Anime in Edison: Kogaracon

Looking upon the bare tables in an orderly line along the walls, Jaren Haskins visualized what the next day would bring. The hallways were silent with the exception of a variety of music playing over the PA system, however the next day was likely to present a huge contrast.

Haskins, 30, is the organizer of Kogaracon, a small, free-to-enter convention for Japanese animation, video games, and other subcultures, held at the College Center at the Middlesex Community College in Edison, his hometown Haskins started the convention in 2013. It has been held every year since.

“When I was in, like, high school or middle school, I didn’t really stand out or anything. It wasn’t until I got involved with the anime club, started going to conventions, it’s when I really started to stand out,” said Haskins, who by trade works as an event planner and a mobile phone salesman, “That’s when I started to find a career for myself, find something I wanted to do.”

THE CONVENTION SCENE

Kogaracon is one of a myriad of conventions held across the country where fans of anime, TV shows, video games, web shows and more gather. There are over a thousand of these conventions held every year in the United States and even more are held internationally. Conventions vary in size, from small gatherings at local libraries to massive festivals across as many as four or five days.

Perhaps the most important events at conventions are its panels. The activities at these panels range from Q&A sessions with voice actors and artists to game shows. Events at such conventions include costume contests, where cosplayers show off their costumes and are judged on craftsmanship and design, the Dealers Room, a place for lesser-known artists, collectors and creators to sell their wares, and more. They often vary by convention.

BEGINNINGS AND SIZE

According to Haskins, a graduate of the Middlesex Community College in 2017 and the former president of the College’s Anime Club, the idea of Kogaracon came around in 2010, and was first conducted in 2013 at Rutgers University’s Cook/Douglass campus.

“I was like, ‘I’m gonna run an anime convention’, and at first everyone else was like, ‘Ha, yeah, okay’, cuz I was already staffing conventions, but this is, this is what I wanna do,” said Haskins, who has been both attending conventions and acting as a staff member for over a decade. The convention, which according to Haskins was always supposed to have been held at the Middlesex Community College, was moved to Middlesex in 2016.

“I told my bosses to come to Rutgers to see what I could do there, and to see if I could bring it to the [Middlesex Community College],” said Haskins.

Kogaracon, Haskins explained, has always been small. He explained that the first convention took place in three rooms, with two small rooms for panels and one large room for everything else, including the Dealer’s Room, a frequent staple at conventions where artists and other vendors can sell artwork, trinkets, video games, comics, cosplay materials, and more. 200 attendees showed up to the 2013 edition of Kogaracon. While the College Center is much larger, with three floors and a large outdoor area, room to maneuver is still limited. In fact, ‘kogara’ is a Japanese word that means ‘petite’.

Kogaracon is in no way the largest convention or the most well known. It usually sees several hundred attendees. The largest convention in the United States, New York Comic Con, was attended by 250,000 people in 2018, and the largest convention in the world, Comiket, held in Ariake, Japan, frequently breaks a half million.

Yet despite the small size there is a sort of community among the convention goers, especially among its cosplayers.

THE COSPLAYERS

The word cosplay, a fusion of the words costume and play, is defined as dressing up as characters from various sources, be they Japanese animation, video games, Western animation, etc. This practice dates back to the early 1940s, and it took off in the United States during the 1970s. Cosplayers often frequent conventions, where they mingle with fellow cosplayers and fans. Privacy is a concern, however, among cosplayers, and as such all cosplayers interviewed are identified by their first name and the first letter of their last name.

“The purpose [of cosplay] is to emulate your favorite characters,” said Alyssa S., a cosplayer with seven years’ experience. “Be they anime, video games, TV shows, comics, whatever.”

Many cosplayers create their own costumes from scratch, though some others, mostly more junior cosplayers, purchase base costumes and tailor them to their liking from there. Costumes are made of a variety of materials, from crafting foam to vinyl and from cotton to cardboard. Often they are made of a combination of materials. Cosplayers then use makeup, dye, and wigs to complete their characters’ looks. Kogaracon is mostly frequented by hobbyists, who make little to no money off of cosplay and do it simply for enjoyment. There is, however, a large industry behind cosplay, complete with professional costume makers and cosplay models.

“I started cosplaying cuz, like, my friends introduced me to it, they got me into it and I’ve been loving it ever since,” said Hunter E., a New York City high school student who began cosplaying in 2017, “It’s not like I see it as, like a chore or anything, I see it mostly see it as, like, a hobby I do for fun.”

Cosplay, though expensive and time consuming, is seen by its fans as a fantastic way to bring characters to life. Cosplay contests are held at Kogaracon, and winners’ characters and their designs during years past have varied, from a beautiful blushing blue-haired bride to a sadistic, overprotective princess and a legendary god of destruction.

“I guess what makes cosplay worth it for me is being able to inspire younger cosplayers and younger girls to wear what they want,”, said Arianna E., a cosplayer who was dressed as the well-known video game character Princess Peach, “[I want to] promote body positivity in everyone.”

“I can’t explain it,” said Priscilla M., a veteran cosplayer from New York City, “It’s like why do artists make art, just like are compelled to do it.”

KOGARACON 2019

The 2019 edition of the convention, held on April 13, was, according to Kogaracon’s social media team, a success. It was the best-attended edition of the convention in its history, with over 1200 known attendees.

The convention’s guests included Dan Green, Wayne Grayson, Greg Abbey, and Erica Schroeder, all of which are famous voice actors. Also appearing at the convention was the aforementioned Arianna, a well known cosplayer on Instagram. Arianna, who does business under the name Gajuca Cosplay, led a one-hour panel on body positivity at Kogaracon which was attended by several dozen attendees. She is a native of Texas and was in New Jersey to celebrate a birthday.

Other events at the convention included various panels where a variety of activities are conducted, a small alley for other local conventions to advertise themselves and provide discounted tickets, food trucks, live music, and a group of cosplay photographers from Team Lens Flare.

“A lot of cosplayers like photos taken for, yknow, their personal media page,” said Dan Medina, a Team Lens Flare member. “Other cosplayers like to bring their character to life; we like to do a little bit of both.” Team Lens Flare, which is based out of New Jersey, frequents several conventions every year, and can be commissioned for a photoshoot as well.

One notable absence, however, was the cosplay contest, replaced with a mock catwalk walk for cosplayers to show off their costumes and pose. However, the lack of the contest appears not to be a sign of the convention slowing down, as according to Jaren, the convention will continue to grow. The 2019 edition took place across 10 hours, compared to 2018’s six. Haskins has already begun looking into potential guests for 2020, and has even raised the possibility that the convention could expand from one day to two in the near future. The convention’s health was proven when the date of Kogaracon 2020 was announced less than two weeks after Kogaracon 2019.

“I’m happy it’s grown,” said Haskins, “it’s my baby girl.”

Kogaracon 2020 will be conducted at the Middlesex Community College on April 25, 2020. Entry is free.