’Burgh fans gather to celebrate anime culture

Instead of bellhops and tourists, the Wyndham Grand Hotel, Downtown, was overrun this weekend… Instead of bellhops and tourists, the Wyndham Grand Hotel, Downtown, was overrun this weekend with images of Pokemon and many other vestiges of Japanese culture.

About 4,000 people — including some Pitt students — were expected to gather in the hotel for Tekkoshocon IX — the ninth installment of Pittsburgh’s Japanese pop-culture convention. The event, which celebrates the animation, music and video games of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, is evidence of the growing role Japanese art is playing in American culture.

While Japanese culture might seem marginalized within mainstream American media, to some Pitt students and people elsewhere this growing counterculture is an important art form.

From Thursday through Sunday, vendors set up stalls to sell specialty products, voice actors answered questions at panels and attendees joined in on many manners of anime fun. For those more interested in playing video and card games or even just reading manga — Japanese comic books — in quiet, there was ample space to serve their tastes.

Throughout all of the events was a deep and profound appreciation for the culture of Japan and, in light of the recent earthquakes that devastated parts of the country, an empathy for its citizens.

“We definitely feel a lot for Japan,” said Randy Tobias, a Pitt senior and video program organizer for the event. “We’ve set up a couple charitable things that are going toward Japan. Obviously, we’re not just a convention about anime, we’re not just a convention about video games … we’re students of Japanese culture.”

Dan Pinsky a Pitt senior and co-creator of “Anime in America,” a trailer made last year for a documentary about the culture behind such conventions, noted the dedication organizers seem to have to the event.

“You see these people working day in and day out on these shows… It leaves you with a real sense of awe and respect,” he said.

In “Anime in America,” Pinsky takes a look at the diversity of the fans present at conventions and the inspiration they take from TV shows, video games and other media. Despite the fact that current American culture usually associates animation with children’s entertainment and cartoons, anime can be as adult-oriented as any action movies or dramas.

“It’s a good medium to tell a story,” said Randy Tobias, a Pitt senior and video program organizer for the convention. “People in all parts of the world love a good story.”  And beyond admiration for those stories, many attendees wanted to truly embody their characters.

From Sailor Moon to Cloud of “Final Fantasy VII” to Solid Snake of “Metal Gear Solid,” most of the people who bustled through the hotel engaged in cosplay— dressing up as their favorite characters for competition, tribute or just fun.

“I describe [the convention] to some people who don’t know anything about anime as a three- or four-day Halloween,” said Tobias, who at the time was wearing a volunteer shirt. “It’s a bunch of people in costumes having fun.”

Walking down the hallways of the Wyndham Friday, Robert Morris University student Brandon Fellman wore a costume designed to look like a popular but misunderstood Internet character, Pedobear.

“I was originally thinking maybe Altair from ‘Assassin’s Creed’ or something like that,” Fellman said. “I just decided, ‘Why not?’”

Simultaneously a tribute to Japanese design and a satire of the seedier parts of the Internet, the anthropomorphic bear is notorious in this highly connected community.

“I get attention,” Fellman said. “I got pictures … hugs. I’m not hardcore into anime … I’m here because it’s fun.”

That fun manifests itself in other ways as well.

“I like to get together with people who have panels on stuff I’ve taken an interest in,” said Nick Yoos, president of Pitt’s Anime Club. “What are their views on it, what’s happening in a series or what might happen. Where are they going with the work they’re doing. That kind of thing.”

This year’s Tekkoshocon panels included some heavy names.

“Personally, I think it’s amazing that we got Steve Blum here,” Tobias said “He’s the voice from Cowboy Bebop — Spike Spiegel — and almost anyone that knows anime knows that. Cowboy Bebop was one of my favorites growing up, and it still is to this day.”