21 Aug 31st–sept 6th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | How the pandemic fueled the anime boom When the world went on lockdown in 2020, many discovered anime. In other words, otaku and weebs weren’t the only ones enjoying shows like “Naruto” or “One Punch Man” during the darkest days of the pandemic. “There were only so many shows you could watch, so I think [anime] was some- thing people found, got into and told others, ‘Hey, have you seen this?’” Fennell says. “I think that’s what helped the entire industry explode as well.” Wilson says interest in anime was already increasing prior to the pandemic and lockdown helped amplify it. “It had been on that trajectory already. Watching anime and reading [manga] comics are activities you can do solo without having to go out,” Wilson says. “And when you’ve got a whole world of people kind of trapped in their house with nothing to do, people turned [to anime].” When people emerged from lockdown in 2021, many were eager to celebrate their newfound fandom at anime events like Saboten Con. Fennell says it wasn’t just Zoomers. “We got a higher age group coming to Saboten after the pandemic because you had a lot of parents who sat down and watched anime with their kids for the first time and fell in love,” Fennell says. “We had college students and 20-year-olds that found it during the time they were just sitting at home.” More cons, more competition Fennell isn’t the only Valley geek entre- preneur who’s been reaping the windfall of the post-pandemic anime boom. The number of anime cons in the Valley has increased threefold to almost a dozen since the pandemic. “It’s just gone nuts the last few years with all the new anime [cons],” Astell says. One of the newer events is UwU Con, an “anime experience” that debuted in October 2022 at Legacy Park in Mesa. Co-founded by Chef Justin Reed, app developer Jared Nichols and Preston Statzer of Olympus Games in Mesa, it included three days of anime voice actors, a zipline and other rides, and a curated selection of vendors and Asian-fusion food trucks. Statzer says their event is designed to be different from Saboten Con. “They have their strong points, like they do really well at the panels and everything, but we’re a totally different show,” he says. “We’re going a different route to highlight food and voice actors.” Statzer is willing to give Saboten Con its props, though. “They helped create the anime scene and lay the groundwork,” he says. Fennell says he isn’t worried if anime fans have a multitude of other cons to choose from now. “I don’t look at those other shows as competition. I honestly see them as helping the community just get more people to know about anime,” he says. “We really do it just for the community. We’ve always said, ‘If you do the right thing, you’ll get back in return and you’ll get the growth that you’re trying to get.’” Saboten Con 2023 runs Friday to Monday at Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, 340 N. 3rd St., and Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, 100 N. 1st St. See sabotencon.com. Left: “Attack on Titan” cosplayers in downtown Phoenix. Center: The crowd at Saboten Con 2010. Right: “Super Sonico” characters at the 2015 edition of Saboten Con. (Left and right photos by Benjamin Leatherman, center photo by Kevin Dooley/CC BY 2.0/Flickr) AniMania from p 19
