Animazement highlights Japanese culture

Starting May 26, over 13,000 fans of anime, video games and Japanese culture filled Raleigh Convention Center for the 19th annual Animazement, a four-day Japanese culture convention. Last year, Animazement had a sales impact in Raleigh of over $1 billion, and the event is run entirely by volunteers.

The convention is host to a variety of panels, workshops and performances. Like many other conventions, it is an opportunity for cosplay, an activity where people dress as characters from different series, video games or movies.

But for many, Animazement does more than satisfy interests — it’s about the people.

“It’s just such a good community,” said Sandie MacLachlan, a mother dressed as Dana Barret from “Ghostbusters.” “Everyone’s just here, where you don’t have to explain why, because we’re all the same.”

Sandie MacLachlan’s husband, Gordon MacLachlan, felt similarly about the community.

“You know, you get to dress up and represent things that you love,” said Gordon MacLachlan, who was dressed as Louis Tully from “Ghostbusters.” “It’s such a supportive community and everyone is so open-minded and welcoming … You know that when you’re here, you’re with your people.”

The MacLachlans come to Animazement every year with their children.

“My son goes to school in Maine, and my daughter lives in Durham, and this is the one thing where I’m like, ‘I don’t care where you’re at, this is our con,’” Sandie MacLachlan said. “This is our fifth year doing it together. So my son flew in from Maine, he’s roaming around somewhere, and we take our Christmas card picture in our costumes every year.”

Costumes at the event ranged everywhere from anime, to video games, to zombies, to cardboard boxes.

Cameron Bajus, dressed as Naked Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series, came from Rochester, New York to attend Animazement with his girlfriend. Bajus also had a cardboard box with the words “not Snake” on the side, mimicking the video game character’s stealth tactic.

“People really love my costume; everyone’s got a great sense of humor about it,” Bajus said.

Bajus said his favorite part about the character is his “accidental humor.”

“[Snake] honestly thinks that running around in a cardboard box will make it so people won’t be able to see him,” Bajus said. “And in the game it works, but in real life it doesn’t quite equate. So I have the box with me, and I’ve been running around and hiding in it and just watching people’s faces.”

Beyond the cosplay, Animazement seeks to teach its attendees about Japanese culture.

“Animazement is primarily a cultural convention,” said Matt Holmes, Animazement’s external media coordinator. “So we use popular media — like animation, video games, music, that kind of thing — to get people in the door. We do like to entertain our attendees … but we’re also trying to push Japanese culture, language.”

To reach this goal, the event hosted a Japanese astronaut, a famous Japanese composer, various martial arts groups and demonstrations of traditional tea ceremonies. When possible, these demonstrations encouraged audience participation.

“[Our guests from Japan] really enjoy the ability to come and showcase their talents, but also to talk about them with people who aren’t familiar with Japan at all,” Holmes said. “They love this interchange, and that’s really what Animazement is all about, interchange between Japan and America.”

Japanese composer Toshiyuki Watanabe performed with the Duke University String School music from “Space Brothers,” a series for which Watanabe writes musical scores.

Alongside the performers were two screens showing scenes from the series, helping to depict the themes of discovery, courage, wonder and sibling relationships.

“I could relate to it a lot because I’m a younger brother too and I have an older brother,” said James Matlock, who watched the performance. “I could relate to the show a lot in terms of me being ahead of my older brother … I haven’t seen Space Brothers, but watching [the performance] definitely made me want to.”

Randy Williams of Greensboro, a six-time attendee of the convention, found the performance particularly moving.

“I think that [the Duke University String School] did a very good job,” Williams said. “It’s a very moving score. I had tears in my eyes the very minute I walked into the room … I thought it was a really dynamic performance. I didn’t hear a missed note, but then again, I’m a drummer.”

To teach about martial arts, the Bushido Judo School, one of the largest Judo schools in North Carolina, showed off its moves.

The group began by forming a sort of human pyramid and having its students dive and roll over each other. The group also demonstrated various throws and defenses. All the while, sensei Darian Stokes taught the audience about Judo and encouraged cheering and shouting from the audience.

“Judo translates to ‘the gentle way,’” Stokes said jokingly, as one of his students slammed another to the floor. Although that is the literal translation, Darian said Judo could better be described as “the art of hitting someone with a planet.”

Overall, Stokes stressed that Judo can be for anyone. 

Jamie Robbins, who watched the demonstration, said that she was surprised at how easy the group made it seem.

The sensei brought up members of the audience and taught them how to throw someone with only about 30 seconds of instruction.

Other groups, such as Triangle Kendo & Laido and the Jacabal’s, gave the audience hands-on experience as well.

These two groups taught forms of fighting with swords, as well as the principles that their practices teach.

Triangle Kendo & Laido taught about Kendo, a traditional Japanese sword martial art. The group highlighted themes of discipline, while keeping their backs straight and always staring into the eyes of their opponents.

The Jacabal’s, on the other hand, had a stronger focus on entertainment. When an audience member has had bested one of the Jacabal’s, the Jacabal would fall to the ground with comedic shouts of pain.

 Animazement is a 501c(3) charitable organization, donating money to charities such as Kumamoto, Japanese earthquake relief, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC and local Japanese teaching associations, according to an Animazement press release. 

“We are a 501c(3) charitable nonprofit, so that is our primary purpose,” Holmes said. “So we get everyone in the door, and then once they’re here we have all sorts of things like traditional instrumentation concerts, Japanese language lessons, how to live in Japan, … all this kind of cultural information they wouldn’t be able to get easily somewhere else.”