MikomiCon 2008

A Small Anime Con with a Large Punch

The anime convention is an interesting venue where fans of Japanese animation (anime) congregate to share the love of the art. Primary features of a convention include panels with members of the anime industry discussing said industry, interviews with the actors who voice the anime characters, live Asian-style music and cultural demonstrations, a convenient marketplace to buy anime-related goods, plenty of people dressed up in costumes of anime characters (known as cosplay), and being able to talk face to face with fellow attending anime fans instead of through Internet forums (live social communication is a good thing). Conventions range in size from a four-day weekend event occupying a city's corporate-sponsored convention center to a day event occupying a few classrooms of a college campus.

MikomiCon (9/19/08-9/21/08) was one of many anime conventions in California that Traveling Valentine covered in the 2008 season. Compared to Fanime in the San Jose Convention Center and Anime Expo in the Los Angeles Convention Center, MikomiCon is a small convention nestled in several lounges, classrooms, and a theater inside the CSU Northridge campus. Despite its small venue, MikomiCon's panels and events packed a large punch. And because of its small venue, attendees didn't have to stand in lines spanning city blocks to fully experience this densely packed punch. MikomiCon would be the first convention that I would experience while blind and on one good leg (Fortunately, not at the same time).

I flew to Victoria's house on the Friday night of MikomiCon. We missed the events that day, but took the time to whip up a sketch for the masquerade tomorrow. We called our other two members of Traveling Valentine, Deb and Stan, to tell them to be ready to perform tomorrow in the requested costumes. Victoria came up with the concept and the reference source while I used my creative writing lessons to churn out a script to suit the characters and convention. It was a simple sketch with untested jokes. We did not know the audience would react until Saturday.