An extravaganza of “geek culture” took place just south of the District over the weekend, as upwards of 15,000 people attended the annual Katsucon anime convention at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland’s National Harbor.
Now in its 21st year (and in its sixth year in its current venue), the three-day event is one of the largest of its kind, and has grown well-beyond its ostensible focus on anime and Japanese culture to encompass a much broader panoply of themes and interests. Guests of honor included notable animators and voice actors, along with luminaries from the worlds of cosplay, video games, comic books, music, stand-up comedy, martial arts, and other loosely related fields.
Attendees chose from a dizzying array of panels and workshops, including but not limited to:
- Advanced Mock Combat for Cosplay
- Anime for Manly Men
- Everything You Wanted to Know about Tentacles (But Were Afraid to Ask)
- Figure Collecting for Noobs
- Japanese Indie Music: More Songs About Buildings & Food
- Language of Smut
- Philosophy in Video Games
- Religious Symbolism in Anime
- Spandex Life
- Unsettling Pokemon Questions and Answers
Programming also included the live drawing competition Super Art Fight, D.C.’s own Geek Comedy Tour, and the last-ever concert by Japanese punk rock band Uzuhi.
Most striking of all, though, was the visual and social spectacle created by the fans themselves. Thousands of attendees strode through the convention center showcasing cosplays of often-extraordinary craftsmanship, impersonating anime characters both popular and obscure, superheroes/villains from various comic-book universes, sci-fi personages from franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars, and more recent pop-cultural icons such as “Left Shark.” Collectively, it made for an endearingly impressive display of devotion from the vibrant and passionate community that gathered at Katsucon 2015.
