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Teen anime convention at Coquitlam library next Tuesday

Teen Advisory Council hosts anime gathering next Tuesday
amanda
Amanda Ding is a Grade 10 student at Gleneagle secondary in Coquitlam who is co-organizing the inaugural anime convention at the Coquitlam Public Library on Aug. 27.

If you know what Osu!, cosplay and Dragon Ball refer to, you’ll want to swing by the City Centre branch of the Coquitlam Public Library next Tuesday.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Aug. 27, the library’s Teen Advisory Council (TAC) will host its first-ever anime convention, a gathering that’s expected to draw hundreds of youth and admirers of the Japanese animation form.

The council’s main organizers, 15-year-olds Amanda Ding and William Zhang, pitched the idea to TAC last fall, hoping to stage a gathering on a smaller scale than AniRevo — the anime convention held each August at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Last week’s Anime Revolution drew top anime musicians, voice actors, sound directors, content producers, cosplayers, illustrators and YouTubers from around the world.

While the three-day pass to hear the guests and watch screenings cost $75, the Coquitlam event is free. “The [AniRevo] tickets are expensive and we didn’t want that,” said Ding, a Grade 11 student at Gleneagle secondary. “What people really want to do is just meet and talk about anime.”

TAC modelled its Coquitlam convention on The Summer Festival, a family-friendly bash presented in July by the SFU Anime Club at the university’s Burnaby campus.

And though the library convention is split over four rooms — for an art marketplace, cosplay and karaoke contests, and an Osu! tournament — it’ll likely take up most of the library branch for the scavenger hunt, said programming and community connections librarian Chris Miller, the TAC supervisor.

Artists will be on hand to speak about their characters and contest prizes such as anime figurines will be doled out to winners.

Geared to anime fans ages 11 to 19, the convention is open to anyone, Ding stressed. “Many, many people know about anime — not just teenagers,” she said. “It’s such a broad topic and it’s very social. It’s all about the culture and the connection.”

• To register for the contests or to display and sell anime artwork at marketplace, visit coqlibrary.ca. Call 604-554-7339 or email cmiller@coqlibrary.ca. 

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Artists registered for the Coquitlam anime convention:

• ElleLynri

• PindieGamer

• Jeanie Mao/Yumo

• Nekomatan

• HanaChou

• Celine Yeh/send help