My Yearly Trip to Anime Milwaukee
If my post about my yearly Halloween party was any indicator, I am what most people would refer to as a “huge nerd”. One could easily say “dork” or “geek”, but I have no personal preference, often using all three interchangeably. By most standards of first world countries (the United States specifically), I am a nerd that finds much enjoyment and entertainment from science fiction, video games, fantasy, superheroes, and anime. For over ten years, I have attended and worked at an anime convention in my hometown of Milwaukee, WI during the spring called “Anime Milwaukee” (AMKE). The convention is usually held in February, but is sometimes (including next year) held in March. I first attended this convention in the hopes of meeting an internet celebrity who was quite popular during the early days of online content creation. I was jobless during that time; as such, when I was still jobless the following year, I decided to do some volunteer work at AMKE, realizing that volunteer work often looks good on ones resume. The staff in charge of the convention was so impressed with my work ethic while there, they encouraged me to come back the following year as a full fledged staff member. I agreed to do just that, and (for the most part) I have been a staff member ever since. I started working in what is called “Con Ops” (convention operations), which is behind the scenes work helping certain departments with various duties. I was moved to Registration around three years later, taking information from people wanting admission to the event, and it was my default department ever since.
What is important to note is that while I say staff member, it does not entirely mean that am paid by the organization in charge of running the event. In essence, we are still volunteers. The difference between volunteers and staff members in the context of AMKE is that volunteers work approximately four hours per day of the event without pay; staff members work much longer hours (also without pay) the day before the convention starts, and after it ends in exchange for free admission to the convention, free food when one goes on break, and (if necessary) free housing in the hotel connected to building where the whole even takes place.
I will admit, there may be some facts that I am missing, or have forgotten about, so take what I say with some salt. There is always a possibility that I am wrong about the information given.
The last two years, however, were a change of pace for me. Last year, I couldn’t fulfill my duties as staff member because I couldn’t receive the time off from work. This year, however, I willingly chose to take a break from being a staff member. With several responsibilities in my personal life to take care of, I didn’t want to over burden myself. Besides, now that I am doing freelance photography, any convention centered around anime is great place for a photographer to take some truly colorful, exquisite and “out there” pictures. Below you will find what I consider to be the best of what captured, with my personal favorites receiving their own section with my thoughts on each piece(s).
The first three photographs you see here were of a man cosplaying (a term for people who not only show up at conventions in costume, like to act like the character they are emulating, derived from the words “costume” and “play”) as the character “Travis Touchdown” from the video game series “No More Heroes”. I am posting these first because when I mentioned that I was doing freelance photography as a hobby and a side job, he was nice enough to give a small cash tip. How nice of him!
The collection you see here is everything I saw in the vendors hall. There were certainly some shops that grabbed my attention more than others, but I wanted to be show the best variety of goods that can be purchased from this area. It is one of my favorite areas of the event, from the DVDs of various anime, to the manga, vintage video games, artwork, clothes, imported Japanese snacks, to goods I would never had thought of selling there; there is something in the vendors hall for anybody from hard core otaku, to a casual fan of the medium of anime. I particularly like the people who sell coffee mugs and liquor glasses adorned with symbols and scenes from various popular anime (as well as games, TV, and movies). Something I always do is go to Wild Bills Olde Fashion Soda Pop. When you buy a mug from their booth, you are given free refills of soda for the entire duration of the convention! Given that many places and food vendors may have increased their prices for food and drinks (before the cost of food went up for everybody), this is a bargain one shouldn’t walk away from!
The next batch of photographs are from the dedicated video game room. As you can see, there were many of the modern game consoles and computers (some of which are able to make use of virtual reality headsets) but there were also various older consoles pre-dating the original Nintendo Entertainment System; some of which I only vaguely remember hearing about, others I don’t believe I have even heard of. Not only that, there were various arcade cabinets for people to use, all of which were re-programmed to be played without needing to constantly insert quarters to use should a player be beaten.
Here we have the service animals I encountered during the event. I am an animal lover myself (I have four cats) so I needed to include pictures of critters by any means necessary. I know I am not allowed to pet them, but I wish I could have!
