Anime fans and cosplayers alike gathered for the Karoshi-Con convention, a free one day anime convention held annually in DeKalb where fans of anime can gather and celebrate the form of media they love most.
The NIU Anime Association hosted this convention from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday in the Holmes Student Center.
There was an array of events held at Karoshi-Con including panels with topics like what fabrics to use for your cosplay and how to manage your time with cosplaying.
Other activities going on included K-Pop dance performances, performed by the group C3lestial Covers, in the heritage room of the Holmes Student Center and the Artist Alley where convention goers could buy merchandise from 92 tables at the convention.
The event had a large turnout with 640 people registering for the event the day of and 350 people pre-registering to account for 990 attendees, according to Rosa Sifuentes, the director of Karoshi-Con.
Adam Siecichoski, a resident of Wisconsin and student at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, heard about the event after searching for conventions online to go to on spring break.
“I actually drove. I’m from Wisconsin,” Siecichoski said. “So I’m on spring break, and I just looked up if there’s any anime conventions.”
Jonathan Venecia, a senior psychology major and staffer at the event, said Karoshi-Con is important because anime is popular and it’s great to support local artists.
“I think this is just important, just because, again, it’s a great opportunity to support local artists with some really interesting panels,” Venecia said. “And I mean, anime is pretty popular here, so it’s a great time to celebrate all that.”
One of Venecia’s favorite activities at the convention was the Artist Alley because he liked seeing all of the merchandise available for purchase.
“I’d say, like, my favorite is always just the Artist Alley, just because I just love seeing all the crafts and stuff like that. I bought these cat ears from there,” Venecia said.
For more information about future Karoshi-Con conventions and other anime related events you can visit the NIU Anime Association’s Instagram.
