A young boy with eight huge legs dangling out of his back followed his mom through the parking lot of the Renaissance hotel. Inside the lobby, a Z-shaped Tetris piece wiggled through the crowd of anime fans, carrying his own Tetris-themed music, and the slippery ghoul from the movie "The Ring" slinked down the main stairs over and over again. While "Anime Jeopardy" was going on in the theater room, a small group of anime characters got together in the lobby and greeted people with signs saying "Glomp me!" Obviously, they wanted a hug. To an uninformed resident at the hotel, the hundreds of freakishly dressed youths might resemble a costume party from another planet, but to the anime fans at Austin's fourth annual Ushicon anime convention, the costumes are just one part of the fun. Interest in anime fuels one of the most rapidly growing subcultures in the US today, drawing fans from all age groups. Cartoons aren't just for kids anymore - many anime fans are twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who will go to great lengths to fulfill their anime obsession.
Dressing the part
At anime conventions, proper attire is required. To most anime fans, custom costumes modeled after popular characters are the way to go.
"I got a lot of flack about it, because I worked on my costume at work," says Tarisa Walker, UT classics graduate and administrative assistant to Pfluger Associates. Walker and her boyfriend Jay Bernardo, a 25-year-old Plan II graduate working for the American Cancer Society, dressed up for the first time for this year's Ushicon, and say they like to do it for the thrill of being someone else.
"Plus, you don't want to be the only loser without a costume," Walker says.
Cosplay, the practice of wearing a costume of your favorite anime character, is a big way of showing love for anime at conventions. Dr. Susan Napier, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese studies at UT and expert on anime culture, says cosplay is a term carried over from the Japanese "costumupurei" meaning costume-play.
Walker has worked on her costume since Halloween, but explains that many will work on their costume for months to get them realistic enough.
The measure of an otaku
In addition to costumes, Walker and Bernardo are two anime fans devoted to keeping up with the other mainstays of anime culture: video games, anime films and manga or Japanese comic books. On average, they spend around 10 hours per week enjoying a profusion of anime variety, but that fails to include all the time they spend surfing the internet for new anime resources. Though Walker and Bernardo claim not to be obsessed, they each drop an average of $60 per month on their anime collections.
The truth is, they're not that obsessed with anime ... at least when compared to James Black.
Black, 29, is vice president of the UT Anime Club and full-time computer programmer for the UT physics department. His collection includes 200 phone book-sized manga volumes in Japanese and over 400 anime films. Black has been involved with the Anime Club for 10 years. His attendance is nothing short of stellar.
"In all the years, I've only missed part of a week," says Black on his attendance record, "and that's because I was sick."
Strangely enough, the only time Black really views the anime is during these screenings. During the rest of his free time, he's subtitling anime from Japanese to English.
"I would get home from work and do anime till 3 a.m.," said Black.
Anime obsession is very common in the US, and originates from the Japanese term otaku meaning an obsessive person interested in computers, anime and comics who is a social outsider, according to Professor Napier. Otaku is considered derogatory in Japan now due to an incident in 1989 involving then 27-year-old Tsutomu Miyazaki, who was arrested for abducting and murdering four young girls. Because his apartment was filled with anime material, he was assumed to be an otaku. Consequently, society turned the definition of otaku from harmless geek to dangerous threat. Though very few of these instances with otaku have occurred in Japan, the stigma still resides.
Yet when Americans call themselves otaku the connotation is different. "Otaku in America is less extreme," says Napier, describing the U.S. otaku as someone who knows Japanese, loves anime and is proud of being different.
Black, in jest, calls himself "the otaku's otaku," and relates this to his experiences feeling perfectly comfortable speaking with anime merchants in Japan about anime.
R-rated cartoons
Black is a clear example of a characteristic shared among anime fans. For the most part, these heavy cartoon watchers are not between the ages of 5 and 10. Most otaku are old enough to support their expensive anime collection with a college degree and a decent job.
Bernardo and Walker say they put up with people from work and other places who don't understand why they want to spend so much time watching cartoons.
"I don't want to get ragged on," says Bernardo. "I am not embarrassed by it."
According to Napier, a lingering sense exists, especially from Americans over 40, that cartoons are merely for children. It wasn't until the 1989 film "Akira" debuted that people began to realize that "Japanese animation was very different from Disney," says Napier. "Akira," a powerful apocalyptic film that Napier claims is clearly not for kids, was the American starting point for further adult oriented anime series.
"A long time ago, people didn't realize anime would have adult themes," said Napier, but in the last five years, according to Napier, the buying public is more aware of anime's more adult nature.
