17 Aug 31st–sept 6th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | As anime fandom explodes in Phoenix, Saboten Con leads the way. BY BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN G reg Fennell might not be as stern-looking as Commander Erwin Smith, but he can rally his troops just as effectively as the “Attack on Titan” character. On a recent Saturday inside the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, the 50-year- old entrepreneur and Arizona resident is doing just that at an all-hands staff meeting for Saboten Con, the local anime and Japanese pop-culture convention he and his wife Stacy have put on since 2008. After dishing myriad details about this year’s Saboten Con, Fennell thanks the two dozen staff members in attendance for their help in making the convention, which is attended by tens of thousands of people each year, the biggest anime event in Arizona. “We’re right up there. It’s getting scary to see where we are numbers-wise,” Fennell says. “It’s a testament to you guys for how well this show has run and it’s allowed us from a business standpoint to invest more money into making it bigger and better. So, thank you.” Fennell says this year’s Saboten Con, which runs Friday through Monday, will be its biggest yet. The four-day convention will double in size, expanding to two downtown Phoenix hotels with 40-plus celebrity guests and hundreds of cosplayers. More than 800 hours of programming will range from Japanese pop-culture activities, like maid cafes and karaoke sessions, to a separate gaming and esports event called SaboSlam. Saboten Con 2023 also marks the event’s 15th anniversary, which Fennell tells Phoenix New Times is an accomplish- ment for any geek convention. “[Cons] come and go, some after only a few years, so we’ve obviously been doing something right,” he says. Saboten Con has been synonymous with anime fandom in Arizona since debuting in 2008. Originally a spinoff of Phoenix Comicon (now Phoenix Fan Fusion), the event has celebrated the Japanese-born animation style and art form, serving as a gateway to anime culture for a generation of Arizona geeks. It laid the groundwork for local anime fans and attracted die-hards and casuals alike, giving them a space to engage with one another, enjoy their favorite titles and cosplay characters. Fennell says that’s their ultimate goal for Saboten Con and the other anime events their company, Monkey Paw Entertainment, puts on in Arizona and New Mexico. The events include Con-Nichiwa in Tucson and Kikori Con in Flagstaff. “My wife and I have been doing this for 15 [years], and we’ve literally never said, ‘We need to make X amount of money out of this show,’” he says. “It’s never been about the money, just making our show and our community better. And I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re so successful.” Anime’s massive increase in popularity over the past decade also played a major factor. The anime boom Saboten Con’s milestone year comes at a time when anime is bigger than ever and is only continuing to grow. In 2022, the global anime industry raked in $28 billion, a figure predicted to double by decade’s end. Sales of manga — Japanese comics and graphic novels — are also at an all-time high, as the market was valued at $12.3 billion in 2022. Earlier this year, Crunchyroll, the Sony-owned anime streaming service, reportedly topped 10 million paid subscribers worldwide. Turnout at anime conventions has also increased exponentially — this year’s Anime Expo in Los Angeles boasted a record- breaking 392,000 people in attendance — as has the amount of events being offered. In the Valley, the number of anime-themed cons has tripled in the past three years. Anime’s fanbase in North America now rivals Japan’s in size, according to LA Weekly, which also notes that the art form is “no longer a nerdy niche form of entertainment” and has “permeated all facets of pop culture.” You can see evidence of anime’s growing influence throughout metro Phoenix, and not just at events like Saboten Con. In recent years, the Valley has gained multiple anime-themed businesses, including a nightspot (Hi-Score Club in downtown Phoenix), a coffee joint and boutique (Tempe’s ACG Go Anime Store & Cafe) and a popular food truck (MoshiMoshi). Anime has even been embraced by Phoenix Art Museum. Last fall, it hosted “Mr.: You Can Hear the Song of This Town,” the first U.S. solo exhibition in more than five years by famed Japanese contemporary artist Mr. that was heavily influenced by anime and manga. Featuring close to 50 drawings, sculptures and paint- ings populated by kawaii-style characters and colorful chaotic scenes, the exhibi- tion’s four-month run was a highlight of PAM’s offerings last year. It’s a far cry from the 1980s and ’90s when anime was strictly a niche subculture in Phoenix and elsewhere. The origins of anime fandom in Arizona During most of its early history, Japanese animation was largely unknown outside of its native country. From the 1960s onward, seminal anime series like Illustration by PEPPERONCCINI @pepperonccini >> p 19
