Anime Antics

By Yasmeen Finjan

When one thinks about Anime, the first thought that usually arises is Pokémon or Dragon Ball Z – lots of action, lots of colour, and some quite peculiar characters.

Now, imagine this on a much larger scale in almost every spoken language and you’ve got yourself some real Anime. You see, Anime is a very broad term that can be used to describe what was once called ‘japanimation’, however, there are also mangas which are comic books usually read from the back of the book to the front and read from right to left.  And as we all know, if there has ever been a character in an anime, chances are there is a plushie version of the character.

On Saturday March 20th, an event called the Toronto Anime Convention knocked up free

set up shop at the Metro Toronto Convention centre. By 12pm, the south building was filled with otakus and cosplayers alike.  At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the high-pitched screams that filled the convention centre as other anime fans caught a glimpse of their favourite characters. The main room at the entrance was packed with people of all ages waiting to get in and getting some pictures of the interesting costumes. Once you pay a mere $5 to enter, you are greeted by row upon row of Anime bargains and really nifty things you probably can’t find anywhere else. This is the Exhibitioner’s Room where different Anime shops set up booths to sell their products on a larger scale.  A couple years ago, I picked up a Sonic the Hedgehog hat and this year I got a Mario mushroom wallet. Can you say cute?

There was also a maze of hallways with a series of different Anime workshops and seminars about learning to draw Anime to discussions about different topics, Q and A sessions with industry personalities and celebrities. There were celebrity appearances from Vic Mognogna (Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and Broly in Dragon Ball Z), Sonny Strait (Krillin in Dragon Ball Z, Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist and Arsene Lupin III in Lupin III) Mike McFarland (Goemon Ishikawa in Lupin III, Master Roshi in Dragon Ball Z and Cain Nightroad in Trinity Blood) all of which were available for autographs.

As well as, all the really interesting features that have been mentioned above, there was also a little event called Cosplay Idol where one can dress up as their favourite Anime characters and have their costumes rated by a panel of judges. The judges make their comments and the audience votes for their favourite Cosplay costume.
In the event that you find yourself at an Anime convention or among Otakus, below are a few basic terminologies to help you.

Anime/Japanese terminology

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Chibi – Japanese for small or tiny, this word is often used to describe a mini or small version of a character or object.

CLAMP – a very popular all female Manga creation team responsible for mangas such as Angelic Layer, Cardcaptor Sakura, Legal Drug, Chobits and xxxHolic.

Cosplay – dressing up and taking on a role as your favourite anime character.

Dub – when an Anime is first created in one language but is then voiced over in another, with synchronized dialogue.

Fanfiction – when characters are taken out of established anime/mangas/TV shows etc. and used in a fan created story; also known as “fanfics.”

Glomp – An almost bear like hug or tackle that is known as a very large, sometimes annoying embrace. (http://dictionary.lunaescence.com/)

Hentai – Japanese for “pervert,” it is also any anime intended for a mature audience (usually depicting pornographic adult themes.)

Japanimation – not widely used anymore, this once popular term used in the 1970s to 1980s is synonymous to anime.

Kawaii – Japanese for “cute.”

L33t –gamer speak for “elite,” it is sometimes written as “leet.”

Manga – a Japanese style comic book read from the back to the front, from the right side of the page to the left. You would read it this way if it was in Japanese, so when it was translated into English it was kept this way for authenticity, also known as a graphic novel.

Otakus – Anime fans.

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