Originally Published: 2008-04-06

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre recently hosted “Toronto AnimeCom,” a two-day event that featured Japanese comic books and computer/video game characters displayed in grand style.
Comic book, cartoon, animated film, and video game characters came to life with the help of the more than 4,000 fans, some of whom decked out in costume.
Organized by Hobby Star, the event was a peaceful and colourful invasion which saw 75 exhibits, and autograph sessions with the stars of this culture. There were ‘lessons’ given in the voices of the more popular characters – in fact, the voice-dubbers of the more popular characters were present. The most anticipated moment was without doubt the costume contest.
The recent convention allowed the many fans of Japanese animation to exchange ideas, buy souvenirs, comic books, and DVDs, and mostly to just have a good time. It was an occasion to laugh and make new friends, and to show off the character-inspired costumes they devotedly put together at home.
For many youth, computer and video gaming provides a world where they can dream, invent, play, and feed their imaginations. At these gatherings, the shared love of the culture brings youth together and it becomes a sort of common playing field.
For a few hours, average youth, mostly your typical student, get to change into costumes and feel special. The drudgery of daily life is set aside as they transform into superheroes, samurai, princes, princesses, queens, and supervillains, wandering the Convention Centre’s halls and boardrooms normally reserved for business meetings, to talk about their great passion.
Many of the costumes are outright masterpieces. They are custom-made in the sense that the fans choose the superhero they wish to be most like, or the one most resembling them — or possibly the one least similar to their nature and for this reason most intriguing to them. After choosing their ‘mold’ and studying their character’s costume as well as his attitude and behavior, fans recreate an exact duplicate of the outfit, down to every last detail, then proudly don it and adopt the superhero’s behavior and attitude as if transformed by the outfit.

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