AnimeUSA again made its annual appearance this past weekend in Crystal City’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. This celebration of anime boasts symposiums on the art of Japanese animation and manga, or comics. In addition, there are many different types of games, including video games, board games, and even a “Jeopardy”-style live quiz competition: “The Anime Showdown Game Show.” Sample question: In the “Naruto” manga series, what food is Naruto’s favorite? Answer: Ramen. It is notable that the answer to this question involves Japanese culture, for ramen is the wheat noodle soup beloved in Japan. In fact, in addition to anime discussions, AnimeUSA also features demonstrations of the Japanese fine arts, including Japanese tea ceremony, a performance of the koto musical instrument, and ikebana, or flower arranging.
We interviewed Chris Needham, AnimeUSA’s chairman of the board as well as director of cultural and educational programming. Mr. Needham explained the reason behind this high culture focus in a popular anime convention: “Our organization exists to promote both Japanese anime and traditional culture. The goal is to link both, so we bring in a tea school from Washington, D.C., to conduct a tea ceremony and have a musician play the koto and explain why it is the iconic Japanese instrument. People have seen these Japanese cultural elements in anime, but they have never experienced an actual tea ceremony live.”
One of the delights of the AnimeUSA convention is to speak with the many attendees who are cosplayers, that is, people who dress in the costumes of their favorite anime and manga characters. We met, for example, Alicia who hails originally from Brazil, lived in Indiana, and now attends American University in Washington, D.C., where she is a literature major. She was appareled as Fuu Hououji from the “Magic Knight Rayearth” manga world. She likes Fuu, for she represents female characters from 1990s Japanese manga and anime. Alicia feels she herself not only looks a bit like the character in real life but can identify with Fuu’s characteristic reserve, politeness, and logical nature.
We found Cordelia, dressed in Rococo- and Victorian-inspired Japanese Lolita fashion, in conversation with Grayson, who cosplayed Hololive’s Mori Calliope. Grayson is from Fairfax, studies graphic design at George Mason University, and anticipates Halloween with her Japanese-style Grim Reaper Mori character, complete with scythe. Of course, AnimeUSA has a broader appeal than merely college students interested in Japanese anime. We met, for instance, the father-and-daughter cosplayers Justin and Anastasia, who portrayed Mabel and Grunkle (“grand uncle”) Stan, the latter with a Shriner-style red fez iconic to his character. These two characters stem not from anime at all but from the Disney Channel’s “Gravity Fall” animated television series.
A very interesting person to meet and who has saved many a cosplayer’s costume is Alex. Holding up a sign proclaiming “Cosplayer Repair,” he can be seen wearing a costume from a Renaissance festival as he mingles with cosplayers. Alex carries with him a backpack and satchels with tools to come to the rescue of cosplayers who have “wardrobe malfunctions” such as tears in their apparel or broken props such as crowns, wands, and ray-guns.
Clearly, all of the AnimeUSA attendees share a love of anime as well as a strong desire to share their favorite characters with like-minded animation aficionados, Japanophiles, and intrigued hotel guests!