The Darrin Communication Center, in which Genericon was held, is split into two sections. While the two are connected by a walkway, this is not readily apparent for those unacquainted to The Renselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The left wing (if you are facing the entrance) contained the panel and screening rooms. It also held the gaming tables and the Dungeon&Dragons players in it’s basement. In the right wing was both the 24-hour gaming room and a lounge area where con-goers alternatively watched Spongebob episodes and tackled each other over a box of pocky dangling from the celling by a length of string. Not only did this divide separate the different events, but I found it also separated the two types of fans, the oldtaku and the conkids.
To me, Genericon displayed the gap between those who attend cons out of love for anime, and those who attend cons out of love for anime fans. The oldtaku and the conkids if you will. As Lawrence Eng was presenting his panel on the early history of Gainax, he was frequently interrupted by screaming girls doing the Caramelldansen in the hall. From Caramelldansen, it evolved into ChaCha Slide, then devolved into Cotton-Eye Joe, and finally transmuted into the stomping and clapping of We Will Rock You. The goth couple behind me at the panel never once raised their hands when Lawrence was asking who had seen this and that. When I talked to them later on, they admitted to me that they had never finished any anime series. Yet, based on some criteria that is unknown to me, they both described themselves as “Otaku”. Maybe it’s because they saw Spirited Away, the only thing both of them could agree on having seen. God knows that’s a pretty hardcore indie film. While on the way to the “It Came Out of Nowhere” panel, I passed by a crowd of girls goading a pair of Naruto and Sasuke cosplayers to make out. Desperate for attention, they gave in without much pressure. While standing in line at a vendor, I tried to ignore the girl who was crying because she had dropped her dollfie and it broke after having it fight another dollfie. Why you would battle $600+ hyper-fragile dolls is beyond me. Eight times people screamed out that they lost the game during the hour I watched the Cosplay chess match. That’s means some one remembered they were playing, forgot, than remembered again every seven and a half minutes. I don’t think you can even start playing in that span of time. To top it all off, while I was showing off my newly acquired Akira figure ( which I procured during the swap meet, for free) I encountered multiple people who admitted that they had no idea who Akira is. Now, I’m no elitist but…
Ultimately, other than passing each other in the hall, these two groups never mixed.
It’s not like conkids are anything new, or that Genericon had more than usual. Frankly, every convention I’ve ever been to has had some number of underage girls with Guy Fawkes masks, swinging yaoi paddles, blasting Never Gonna Give You Up, shopping for those god-awful ear-hats, and leading each other around on leashes (If it seems like I’m being particularly tough on girls, well you’re right, the eleven-to-fifteen year old female crowd tends to have the worst offenders), but never so much as at Genericon has the distinction between the two groups been so pronounced. On one side of the AMV screening you have guys quietly trying to identify each of the anime in the videos, on the other side you have hollering and dancing every time L is on screen and booing when he is not.
However, never so much as at Genericon has the distinction between the two groups been so pronounced due to the con’s layout. The analytical left side discussing merits of series, and the purely emotional right side reaching out for acceptance in the only place where they can find it.
When did cons stop being gatherings for people with similar interests and start being hangouts for kids to act out of their minds and out of control? Why is it now acceptable to be purposefully obnoxious? When did anime cons stop being about anime?
Maybe it was disgusting irony of fourteen year olds cosplaying Fate/Stay Night characters (Saber and Rin). Maybe it was the record number of parents giving everyone dirty looks because they have to chaperone their children. Maybe my heart is two sizes too small. All the same, it’s sad to see informative, empowering events being reduced to a hackneyed cliche because of invading scenesters who are only interested in acting like overgrown children. These conkids act like the stereotype of anime fans just because they are so depressingly dull that they need an image to give themselves personality. They love the idea of being a fan of something niche enough to be unusual, but not niche enough that they take any risk in their tastes.
Why do we put up with these people? We all know that historically, anime fandom is about as accepting as it gets. The unholy amounts of garbage on Fanfiction.net and Deviantart irrefutably prove this. But why? Why put up with these spastic hipsters who have nothing in common with us? Any improvement in our public image is dragged through sludge by those who use our interests as an excuse to act wild. I cannot stand by while these people try to turn anime fandom into nothing more than a fashion statement.
P.S. Snapped in an elevator at the con.
Edit: What other people are saying about this article. A lot of interesting opinions.
Naka-kon
Smash Boards
Figure.fm (I posted this one)
Orange Anime
@AnimeFansSuck
Propeller Anime Club
Lauren Rae Orsini (In the comments)
what, would they set an age limit on cons? at what age does the naruto phase end, really?
An age limit wouldn’t help as I’ve seen old geezers going bananas just to be hip. Better yet, do it subtly. Have only programing that these conkids couldn’t care less about. Of course, that’s a terrible business model, but hey.
Well, here in Mexico the conkids are more toned down, but engulf all the cons. No oldtakus at all. Still, I find them fun to watch.
Bada-ba-ba-ba, I’m lovin’ it. I tend not to notice the disparity between physical groups of people, because in my mind, conkids, oldtaku, and whatever category I belong in, because in my mind we’re all just a huge group of nerds that hate each other.
But I agree with the Konpaku Youmu above me, they are fun to watch.
That’s true, nobody hates nerds more than nerds.
