I’ve been going to conventions since 2010. From Michigan to Florida and back again, I’ve been all over the country with some of my closest friends in hopes of finding the best anime convention. Washi Con, a first year convention at Eastern Michigan University, really surprised me with not only it’s atmosphere, but it’s character and it’s mission. 

I had the opportunity to meet the Convention Chair (the person in charge of the whole thing), who will be referred to here as Dot. I met her in August 2015 at a small convention in Pontiac, Michigan. My team and I were looking around at all of the conventions that were advertising, and figured we’d stop by their table and ask if they were looking for panelists. They were, so we exchanged contact information and that was that. 

What I didn’t expect was to actually consider Dot a friend by the time the convention came around. When I go to conventions, I usually find it near impossible to find Convention Chairs and interacting with them as a friend is almost completely unheard of. 

Washi Con gave me an entire new perspective of what conventions hoped to be, and gave my studio and me the opportunity to continue doing what we love- hosting panels. 

Panels are sort of like classes, an hour or two in length and typically have very specific niches and focuses. We host panels from postfeminist thought in relation to pornography, to a theatrical performance based on a webcomic.

This convention not only let us explore new panels and try out new things with the way our panels worked, it allowed us the chance to present for audiences who were actually interested in our subject material. People asked questions and argued with our points and that’s exactly what we love about hosting panels. 

In addition to what this convention allowed, I had the huge honor of interviewing Jan Scott-Frazier, a woman who worked on some of the most well-known anime as an animator in Japan. In addition, she’s the founder of her own LGBT centric foundation. As part of the LGBT community I was honored by being asked to host her Q and A panel, and ask her some really interesting questions about her job and life abroad. 

I also had the chance to interact with fans. Being invited to a convention as a guest is a surreal experience, people there knew us, and it was uplifting to know that the work we’ve done has impacted so many people. When people raised their hands in panels to tell us that what we did meant something to them, I felt satisfied, like it was the world telling me “mission completed”. 

I have to say, Washi Con was a convention I would never dare describe as “better than any first year con” because it’s so much more than that. The convention staff strived for excellence the entire weekend, using their own equipment when needed to make everyone there feel welcome. They tried hard to interact with people at the convention and made the one-day event something I will never forget.