During the weekend of Dec. 6, the streets of downtown Fort Worth bustled with cosplayers of all ages heading toward the Fort Worth Convention Center, which hosted Anime Frontier for its third year.
Anime Frontier, the sister convention to Anime NYC, is one of the premiere anime conventions in the southern U.S., typically held in DFW. The convention offers many opportunities not typically available to American fans of Japanese franchises, such as arcade machines straight from Japan, fighting game tournaments, idol fests and exclusive anime premieres, as well as an environment for fans to show off their cosplays.
Typical convention cosplays usually feature characters from newly-released anime like “Dandadan,” or very widely popular continuous anime such as “Jujutsu Kaisen” and “One Piece.” But because of the large number of attendees at Anime Frontier, conventiongoers can find things they didn’t expect. Psychology senior Akira Thompson, one of the many Comets at the convention, said she was pleasantly surprised by the number of fans of older anime.
“Something special that caught my eye was the amount of old school anime cosplayers that were present,” Thompson said. “I grew up watching mid to late 2000s anime so seeing cosplays such as ‘Soul Eater’ and ‘Noragami’ made me happy.”
A main attraction at almost any fan convention are panel events, usually hosted by a fan with a lot of knowledge about a specific topic, a company premiering an anime or professionals from the anime industry sharing their perspectives. Anime Frontier offered a highlight panel that brought together multiple star voice actors for a comedy show called LAVA. The comedy trio of Robbie Daymond, known for voicing Megumi Fushiguroin from “Jujutsu Kaisen”, Max Mittleman, who voices Arataki Itto from Genshin Impact, and Ray Chase, known as the voice of Noctis Caleum from Final Fantasy XV, were one of the highlights of Thompson’s weekend.
“I visited one of their panels back in 2021 at another con and seeing it again was just as exciting,” Thompson said. “You can tell Robbie, Ray and Max are really good friends and complement each other’s humors very well.”
While many convention attendees don’t intend to host events or be in the spotlight, Anime Frontier offered opportunities for those looking for more involvement. The Cosplay Masquerade cosplay contest highlighted some of the best craftsmanship in the building and the Wild West Idol Fest, with its multitude of energetic performances, celebrated Japanese idol culture. One of the performers, Madison Lloyd, is in Tokimeki Sensation, a cosplay and dance group themed around the anime “Love Live!”. One of Lloyd’s main focuses for 2024 was the Idol Fest.
“It was the first idol fest I’ve gotten to perform in, and I had so much fun dancing and being a new member of the troupe,” Lloyd said. “The Idol Fest truly is such a magical moment at cons and feeling the infections energy of the crowd screaming and cheering us all on made me so incredibly happy.”
With thousands of people attending the convention, many attendees may leave the weekend with new friends. Throughout the weekend, one can find themselves surrounded by others just like them, from conventiongoers on the dance floor attempting K-pop challenges, to fellow enthusiasts milling about the official Gundam pop-up store.
“One thing that makes cons special to me is the company I find myself with, there are very little points in time where I don’t have a friend by my side,” Lloyd said. “I love going to cons and meeting new people and getting to connect with those I’ve met previously at cons or through the cosplay community.”
Anime Frontier brought together people of many ages with a breadth of cosplaying experience. It was a space to feel welcomed in, whether it be their first time cosplaying or their hundredth time. One could find tens of different interpretations of a character while walking around; Temioluwa Ojumu, a computer engineering sophomore, said he could see the creativity oozing from every corner. He was dressed as Rohan Kisihibe from “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,” one of his first-ever cosplays at a convention.
“It’s always fun to see people bringing their favorite characters to life through cosplay,” Ojumu said. “I’m pretty new to cosplaying, but it was a huge confidence boost getting compliments from people passing by or getting asked to have a picture taken.”
At the end of the day, conventions like Anime Frontier provide a space for niche interests, franchises and hobbies to thrive, along with the communities that support and engage with them despite occasional ostracism. Ojumu said it’s the community that makes conventions special for him to attend.
“It is great being around hundreds, or even thousands of other people who share the same interests as I do without being judged or looked at weirdly for it,” Ojumu said. “Just being able to participate in panels, cosplay, meet voice actors, buy merch, etc. always feels so great when you know you can fully express yourself and not have some loser in the back look at you funny for being weird.”
