Just three weeks until the Anime League Convention

Will you be at Alcon, September’s four-day anime event in Leicester?

Alcon, 6 – 9 September, De Montfort University, Leicester

Short for Anime League Convention, Alcon is a four-day anime event aiming to attract over 1,000 visitors. Over a hundred events have been planned for the weekend, going on through the day from 10am to 3am. Events include chibi clay modelling, card gaming, karaoke, eight parties and “whose line is it anime?” which gets kudos points for the title alone.

When you sign up to the con you also get to pick a clan to be affiliated with over the weekend. The choice is between pirates, ninjas and vampires and your visitors badge will correspond with the choice. Whilst at the con you can earn points for your clan, which culminates in a clan battle and one of the three coming out on top and winning a trophy. Cosplayers will have plenty to do, as many of the events are costume themed. Whilst it’s not necessary you might want to plan an outfit around you clan choice.

The 30 guests include Kyle Hebert (pictured below left: he voiced Kamina from Guren Lagaan among over 50 other anime and gaming titles), LittleKuriboh (Yu Gi Oh and DBZ Abridged) as well as cosplay guests Valdrein, Twinfools, Nova, KellyJane and TealPirate and more.

The exhibitor line-up includes Cosplay Portrait, Estaticarts, GundamNation, Genki Gear, Khaos Kostumes, Tofucute, United Publications, Namco and more, with plenty of information at the official forum. Workshops and panels include delights like Akemi Solloway on Japan, oriental lantern making, how to draw manga, origami and calligraphy .

Live music will be performed by performers such as Area 11 (pictured at the top of this page), Chipzel, River Versus, Zonic, Superpowerless, KimonoTime, KerriVeck, Scarlett and OCRemix. Three areas are dedicated to videogaming and in an Alcon exclusive Namco will be bringing along two arcade machines for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (pictured below).

That’s 6–9 September in Leicester. To find out more, including information on accommodation and the guests, visit the event homepage or get the latest information by following the con on twitter. Tickets are still available at £35 for all four days but make sure you get yours soon! Alternatively, one-day tickets at just £12 per day are also available.

And remember, anime fans should also be checking out our current SFX Special Edition, which is The Ultimate Guide To Anime and comes with posters, postcards and an exclusive DVD with two complete episodes of Baka And Test thanks to Manga UK.