Anime Convention - History

History

Anime conventions have a long and varied worldwide history. The original Comiket, mostly based on fan published manga called dōjinshi, started in 1975 with around 700 people in Tokyo. The Comiket of today see several hundred thousand people, showing the lasting popularity of the medium in its home country. Other Japanese anime conventions are arms of or heavily sponsored by certain studios or publishing companies and are used as platforms for new releases, such as Jump Festa.

Anime conventions of the west mostly spawned from similar science fiction and multigenre conventions of the 1980s which featured anime content by tandem. Though many popular shows from Japan had been broadcast by that time, the direct to video market had yet to reach any significant penetration in North America or Europe until the late 1980s. Anime conventions of the west take many cues from those conventions, such as use of a large hotel with a meeting space, spanning 2 days or more of a weekend, invited industry guests, costume dressup, dealers selling various goods, and many other similarities.

Most western anime conventions are fan operated, meaning a group of self-appointed fans manage the affairs necessary to run the event, either as individuals, a non-profit group, or an LLC. Many early conventions were run out-of-pocket at the expense of these organizers, often referred to as directors. However as a result of many factors, most did not run more than 2 years annually.

The early 1990s saw what would later be the long standing annual conventions, such as Project A-Kon, Anime Expo, and AnimeFest, which continue to run today and number attendance in the several thousands. Anime conventions in other locales, such as Europe and Australia began to take off in the mid 1990s as well. These growth trends follow the popularity and availability of anime to other countries outside of Japan.

In recent years, new anime conventions continue to spring up in places where coverage from other conventions doesn't reach, such as Kawaii Kon in Hawaii and Aurora-Con in Alaska. Special industry announcements and premiers are now taking place at anime conventions outside of Japan, reflecting an acknowledgment of fandom from other locales.