The month before last, my husband and I attended our 15^th Katsucon. Katsucon is usually the only convention we’re able to make these days, our time and money being spoken for by car payments, utilities, and our daughter’s preschool tuition. We had a great time at Katsu 15. The best part, as always, was the catching up with old friends. We also purchased a smattering of items from the dealers’ room, mostly presents for family members left back home.

I lost count of how many times one of us said “Can you believe this is the 15^th Katsucon?”. Many of our friends said the same thing. Time has flown! As we mixed and mingled with the younger anime fans, who don’t remember when cartoons from Japan couldn’t be bought at every store in town, I wondered how many of them knew something about how anime fandom used to be. Let’s go back, just for a few minutes, to the pre-Naruto, pre-Pokemon days. Let me tell you about my first anime convention: (more…)