Cons in anime and/or cosplay are so common these days, you can find them in cities large and small across the United States. REMOVEut in 1995, People’s options for sharing their preferences (and purchasing accompanying merchandise) are far more limited.
Back then, you probably know some kids at school who love the same things as you, meet some through a local comic/book store, or, if you’re really lucky, reach out and reach out to a fair amount of like-minded fans on the internet. That’s it! Because of how difficult it is to connect and make friends in the fieldthere is a visual record as we are about to see of these pioneering days is absolutely wonderful.
(If you want to see some really pioneering conferencing tools, though, here is an excerpt from my cosplay book about what cons were like in the 70s and 80s).
Cosplay in America shared this video earlier in the week, found it on a dusty old YouTube account that hasn’t uploaded anything since 2009. Called oldschoolanimeconsit has multiple records of the original two cons: Anime America 1994 and Katuscon Ichi, as the name suggests is the first Katsucon. For example, in this video we have a guided tour of the Katsucon show floor, along with posters, shirts, and autographs that also include… stacks of copies of Penthouse and a company that sells desktop screen protectors.
Katsucon is of course still going strong. While this original event was small enough to be held at the Holiday Inn Operations Center, since then it has grown and expanded to the extent of today’s events (like the one we just mentioned last month) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, and regularly draws more than 15,000 attendees (with 2021 being the exception, as that year’s show was canceled due to the pandemic).
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If you’d like to check out the rest of the channel’s videos, many of which focus on a “cosplay festival”—a pageant-like event that once dominated early cosplay conventions—you can watch them this.
