Three Days of the Con: A Curmudgeon's View of Anime Weekend Atlanta

Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) is the third largest anime convention in the U.S. About nine thousand fans, dressed as pointy haired-big eyed cartoons, descended on the Galleria Mall in Cobb County Georgia to cosplay (that means dress in costume if you're over 40), swap email, and glomp each other at this three day con. 'Membership' for the event varied between $25 for one day or $45 for all three. Parents with children under 13 were able to get a reduced rate parent pass.

For the unenlightened, anime is the style of Japanese animation that first invaded the U.S in the early 60s. The over 30 crowd may remember Speed Racer, Astro Boy and, one of my personal favorites - Gigantor. The under 30 crowd (or the 40 somethings with kids) are more familiar with Pokemon (gotta' catch them all), Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Either way, anime is easily distinguished from Western animation by the characters inhumanly large, expressive eyes; colorful and painfully detailed background; and lip-sync as horrendous as any bad kung-fu movie. Genres of anime span the range from child safe to adult. Unlike Western animation, anime artists will cover mature topics; creating some stories that would make Quentin Tarantino cringe and Hugh Hefner blush.

Two primary rooms and several smaller rooms for break out sessions make up the AWA. I attended one session, Anime in Academia by Brent Allison, a primer on studying anime as a scholarly subject. I passed on the opportunity to hear Living the Lolita Lifestyle Cospanel. The main room is Artist Alley - row after row of artists - most of them under 25 - selling their art, comic books, on-the-spot commissions, as well as buttons and plush toys (note to one plushie creator; I'm sure you're very talented, but unless that six inch plushie is stuffed with Cuban cigars or Godiva Chocolate, $60 is beyond steep) . Some of the artists were incredibly talented (Rachel Borovic, Jennifer Menze) and others, well, not so much. Across the hall, capitalism was alive and well in the Dealers' Room, where just about every manner of anime, manga, swords, Japanese style clothing, CDs and posters were available.