Anime Weekend Atlanta welcomes all and loves them long time.
By Jack Huang
I’d like you to conjure a stereotypical image of an anime junkie from America in your head. Yes, all sorts of bespectacled, hygiene deprived, stuttering manifestations of nerd culture should soon come to mind. Now imagine nearly a thousand of them all huddled together, mutually empowering their
obsessions in Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) — it’s not a pleasant first impression.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m 30 percent nerdish. I love good anime, and I speak fluent nerd, including the street nerd of wookie and elfish. It’s a proud lifestyle that I joyfully embrace (I’m just born this way, it’s natural and I can’t change). But somewhere deep inside, I am troubled by the prospect that I would immerse myself amongst a gang of weird cosplayers for the entire weekend. This, I assume, would be your preconceived notion of AWA as well. Don’t commit to that illusion though, because AWA was a thrilling, eye-opening experience.
The convention wasn’t located in some typical flea market locale, but it was instead held within the five star Renaissance Waverly Hotel, beside popular dining locations such as the Cheesecake Factory and P. F. Chang’s.
The plush, soothing lodging is guaranteed to be as comfortable a retreat as possible for any excited
attendant. When you get down from your room and make your way into the giant reception hall where everyone meets and activities take place, the first thing you’ll notice is how massive this convention is.
Everywhere, impersonators of immortal anime icons like Cloud Strife, Vincent, and Tifa from “Final Fantasy VII” appear, fully decked in the most “realistic” equipments and battle gears.
Accompanying them strode the impersonators of the popular cartoons “Naruto,” “Bleach” and “Afro
Samurai.” They, too, were extremely authentically dressed, including the finest details, such as Kakashi Sensei’s recognizable covered eye and Afro’s exact rippling afro hairstyle. I was genuinely captivated by a stylishly dressed Yoko, in battle gear, from my beloved “Gurren Lagann” series. Trevor Pledger, a third-year interactive design and game development student, came dressed as Travis Touchdown, the famous assassin/protagonist of the popular video game, “No More Heroes.”
There was also an entire gallery wing devoted to the sale of precious anime and manga books, figurines, costumes and memorabilia. Several famous concept artists and anime voice actors also debuted in this area of the convention. I witnessed many bonding moments between fans and these anime loremasters as I strode pass stall after stall.
Even for outsiders of the anime phenomenon, there’s still an amazing quantity of gaudy characters to catch their interest. Several genuine cosplayers channeled the persona of their chosen impersonated character. I must admit, there were actually a great number of interesting characters that gave me a haunting chill because they so well resembled the exact appearance of the portrayed characters. There was also a showing of less-than-stunning animes that possessed extremely clichéd but hilarious acting, plot twists and general horribleness. Needless to say, the entire theatre was fighting to contain their tears from the ridiculous gut-busting laughter, regardless of their familiarity with anime.
Lastly, as a capstone for this enthralling experience, a rave party was held on Saturday night with tremendous fanfare and collective motion. Amidst the blaring techno remix from the DJ’s mega phones, the lithe motions of the party dress beneath the shifting lights, and the hallucinogenic rhythm of the glowing sticks, I felt my inner cynicism give in to the festive chaos around me — I was actually having fun.
Looking back I’m still not much at ease with the huge fan population that dominated this event, or the fact that the vast majority of them are so hopelessly devoted to this Japanese mass media culture trend. But, I also feel my original perception of the AWA crumble:
I experienced a sense of freedom and good sense of ‘incoherence’ because the people that I was so eager
to label previously as utter “nerds” were casual, open, simply fun-loving people who definitely know how to have a good time. For more information, check out the Web site: www.awa-con.com.
