The 2014 Jaycon was a sight to be seen.  Along with costumes, the event was decorated with various posters from anime and other comics. This year’s event occurred on March 29 and 30.

Jaycon is a cultural convention that celebrates Japanese anime. Jaycon was started in 2010 by the Elizabethtown College Anime Club. It started as an event focusing on Cosplay Chess. “The convention began as a one-day event, taking over Esbenshade and Thompson Gymnasium for a good portion of Saturday. The attendance reached over 100 people, including both Etown students and anime enthusiasts from the outside community. The convention expanded to a two-day event in the next year and reached about 200 people,” senior and Jaycon Founder Annmarie Hamlin said. After just one year, it extended to a two-day event that featured famous people involved in anime. For this year’s Jaycon, more members and even bigger names performed and attended Jaycon. As host of Jaycon, the Anime Club uses its knowledge and expertise of Japanese culture and animated comics to coordinate the convention.

“The club gave me an official officer position (Jaycon Chair), and I became Jaycon’s first Founder and Convention Chairperson in the spring of 2010. My co-founder and president of the club at the time was Jessica Dales, who has since graduated from Etown. In Jaycon’s second year, I served as Club Treasurer (Jess Dales was president again) and passed the torch to a new convention chairperson. After that, I have staffed at the event, as well as run panels and events within Jaycon,” Hamlin said.

Jaycon has many different features and performances that are showcased throughout the two-day event. The convention hosts panels, workshops and discussions centering on many facets of the Japanese culture.  Many students dress in elaborate costumes, or “cosplay,” for this event. Cosplay is defined as the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime. It is a place for Japanese culture enthusiasts to gather and share their love of anime, manga and many other things related to Japanese tradition and pop culture.

This year had a variety of people in attendance. Performers and other comics, as well as voice actors will be featured at the fifth annual Jaycon this year. Some of the bigger names that were featured at Jaycon were Richard Epcar, whose voice can be heard in many different games, animations as well as anime.

Ellyn Stern, who is known for her voice work and the wide range of characters she has played, was also there, along with Michele Knotz, who is widely known for her role in “Pokémon.”