By Alex Passow
Have you ever heard of Haru Con? Do you love anime but have never been to an anime convention? Well Haru Con is the perfect place to start your con adventures. Haru Con is a free, mini, two-day convention that was held on the 9th and 10th of May, from 10am-6pm. This year was the third year for the mini-con. They are a 501(c) non-profit Mini Anime Convention running in May of every year. Haru Con is held at the Portland Community College Southeast Campus and is put on by the Anime club. They offer vending, panels, cosplay contests, a reading/media room, and a fundraiser for OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital with $5 ticket for a prize bags drawing. These fun prize bags are full of merchandise like anime movies, clothes, and figurines. They have two cosplay contest one for adults and one for youth.
Haru Con is a safe and supervised event where kids of all ages are can come and have fun. There are vendors that you can buy things from like plushies and posters. Another popular feature is the Manga Room where you can read or dance along to music videos.
I was lucky enough to be able to interview one of the Anime Club advisers, Kim Rinehart, at Cafe Delirium. Her bright purple dress and sparkly shoes stuck out in the dark ordinary cafe. Kim was an interesting character - she was cheery and happy in contrast to the people in dark colors that were silent.
Rinehart talked about her experience and why she does Haru Con. “I’ve been to multiple cons as a vender and artist. I noticed that there wasn’t a con in the spring, only summer and fall” she said.
Haru Con is great to go to for your first time because its very small and low key. “It's a great introduction into the world of cons” Rinehart said with confidence. She even stated, “We want to be a friendly environment that doesn’t kick people out of panels because it’s full—it’s a good con for first timers as well as young attendees under 18 years of age. It’s not so small that you can hear a pin needle drop, but it’s not too big to where you’re swimming upstream in a crowd like a salmon up a river.”
Chris Miller, an STHS student who has been to multiple cons including Haru Con, said “A smaller convention for my first convention was good. It gave me a taste of what the cons are like. If I had went to a bigger convention I would have been overwhelmed and it would have been a mess.”
If you're still concerned about going to Haru Con, maybe one of the following will convince you: there was a panel were you learned about girl gangs in Japan; there was an anime screening room where you could chill out and watch your favorite animes (this room was even run by two STHS students!); and then there was the cosplay contest! The contest was full of great costumes and fandoms - there was even an 8 year old dressed up as Sasuke Uchiha who won 3rd place. The little boy's face lit up with joy when they announced him as the winner, and when they brought out his prize bag that was full of action figures he started jumping up and down. There was also a Spider-man and a Deadpool cosplay, done by girls. Deadpool had a long brunette ponytail sticking out of the back of her mask, and Spider-man had a high pitched voice that could break glass. Both of these cosplays were hand sewn and awesome.
Haru Con is a good place to go to get introduced to your new anime family. So please come join in next year!