Fans express creativity through cosplay at SacAnime Spring convention
For his upcoming 12th birthday, Vinicius Souza’s mom took him to SacAnime.
Souza was promised a birthday gift upon the trip to his first convention.
As he and his mom walked around the convention center, Souza carried a handmade head of one of his favorite characters, Prototype, from the video game, “Poppy Playtime.”
“I used paper and cardboard, and then I made a circle, cut some slits out, and then I just painted the face,” Souza said as he showed off his creation.
Souza was one of the many cosplayers attending SacAnime Spring the weekend of April 24 to 26 at Cal Exposition. The decades-old convention has welcomed anime fans of all ages since 2004. For many attendees, the convention is known to be an epicenter and safe space to celebrate anime and cartoons.
There, fans participate in cosplay, where people dress up as their favorite anime, cartoon, video game or other media characters.
The convention has even welcomed a family of cosplayers like David Williams and his mother, Dodi Williams. Cosplayed as Arale Norimaki from the manga (Japanese comic books or graphic novels), “Dr. Slump.” Dodi Williams made her own cosplay alongside her son’s Tori-Bot, the avatar of the famous manga author, Akira Toriyama, who wrote the “Dragon Ball” franchise.
Dodi Williams said she loves SacAnime and has become a season regular, also attending the summer and winter conventions.
“SacAnime brings all kind, all types of people,” she said. “We all get to let our freak flag fly, and I enjoy being around people that love the same things that we do.”
Some fans travel from out of the area to attend SacAnime, such as San Jose resident Cici Huber. Cosplayed as Keigo Takami, also known as Hawks, from “My Hero Academia,” she said her cosplay was primarily handmade.
Her costume featured headphones crafted from heat sensitive plastic and bright red wings made of paper and craft wire which took her a month to make, she recalled.
Having driven three hours to Cal Expo, Huber said she was most excited about meeting Patrick Seitz, who voices her favorite “My Hero Academia” character, Endeavor. For her, cosplaying and meeting the guests are the best parts.
“SacAnime always has better guests than other conventions in Northern California,” Huber said.
Other prominent animation voice actors such as Dan Molina, the voice of Spike from the cartoon movie series “Land Before Time” and “Dirk” from the original Dragon’s Lair arcade game, participated in the convention.
“It’s the people, and the people that I keep seeing over and over again,” Molina said. “It’s kind of like a family reunion every time I get to go to one of these.”
Expression through cosplay
SacAnime has been a longstanding tradition for fans like Chad Adamion who said he’s been attending to the convention since its inception.
He recalls his first convention at the Scottish Rite Center years ago. Several decades later after continuous attendance, he regrets not buying a lifetime pass. He said SacAnime launched the trend of other conventions in Northern California, such as San Jose’s FanimeCon and Fan Expo in San Francisco. This spring convention, he was dressed in a partially hand-made cosplay of Zoro from the anime “One Piece.”
“No one then knew what it was going to become, but it has really sort of brought the greater Northern California area together around anime,” Adamion said.
Cosplay and attending SacAnime is a form of expression for Sacramento residents, like Kaden Bice. For SacAnime Spring, Bice cosplayed as Boa Hancock, also from the anime “One Piece.” While it’s a new hobby for her, she said she’s grown to love it.
“I love dressing up and expressing my interest via cosplay,” Bice said. “I haven’t really been to too many, but every time I go, I try to get something new. I just love getting out of the house too.”
