Animecon is

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, held annually over a weekend in varying Finnish cities. Animecon was organized as a joint project between anime clubs throughout Finland, facilitated by the communications hub Suomen Animeunioni ''(The Finnish Anime Union)''. The convention was first established in 1999 as an outgrowth of the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

of the

sci-fi convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expre ...

Finncon Finncon is the largest science fiction convention in Finland and, with up to 15,000 participants, one of the largest SF conventions in Europe. Finncon is unique among SF conventions because it has no participation/membership fee, and is funded pr ...

, expanded into a separate event about anime in general. Animecon and Finncon have been held in conjunction, sharing premises but no events; they even often held separate opening ceremonies. In 2012 Animecon was held at the city of

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...

for a first time and the convention has remained there since then. The two drew some 5200 visitors in 2004 and 5500 in 2006, peaking at 5000 on Saturday during the three-day event. After the 2007 conventions, an organizer cited the number of visitors as an estimated 7000.Animecon V home page
. Accessed on 2007-09-03. "Kävijöitä oli erittäin paljon, arvoiden mukaan n. 7000." ''(We had an abundance of participants, estimates put their number at around seven thousand.)'' Animecon II was the first major

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

event in Finland,
Escapism in Japanese style
' (2006), Tuomas Tiainen, ''Free!'' magazine. Accessed on 2007-09-03. and the practice has been noted for its abundance in later ones.

History

Event history

References

External links

Official site

Animecon picture archive
incl. cosplay competitions {{Anime conventions in Europe Anime conventions Entertainment events in Finland Recurring events established in 1999 1999 establishments in Finland Annual events in Finland