alan.sleepycat

It’s Tuesday afternoon, and I’m back in La Crosse sitting at Jule’s Coffee, looking out at the gray evening. Even the chatter and music seems a quiet reprieve from the cacophony and energy that was abound at Anime Central that we just returned from yesterday. Anime Central, or ACEN, is a massive convention held every year at the Rosemont Illinois Hyatt Regency. It attracts thousands of socially awkward and generally greasy dorks from around the Midwest and puts them all together in a hotel for 3 days of intense Japanophilia.

We arrived Thursday evening after a stop at Stephanie’s parents and was immediately surprised by the number of people already there, already in costume and eagerly dashing around, shrieking, hopping and generally creeping me out a little bit. Costumes were of Anime characters primarily (which mostly were unknown to me), with some musicians, pop culture and other cartoon or comic characters. Also the Lolitas, or lolis were here and there, with mixtures of Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL) fashions. One unfortunate group also seemed to be here; the furries. Evidently furries are infiltrating more and more conventions, from anime to ren fairs. Some were hard to tell, as there was a massive prevalence of cat ears and tails, attached to both costumed and uncostumed alike, and never seeming to have to do with the actual cosplay going on.

The behavior was a mixture of simple excitement to exuberance. Some stayed in character for the costume they were wearing, others seemed to be involved in a private fantasy of their own. One small cat (tiny girl with cat ears and tail) was being led around on her leash, but then left in the middle of a hallway where she slumped to the floor with legs splayed beneath her in a strangely feline fashion. What was transpiring, I could only try and imagine.

This year, my first year at ACEN, seemed to be experiencing a surge of attendance, and waiting in lines was quickly becoming a serious theme. Friday I went to register, getting in line at about 11 in the morning. Registration was at the Rosemont Convention Center next door, and the line was already about a block long outside. After over an hour, we finally got inside, only to find a massive maze of carefully threaded barricades creating a huge line of annoyed, sweaty participants. It took two hours to move two lanes, and by 4:30 in the afternoon I gave up, already annoyed with the day wasted. Fortunately Stephanie had two badges, one of which I used for the rest of convention without problems. She had received hers in the mail after pre-registering.

Stephanie co-hosted a panel on making your own Gothic Lolita clothes; actually two of them, one Friday and one Saturday. Both had good attendance, despite not being able to go on Friday (being in line), Saturday’s was very good, with both of them covering a good range of topics, from shopping for fabric and sewing equipment, to how to do particular styles and features.

I was pretty overwhelmed with just the scene in the lobby and outside the hotel entrance; the constant stream of cosplayers provided for many photos, although shooting indoors in such a large area presented some challenges. Lines were present for all of the major events, and discouraged us from attending some, including the Masquerade. We did get into the Soap Bubble Saturday evening, which is a large dance and major attraction, but only because we accidentally cut in line – the line itself was outside down the street, and they were letting people in in groups, we happened to walk into the end of the inside line not knowing it started a block away.

Overall though, we both had a really good time, and it was a lot of fun to meet some of Stephanie’s other friends that had also come down, even though no one took us up on our nice big room with two full beds. Hopefully we’ll be going back together next year, and this time I will pre-register so I can get my badge mailed to me.

All our ACEN photos are available on Flickr.