This Memorial Day Weekend, Raleigh hosts North Carolinas largest anime convention. Beginning Friday, the new Raleigh Convention Center will host a 3 day event full of fun for all ages. Over 7,000 people attended this convention in 2010, traveling from all over the world to partake in the activities. Such activities include panels and sessions with industry workers from Japan and locally. North Carolina has a large number of acting studios that provide voice overs for imported anime and some of these voice actors hosts guest panels and autograph sessions at the convention.
Other activities include a dealers room with imported Japanese items like food and drinks, movies, clothing, artwork, music, and manga. Numerous video rooms showing old and new anime. Video game room with tournaments for cash prizes. Costume contests and cosplay contests (performing skits in costume), music video contests, dances with live DJ’s, live concerts from Japanese artists, karaoke contests, and much more. There’s tons to do in and around the actual convention sanctioned activities as attendees host their own events in the hallways and outside the convention center.
Tickets are required to attend, and may be purchased for a single day pass or for an entire weekend at a discount. Although presales of tickets have been ongoing since last year, you may still purchase tickets at the convention center during the event weekend.
Animazement is an all-volunteer, fan-run anime convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, celebrating popular Japanese visual culture in all of its forms. The parent organization of Animazement, Educational Growth Across Oceans (EGAO) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
The history of Animazement began in 1997, when TAAS (Triangle Area Anime Society) held the first 36-Hour Anime Marathon event. TAAS, led by North Carolina State University Students, was an anime club for fans of all ages. Their weekly meetings were attended by a diverse group of fans from central North Carolina, ranging in age from elementary school students to adults. At the 36-Hour Anime Marathon, over 200 fans from all across North Carolina were able to gather for a weekend of anime-related fun. The organizers began considering holding an anime convention, and this event was viewed as a sort of test-case for what would eventually become Animazement.
The mission of Animazement is to provide an introduction to Japanese Language and Culture, through the world of Japanese Animation and Manga. For three days each spring, we bring together a diverse group of attendees, volunteers, special Japanese and American guests, panelists, and our staff, and together we share in celebrating Japanese entertainment and visual culture. Our activities span the various genres of anime, manga, video games, J-pop/J-rock, martial arts, traditional arts and crafts, and more, all in a family-friendly, festival-like atmosphere. Sure, it’s a party, but it is our sincere hope that everyone who attends Animazement also learns something, and leaves with a greater sense of cultural understanding and appreciation for Japanese Culture and Language.
For more informatin please see their website www.animazement.org