Bernardo and Walker include anime series such as "Ghost in the Shell" and "Evangelion" in this adult anime category.
"It's very different from what Americans think of as adult TV," Walker said, describing that many of these films are dark and have complex plots. Some anime are even pornographic.
A line to get into the room moved slowly as IDs were checked to get into a pornographic anime, or hentai, screening called Hentaifest at Ushicon on Saturday night. Viewers inside the packed room spouted dirty jokes left and right during the screenings.
But anime movies are not the only form of anime getting attention from adults. Post-adolescent members of both sexes are playing video games straight from Japan as well.
"It's more acceptable to see 30-year-olds playing video games," said Bernardo, but says he still thinks the social stigma of cartoon watching is something one is expected to outgrow.
In defense of older people who still purchase and watch cartoons, Bernardo said, "in college you're in an environment where you have your own money to spend as you wish [and are] able to explore more things about yourself, sadly, through what you purchase."
The availability of anime
Because anime fans spend so much money on their hobby, media and businesses have responded by providing more outlets.
"Media is becoming more sophisticated in response to animation," said Napier, adding that the Oscar-winning film "Spirited Away" made a huge statement about anime success in the US when it beat three Disney films.
In Austin alone, stores like Toy Joy, Momoko, Funny Papers, Dragon's Lair and Neko Neko all carry anime products. Even Barnes and Noble stores have a selection of manga available for perusal.
But what happens when anime fans try to get their media for free? The questions of legality come into play when fans participate in fansubbing, or volunteering new anime from Japan, adding English subtitles and posting episodes on the Internet for other anime fans to enjoy. Fansubbing is much like music file sharing, and Napier says they do it "for the love of anime."
Black claims that with the availability of broadband Internet access, fansubbing is a huge accelerator of anime's entry into the US; however, he cautions that when fans take it for granted it can become a problem.
"There are a very large number of people who will never purchase it and feel it should be free," said Black. Fansubbing becomes illegal once an American production company licenses an anime series from Japan and releases it in DVD form.
A feeling of community
The anime fan base is growing not only in age, expanding from college and young adult generations to now younger fans, but also in gender. Napier relates this to the growth in quality of female characters over the years, and said that recently "women characters are stronger ones, having ambitions and dreams and are good role models for the female viewers." Napier cites that films by Hayao Miyazaki such as Academy Award-winner "Spirited Away" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" feature bright, strong and interesting female leads.
"Anime is certainly crossing a lot of generational borders and picking up interest in young girls," Napier said.
At the Ushicon convention, the male-to-female ratio seemed to be the same, with just as many girls enthusiastically gabbing about anime as the guys.
Though many in the mainstream are still oblivious to the vast and complex anime culture in the US, anime is increasingly making an appearance in society, be it through high schools, movies or popular stores. Black says college towns are the best places for the spread of anime because new anime can be translated by Japanese students and viewed by groups of students in anime clubs. Other anime hot spots in the United States, Black says, include the West and East coasts where immigrants come in and the availability of anime in those areas increase.
"A lot of people are drawn to anime because of the feeling of community," says Black. While anime fans are still a secluded group trying to fulfill their dreams of soaking up as much anime as possible or just relaxing after work, everyone is welcome to be involved as much as they want to, with no expectations or limits. As for Black, the self-proclaimed otaku's otaku, sharing with other people is his motivation to keep subtitling, even if he doesn't watch them that often.
"There must be somebody out there that's more into it than me, but I don't know any such person," Black said.
For more information: Professor Napier will hold a public lecture on January 31 at 3:30 p.m. in Hogg Memorial Auditorium. The topic of her discussion will be her most recent research topic, anime masculinity and the construction of masculinity in anime.
YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ANIME FAN WHEN: Top 10 List taken from Ushikon 4 convention goers
10. "When anime can easily change your emotions" - Chris Way, aka Ruroku, 19
9. "When Japanese words seep into your everyday vocab" - Catherine Ownens, aka Kagome, 23
8. "When you stop referring to your own name, and only your cosplay name" - Risa Peais, aka Squeaky, 19
7. "When you're at school and you fall down and your legs twitch when you're surprised" - Kigicuru, 16
6. "When you're willing to come to things like this" - Stephin, 20
5. "When you actually argue about anime characters" - Stephen, 22
4. "It's all I do. I watch anime and read manga" - Ben Stolle, 12
3. "When you insist that girl-type Ranma is hot" - J.C., 20
2. "When you relate your life experiences to something that happened in Utena" - Tiffu, 22
1. "When your anime collection is worth more than your car" - Karsten Sethre, 29
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