These are the only pictures I took of the dedicated tabletop, board, and card game area. It is not a place I go to very often, but it is included because there are still people who don’t like video games or prefer to play something that is not displayed on a screen. People will often bring rulebooks for pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons, but the variety of board games in this room are surprisingly large! There are all time classics like Monopoly, Sorry, and Operation (just to name a few classics); to games I have never heard of or played before (or seen and played very sporadically), like Pandemic (admittedly not the best game to play since 2020), Arkham Asylum (the H.P. Lovecraft version, not the one found the Batman Universe), and Betrayal at the House on the Hill (easily one of my favorite board games). Unfortunately, because I rarely go into this part of the convention, I don’t know the full extent of what card games are available.
Here we have attendees who are cosplaying as various characters from the award winning role playing game (RPG) “Persona 5 Royal”. If you were to look at footage and artwork from this game, I would not blame you for thinking the game was based on an anime. In actuality, while Persona 5 Royal (Royal being an enhanced re-release of the original version titled “Persona 5”) has an anime aesthetic, it actually started as a game (as did its predecessors), then was adapted into an anime, and even (Since Persona 3 onward) a series of stage plays! The Persona series is a big deal in Japan, and Persona 5 (and its Royal re-release) is what helped propel it into mainstream popularity. I took these photos because Persona 5 Royal has become not just one of my RPGs ever made, it has become one of my favorite games in general. It was the first game in the Persona series I ever played, and it made me a fan! Why did I chose to photograph anybody who cosplayed these characters (sometimes of the same individual character)? Well…
Of all of the Guests of Honor who were at AMKE, the two you see here (Elizabeth Maxwell on the left and Max Mittelman on the right) voiced prominent characters in Persona 5. For my photograph with Max, I was dressed in my Joker (the lead character of Persona 5) from my Halloween party. There were other actors from that game (all of which voiced characters of games and anime) available for autographs and photos, but due to finances and time constraints on my part, these were the only members of the cast of Persona 5 I was able to meet. Although I met another actor named Marta Harms (who is from my hometown of Milwaukee, WI) who I was able to meet, the photograph I was hoping have of her didn’t take. Weather it was because I didn’t set anything up in my camera, or because her manager didn’t know how to use it properly, I don’t know for sure.
For this group, I wanted to showcase all of the cosplayers at the convention that I took. All of these people came as characters from not just anime, but games, comics, TV, and movies. What I want to make clear is that while people (when dressing as a particular character) will try to wear the most accurate costume they can afford, others will try to make one themselves, or put their own spin on their costume. Take the man dressed as the Riddler from the Batman universe (the green outfit with the question mark on the bowler hat and the gold colored cane); he bought the outfit online, and years later, put the jewels on himself. As for the samurai, those are actually Stormtroopers from the Star Wars franchise, re-imagined as samurai. The man wearing a belt with his hand extended in front of him is cosplaying the main character from a series of live action Japanese superhero shows called (translated as) “Masked Rider”. Specifically, the 2002 entry in the series named “Masked Rider: Agito”. Many of the people dressed as Japanese high schoolers are from Persona 3 & 4. The lone woman with a large sword is the character Ciri from the role playing game “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”. There are three women dressed as variations of the Character Link from “the Legend of Zelda” series. The people who are dressed like sewer workers are Inklings from shooter series “Splatoon”. I could go on with everything you see, but I don’t what to have everything spilled out to the point of boredom; feel free to research who these characters are on you own time.
With these, I wanted to show the crowds of people you will find at these kinds of conventions. The amount of attendees can exceed tens of thousands, with lines for autographs not moving or, worse yet, moving for hours with no end in sight, often wrapping around various hallways in the building and going outside. The very first anime convention I went to was called “Anime Central” in Rosemont, IL. That convention (as far as I know) is not the largest anime convention in the United States, but it is the largest in the Midwest region. When I arrived to pick up my badge for entry, I waited (if I remember correctly) at least FOUR HOURS just to register. When I was able to enter the grounds, I waited another two hours for autographs from actors that starred in the several seasons of the popular “Power Rangers” TV show (this includes the late Jason David Frank).
And here, my final picture of this post, is my in my Joker costume, wearing a wrestling champion styled belt advertising the Midwest Gaming Classic (a dedicated video game convention happening at the end of this month). This was the first big event I attended as a photographer, and while I still quite new to covering conventions of any kind, I hope what I have shown you has given you an idea of what interests me, and my skill at covering different subjects throughout an event as big as this. If you have any feedback, questions, or comments, please feel free to reach me via the contact section of this website. Thank you for taking the time to read this post!