MTAC 2014
I remember my first day at the
Middle Tennessee Anime Convention. To me, back in 2007, anime was a new, exotic discovery, something my parents didn’t know enough about to disapprove. And I was a wide-eyed high schooler at my first anime con — a strange world I didn’t know existed in Tennessee.
I was capturing this experience with my disposable camera when suddenly I saw someone in a frilly, bows-galore dress, someone tall with long shiny hair. I must capture this beauty, I thought, as I tapped them on the back. But as they turned around, I realized it wasn’t a woman but a man — albeit a man in a beautiful Lolita dress. That's the moment I realized what an anime convention was: a place to try on new identities and costumes, meet people with interests far beyond the mainstream, and live for the weekend in a world where theirs is the dominant culture — all while having a lot of fun.
This weekend marks MTAC's 15th year, with more than 6,000 people expected to show up at the Sheraton Music City and Nashville Airport Marriott through Sunday. Tumblr posts show fans modeling their costumes — many handmade — ready to show off and possibly win a contest or two. Others who post on the Facebook page “MTAC People Who Like Other Stuff” solve issues together and decide what panels they’re attending.
John Robbins, MTAC's media relations manager, says the convention had its humble beginnings in the back of a comic book shop. It consisted mostly of a small group of anime fans happily cosplaying their favorite Pokemon characters and watching anime DVDs.
Yet they called it the first Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, and it was good. Now MTAC has reached the point where it doesn’t need advertising, according to Robbins: “We've got about as many people as we can hold.”
Unlike in MTAC's early days, anime-related events now take place throughout the year in present-day Nashville, a benefit of the convention's raised profile in Tennessee. In the years since MTAC started, anime fans have found a variety of means to indulge their love of Japanese culture:
Nashville Anime Day: A short mini-convention (which was held this year in Murfreesboro) complete with a dealer room and panels dedicated to everything Japanese.
AkaiCon: A new addition to local anime conventions this August in CoolSprings, complete with a rave.
Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival: An annual celebration of Japanese culture where several dance and musical performances are held throughout the day. The festival is especially known for its Para-Para event, a chance for anime fans to dance in costume. It will be held April 11 on Nashville Public Square.
As for MTAC this year, some of the most promising panels revolve around a roster of celebrity voice talent, including Erica Mendez (the voice actor for Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill), J. Michael Tatum (best known for voicing Sebastian in Black Butler, France in Hetalia: Axis Powers and Erwin in Attack on Titan) and Emmy winner Jeff Nimoy (who voiced, dubbed, directed and served as a story editor for Digimon: Digital Monsters, a personal favorite).
Other intriguing panels involve old favorites such as Evangelion. Still more features are old MTAC favorites, among them Risque Cosplay Contest (no photos allowed), Otaku Speed Dating, the MTAC Otaku Ball, and of course the Saturday-night rave.
What has made MTAC take root, Robbins says, is that anime means something different to successive generations of fans. Older fans grew up watching anime touchstones such as Speed Racer, Ranma ½ and Akira. They were followed by ’90s kids, who connected with the likes of Cowboy Bebop, Fooly Cooly, Ghost in the Shell and Paranoia Agent through the Cartoon Network.
Now, with anime readily available online, we can expect several new shows each year, all with fandoms of their own. And MTAC, as difficult as it may sound, gathers all these diverse interests, crushes them together and molds them into a perfect origami crane.
“We're united by a love of Japanese culture, Japanese art — naturally anime, of course,” Robbins says. "it's right there in the name."
That makes MTAC a place to bring out your inner geek and be whoever you want to be. If you’re a guy and you want to wear a shiny blonde wig and pink dress, at MTAC you wear it with pride.
