Asian Studies Theses and Dissertations

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The Lost Year of Anime Conventions: Observations from FanimeCon 2020
(University of Oregon, 2021-09-13) Scrivani, Kourtney; Freedman, Alisa
As a result of the pandemic in 2020, many large fan events canceled to adhere to health guidelines. From this context, conventions had to change their models to virtual entities. This thesis investigates the fan production of the virtual FanimeCon, based in San Jose, CA, during the COVID-19 pandemic. After setting up the history of anime conventions, including concepts of other fan producers and Fanime history, the study used participant-observation and digital interviews with eight respondents to show how fans moved into the role of producers. This information was analyzed to identify the motivations behind fans acting as producers of this convention. From the results, those motivations align with ideas of interactivity, community, and desire to recreate the convention in the absence of an official event. This fan-produced Fanime was a one-time event that resulted directly from the pandemic disruption, which caused a lost year of anime conventions.