I am both disappointed and relieved that my state’s cons are not exclusive to the behavior you have described. It’s a double-edged sword that the anime community is very accepting of just about anyone. I wonder what these kids will grow up into years from now and how they will look back on their past experiences of today.
A commentor on my blog brought this article up, and I couldn’t resist joining in the conversation.
In my opinion, anime conventions are about more than just anime. They’re also about a having a weekend of escapism, where we can be more uninhibited than usual. While conkids can be irritating and annoying, they’re just being kids! I’m sure that if I had been allowed to attend anime conventions as a teenager, I would have been just as bad. We must be just as annoying to them sometimes, we our stories about how we had to walk ten miles uphill in the snow just to watch anime on a friend’s VCR.
As for older people who don’t know anything about anime, they wouldn’t be at the convention if they didn’t want to learn! I think that’s great that anime is attracting new fans, and we shouldn’t snub them just because they don’t know as much yet.
I’ve noticed this too, however from the way you write it’s conkids are synonymous to fangirls.
I was the president of the anime club at my alma matter for a year, and an staff officer for 2 years before that. I noticed that their was a shift in the tastes and vocalness of our club over the course of 4 years. When I was a freshman it was much more diverse favoring action oriented anime, with a few comedies, and slice of life shows thrown in. We watched Honey and Clover, Samurai Champloo, and Trinity Blood. Then flash forward 4 years and we are still watching good fun anime… but also more fangirl anime. I think they are watching Black Butler this semester.
Also the atmosphere changed from one of quite watching, to one of constant joking and talking. We had one member who would get fed up every week and yell “Shut UP” multiple times. Honestly the jokes are funny sometimes but you’ve got to know when to stop. I had this experience (with Oldtaku or perhaps midtaku) at anime USA this year. These guys were sitting behind me and my friend at the Eva 1.1 screening and made one funny joke in the first 60 seconds… then they thought they should keep going because they got laughs… We ended up leaving because we couldn’t enjoy the show at all due to them trying out talk the speakers.
Though in your article you blame the Conkids for all this problem I don’t think it’s totally their fault. The generation after mine seems to be a lot more disrespectful in general, in all areas of life, at all times. I think it’s honestly just the way they have been brought up. Is it sometimes annoying, sure is it the end of the world no… but I don’t think it’s going to go away as they get older, it’s just who they are.
So the best solution have enough space for everyone to enjoy themselves… don’t want to be annoyed by Conkids… don’t go to the Hetallia panel etc. Only problem is the common areas where you have to share space… like the dealers room and hallways. But that’s why there is security, if they are dancing in the hall ways and are in the way… (not just annoying) then they need to move. And if you can’t deal with people who don’t have the same tastes or expresses their fandom in a different way… don’t go to cons.
REALLY like the phrase “midtaku.”
I just wish there was a way to have two separate events: the actual discussion/viewing of/learning about anime events, and the teen party weekends.
And there’s nothing I hate more than people who don’t know when a joke isn’t funny anymore.
I don’t know if the con seen would be able to support splitting the events, due to finical reasons. Honestly though if you just cut the Rave – Raves (Some cons have one every night) the amount of conkids will fall dramatically. But doing this also means your con is going to lose a ton of money from decreased attendance. So… it’s a double edged sword.
So, what if the rave was held seperately? You could buy a ticket for the con and for the rave if you wanted to. This keeps conkidz out of the con and in the rave. And then rave attencdance would increase because tickets would be cheaper.
(how small do these margins get?)
@ichimaru_grin Yours is the smallest it seems.
I don’t know if that will work. A) There are us weird midtaku that didn’t start till after the internet and in most cases till after toonami, but at the same time remember when fansubs were hard to find, and the codecs didn’t compress the files well and caused poor quality. I had a really hard time finding Gundam X and Z Gundam back when I was in high school 7 or so years ago. Plus the anime on TV was rather limited and in order to really watch anime we had to jump though hoops still. But also enjoy some of the more “un-Otaku” activities at cons such as Raves (not me personally but some of my friends), cosplay photo-shoots, and dressing up in pink frilly Tutu’s (<3 Lauren). I think you would have a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff. Last year I went to a very good pannel about Genshiken that was run buy what you would expect at first glance to be a Conkid. She was wearing rave gear and was in her late teens to early 20's… She expressed her love for cons deriving from Yaoi and raves and stuff, but she gave a really good panel about the views expressed in Genshiken the characters how they develop and what that tells you about the creators of the manga and show.
I don't think there is a clear break between Conkids and Oldtaku, I mean Conkids clearly don't act like Oldtaku… but I wouldn't assume that they aren't otaku all the same.
Hey, I just wanted to point something out–
I was the Saber cosplayer, I’m 20, I’ve seen tons of obscure/old anime and am not a yaoi fangirl. I went there for the love of anime and to watch it, though I also enjoy cosplaying.
Anyway, I can relate to how you feel about the “conkids”, as you’re calling them. They are a totally different group.
My apologies, I thought you were a LOT younger (I guess take it as a compliment). Still, there always are always those youngins who dress as characters FS/N because they saw it on DC.
FSN is awesome. Better than tsukihime, but much more linear. Sadly, I couldn’t get my flash cart to play the game with sound… is the music really good? Whenever I hear Tsukihime music it instantly conjures an emotion.