Anime Conference of St. Louis

Practically the only character I recognized, Princess Peach in all his glory.

My friends Shannnon (as Cloud from Final Fantasy on the left) and Shaun (Zak from something, on the right)

No idea - help, Patrick?

the lobby of the hotel, shock.

So I went to the Anime conference in St. Louis this past weekend for a bit, to see my friends Shannon and Shaun, who were in town for it. It was stunning. Subcultures fascinate me, especially high-school ones. Every high school I've been involved with or been around has had a group of Anime-enthusiasts, and I want to learn more about it. Here's what I learned from this weekend:

- the sense of community at these things is huge, people yell out the name of the character you cosplayed as and hug you.
- 'Anime' is kind of an umbrella term that includes Star Wars, gaming of all types (there was a Guitar Hero battle room), 'goth' culture, and everything Japanese.
- Shannon told me that the age demographic for Anime conventions has shifted dramatically down in the last decade, from people in their 30s and up to now mostly high school.
- This subculture is mostly caucasian.

Jerram Barrs and Fan Art

Jerram Barrs came and spoke at my church tonight! It was really cool. He spoke on 'Harry Potter and the Power of Sacrificial Love' or something and it was wonderful. I forgot how very exact L'Abri speakers are, no matter what their topic is. Jerram treated Harry Potter like he was Sartre or something by the way he analyzed the text and brought up key points, etc. It was amazing and extremely impressive.

He also addressed the Dumbledore coming out as gay thing, which is something that I was wondering about. Barrs' perspective on it is that Dumbledore had the gay crush on his friend during a time in his teenage years which Dumbledore looked back upon with shame. Interesting that JK Rowling came out with it at all. I wonder what her thoughts were on the whole thing.

Well, anyway, I was sitting next to my friend Shaun, who's a big fan of Harry Potter and is slowly introducing me to the world of Anime and all the glories that come along with it. Well, one thing that I had no idea existed is Fan Art. Apparently people fill in the gaps left by their favorite authors/video game creators/movie directors, etc. and create their own art about the characters. She sent me a video that her friend made about the would-be relationship between Severus Snape and Lily Potter. This will only be sweet to you if you have read book 7 and like Dashboard Confessional. Just a warning.