SACRAMENTO — SacAnime returned to the Sacramento Convention Center, where celebrities, cosplayers and reporters got a chance to geek out.
Cosplaying is a serious art.
One University of California, Davis student was one of the 10,000 preregistrants at SacAnime. Her character — Ruby, from her favorite web animation series, RWBY, a story about four girls learning to fight evil.
“I loved ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ as a child and seeing that character come back as a strong woman, and having an amazing actress voice her voice and bring the whole character to life, that was very impactful,” the cosplayer said.
But there was another reason she connected so well with the character.
“My legal name is actually Ruby too,” said Ruby Chen.
She says it was fate. So, immediately after Lindsay Jones, the voice of Ruby, walked through the door the fangirling began. But the admiration went both ways.
“I get the honor of having someone dressed up as my character, and I get to see them?” Jones said. “I couldn’t be more elated. Of course I’m fangirling here.”
With the inclusion of web series like these, SacAnime has evolved from a small gathering of comic lovers to an entire subculture.
“Instead of people just being here for anime, we brought a little bit of everything in,” said SacAnime announcer Joe Deas.
Charles Martinet is most famous for his rendition of Mario and Luigi. Every time he comes to a convention he says it’s a reminder of how lucky he is to have randomly gone to a voice audition 27 years ago and landed a part that people across the world still love.
“I come to a place like SacAnime and I see marvelous, wonderful people, where my little work in life has an impact on,” Martinet said. “That’s tremendously touching.”
A touching experience for anyone who isn’t afraid to show a little fandom.
