had. Jake had a lot of things to say about Anime-Con. “My favorite part was when we played Pokémon jeopardy because I got to answer a lot of hard questions about the game and learn more things too.
My favorite anime is One Piece because all the characters have a really good background stories. I’m glad we went to the artist alley because I got a lot of awesome artwork. Next year I totally want to go again and see all the people dressed up again. I want to dress up as Naruto next year.” Here at Michigan Tech, there is the Houghton Anime Review Organization for those interested in anime. However, not everyone has access to groups like this one, so being able to go to a large event means a lot to them. Large conventions like Anime-Con are definitely geared for those who love the subject of the convention. I am not a diehard fan of anime, but I did enjoy the convention.
It was amazing to see how many people came and even more so to see all the parents with their children. There wasn’t one person there who didn’t look like they were having a good time. That’s the point of the convention. It’s a grand day where you can surround yourself with others who like the same things you do, which instills a feeling of belonging. The whole time we were there Jake kept saying, “This is awesome” making it worth the drive.
