Over the weekend you may have seen something to be noticed downtown. Thousands of people coming to a magical place full of some of my favorite characters from across all sorts of universe. Cosplay was the name of the game at this convention by fans and for fans, come in costume, play, and celebrate kosupure ('cosplay' in Japanese)! It was a place of wonder and surprise, a realm of acceptance, role-playing, and dance lessons, and the only place you'll get to see a Deadpool doing Blackstreet's No Diggity karaoke, yes my friends, this is Fanime 2017.
The convention is about four days long, with events pretty much throughout the entire thing: meet-ups, workshops, gaming, expos, movie marathons, art, music, the only thing that was really missing was a food option, all though the churros were on point, there were too many hotdogs around and no elotes (Mexican corn), come on, really? Luckily, Good Karma isn't that far away, and Philz close by gave us a second wind to get back to the convention which spread from the Fairmont to the hotels and convention center, the streets were packed, but in a good way.
The time and dedication that fans put into their regalia is astounding; some cast their own props, do leather work, wire their electronics and even program automated actions on their cosplay. Yet, the coolest of cools to see was the bonds of friendship through the fandom, running into old friends and letting the nerdiness fill our hearts. It felt good to have that spirit, there was much love and laughter up and down the halls and rooms. We saw a family dressed as characters from Naruto, DBZ, even a flying Goku on this nimbus; couples as Link and Zelda, and San and Ashitaka; whole groups of friends cosplaying Overwatch, Kingdom Hearts, Berserk, Steven Universe, Avatar, Attack on Titan, Gurren Lagann, Mob Psycho 100, Disney, DC, Marvel, Star Wars, Sailor Moon; and more!
The positive vibes of the place really made an impression on us, the diversity in how the characters can be portrayed breaks hetero-normative standards with humor and parody, the feeling is whimsical and that it is a joy to see. Plus, who doesn't want to see female Rick and Morty, or an all-male Sailor Moon Troupe? What a crazy time and place we exist in this multiverse, remember to find joy in it, even if it's just once a year. There's something worth fighting for, and sometimes you have to dress up as a superhero to be reminded. We hope to come back next year, and hope that this articles inspires the few of you who've always wanted to dress up as your favorite character to join us at Fanime 2018!
That's all folks!
*Shout out to the Ritz for hosting UGWA, and the hospitality they showed us in our cosplay!*
*Photography and Video by Amanda C. Ross*
