‘You can be whatever you want to be’: Inaugural Anime Ottawa kicks off

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Like big brother Ottawa Comicon, Anime Ottawa features cosplay, autograph tables, a hall of merchandise, fans in full costume and even Nerd-Lesque, a themed burlesque show for convention goers over the age of 18.

But the inaugural Anime Ottawa, which kicked off Friday and runs through Sunday at 6 p.m. at the EY Centre, also features a cosplayer masquerade contest, karaoke and a dance party featuring Toronto-based anime DJs ANC3.

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Anime Ottawa program co-ordinator Jenny Lau, who has been to anime conventions across Canada, feels there’s an audience for it in Ottawa.

“What’s fascinating is you see young anime fans,” Lau said Friday. “They get older and have kids, and their kids are into anime. It’s something that the whole family can enjoy.”

Animated films in Japan date back more than a century. But anime took off in Japan starting in the late 1950s with the introduction of Astro Boy, an android boy created by cartoonist Osamu Tezuka that lived in a world where robots co-existed with humans. Astro Boy was a hit and spread beyond Japan.

Anime is about heroes, adventure, cute creatures and magical powers. In the 1980s, North American audiences were introduced to Sailor Moon, a mini-skirted schoolgirl who befriended a talking cat. In the ’90s, kids were obsessed by Pokémon. 

“I see it as a medium that can tell stories for more than just kids. It’s for anybody,” said Lau, who grew up with Sailor Moon. She says the anime community is very inclusive.

“You can be whatever you want to be,” she said.

Anime conventions are growing, said Alyssia Duval-Nguon, a spokeperson for Anime Ottawa who grew up with Pokémon and Sailor Moon. 

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“Sailor Moon was a magical girl. It really spoke to me,” she said. “Sailor Moon was aspirational and powerful and cute.”

Japanese ambassador Kanji Yamanouchi opened Anime Ottawa by cutting a ribbon with a giant pair of scissors. Born in 1958, Yamanouchi grew up with Astro Boy said he saw anime characters as opening doors to Japanese culture.

“It creates mutual understanding, respect and friendship,” Yamanouchi said.

Voice actor Chris Hackney, who lives in Los Angeles, dubs anime from Japanese to English. He was signing prints at a booth in Ottawa. There’s something different about the way the anime stories are told that appeals to people, he said.

“It’s escapism.”

Anime conventions have become major draws around the world, Hackney said. The one in Los Angeles attracts about 100,000 people and takes over the downtown area.

Organizers in Ottawa expect at least 8,000 will attend over the course of the weekend, and numbers were already tracking to beat that by Friday afternoon. It’s a slightly younger audience than has showed up at the Comicons run by Capeflow Productions Inc.

Like Comicons, anime used to be very niche. “The audience has become large enough to warrant its own show,” Duval-Nguon said.

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