Anime is more than just another cartoon.
“It’s a medium,” said Cynthia Cradduck, the chair of the revitalized Nishikaze anime festival, taking place in Anderson Hall at the University of Lethbridge, June 30.
While North American cartoons are primarily of the episodic, Bugs Bunny/ Road Runner variety, Cradduck said anime focuses on storytelling, with just a touch of Japanese culture.
So Nishikaze will be celebrating the medium of anime with a plethora of panel discussions, improv games, costumes, film and television series screenings and much more.
She was involved in Lethbridge’s anime festival from 2004-2008, then due to circumstances beyond her control, had to stop doing it.
But the festival is back due, partially to fan demand.
“Anime is becoming increasingly more popular,” she observed adding anime festivals in places like Los Angeles run over four days and attract thousands of people.
Her goal for this festival is a little more modest.
“ At our peak, we had 475, but we’re testing the waters again and are hoping for 200 people this year,” she said. She is hoping there is enough interest to make the festival an annual event, and more importantly attracting new volunteers to step up and organize it.
There will be a variety of anime featured from kid friendly anime which is more cartoonish, to bigger, darer pies aimed at fans over the age of 18.
“We wanted to make it a family friendly event,” she said.
While the bigger festival feature guest speakers coming in from out of town, this festival is completely fan run.
They will be combining classic anime like “Evanglion” with newer anime.
“It’s (Evanglion) one of the definitive robot movies. A lot of people think anything that came after it borrow from it,” she said.
One of the new ones, “Beck” (not based on the American pop/ folk singer) follows the rise of an indie rock band.
“Anime is about storytelling. The longest running Japanese series is 500 episodes. It’s a mystery, but some of them are episodic,” she said. She said anime offers more flexibility to explore bigger issues as it is animated.
One of the more popular anime series follows a poor girl who attends a school full of spoiled rich kids who pick on her.
Attendees are encouraged to dress up as their favourite anime characters as there will be a costume contest.
Costumes will be used in a workshop held by Calgary improv troupe Synaptic Chaos Theatre, who will be offering a workshop on costumes and how to improvise with them as well as “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” style- improv games.Organizers want to create as a welcoming atmosphere as possible.
“A lot of the people who come to this event will be nerds and geeks and can be a little awkward in public. We want to see everyone have fun. We want to be able gauge whether there is enough interest to make it an annual event,” she said.
The event takes place in Anderson Hall at the University of Lethbridge from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Admission is $10 for 13+ and five dollars for those under 13. Children under age 6 get in for free.
More information is available at http://www.nishikaze.ca