Cosplay Church at Kumoricon

[mercygraves]

This is just to announce that we will be holding a Sunday service, AKA Cosplay Church at Kumoricon this year!  Our first Cosplay Church service was this last weekend at AniZona and it was a great success...So, everyone is invited (Christian as well as non-Christian), and we will also have some food (yes, Ramen!) and such, so stay tuned.  We will announce our meeting place/time/etc. when it gets closer to the time of the Con.  Great!

Daniyel D. Grancich
Co-Founder, Christian Otaku Convention Ministry
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christianotaku/
mercygraves@hotmail.com

[RemSaverem]

ok i'm trying to understand what this is.

would it be for example, that people cosplaying, say, wolfwood would act out some anime church type sequences? that could be kinda funny, if it was like someone who was cosplaying one of the catholics from hellsing battling wolfwood over running the confessional.

or is this some kind of religious service, incidentally attended by people in costume?

if so, is this something that is a panel, a scheduled activity within the convention per se? or is it just a group of likeminded people offering that others can join them in something if they want, and it happens to take place at the convention, but is not part of it per se?

fyi, sakuracon next year takes place over easter and passover and there had been some talk of trying to have some kind of in formal gettogether like a mini seder for jewish staff (of which i am one).

[rasetsutaisho]

i dont understand...



it just seems like western religion and anime conventions wouldnt really mix well at all...

[mercygraves]

Yo!

This is an actual service, that happens to be in costume, yes.  And hey, having a Seder sounds awesome, I'm glad other people are doing stuff like this (my brother is Jewish by heritage, not religion, but we celebrate Passover too, so we think this is really cool!) - And also, this is an unofficial thing, fan-started and conducted, so you are right, it is at the Con, by and for people at the Con, but it is not an official Con-sanctioned event, which is fine with us.  There might be potential issues with the Con actually sanctioning a specific religious event, so it's understandable.  And yeah, we are people that  believe in and follow the Christian God, but we also love anime and manga and find great truths and insight from Eastern tradition and philosophy as well!  Thus far, it has been a really nice thing doing this service, and considering how much anime and manga really explores religion and philosophy (including Western traditions, as in Fullmetal Alchemist, for instance), it does actually go very well together to hold a service and also have some exploration of different beliefs (both Eastern and Western).  I hope this clarifies things a bit for you guys, thanks for posting, and of course you're all invited to the service if you're interested or curious.

I look forward to meeting you all at this Con, which sounds like a blast!

Yours,
Daniyel

[mercygraves]

There is a bit of humor involved though, as well, since you bring that up - because at AniZona (this last weekend we held our first Cosplay Church for Easter Sunday), I gave the sermon as Colonel Roy Mustang - and that's pretty funny in itself, the Flame Alchemist giving a sermon.  

Catch ya later!

Daniyel

[Hawkeye]

If you do that, you have to do the vampire priest scene from Hellsing, that would be hilarious

[makichan]

it actually sounds neato >

[mercygraves]

Yeah, it was neato.  Especially because quite a few agnostics/athiests/pagans came to our service at AniZona, and everyone there seemed to really get something from the service, which is important.  An individual's relationship with God really is between him/her and God, and although we are obviously coming from a decidedly Christian perspective, we hope our services can reach out to anyone and everyone - I don't mean to preach already, but God isn't limited in that He only loves or cares for certain people, He cares for all of us, and if we can help people get connected with that through our services at Cons, then we've pretty much done our job.

Cheers,
Daniyel

P.S.  We went to Cons before we started doing this Sunday service thing, just FYI - we'd be there anyway, so we figured we might as well do something to reach out to people while we're there...Anyhow, nice chatting with you guys.

[Daxe]

Hmm I havent been to church in... um hmm... how long has it been, I think I went once in high school. I as well as many have had hard dealings with the christian church. However after so many years away, it might be nice to hear a good sermon. I always hated those youth groups that lasted hours, and now that I think about it, I kind of miss hearing from the good book. Tell me when your sermon is ganna be, I for one will be there.

[the_wind_the_sea]

Interesting. Like Daxe, I haven't been to church in years. I'm interested, but not too sure my schedule for Kumori-Con as it currently is, would allow for me to do this. But, I shall do some rearraging and see what I can do.

[RemSaverem]

well, i'm both jewish and what some people (though not i really) would call a witch, so i'm doubly out of the loop for christian things, but this actually sounds a bit interesting to see how it would be pulled off. however, i run my own room (potentially rooms) of programming so my attending is doubtful. hope to see you at the unofficial seder at sak though.

meantime there is someone very intelligent and exceptionally well familiarized with anime who is intent to run a panel exploring how christianity relates to or how christians respond to various depictions of religion, end times, etc. in anime so perhaps check that out. i personally once i find out when that is scheduled, am hoping to be able to free up some time in my personal responsbilities to be able to attend it. i haven't been able to attend an entire panel of anyone else's at any kumoricon yet!

[HeavenscloneX]

Man, I haven't been to church forever.  Not really religious anymore.  But if it's in cosplay, I'll be there! XD

[Pie Row Maniac]

Two words: Alexander Anderson

That is all.

[mercygraves]

Thanks for the tip on that panel, that sounds really interesting.  And, yeah guys, we will post the official time and place and all once Kumoricon is closer.  We are also going to get a banner made, so it will be easy for you to find us at the Con on Sunday - we hold our services outside for a variety of reasons, and all in all the fresh air and beautiful scenery has been really nice for the service - but because we are not in a set room, we are going to have a nice big banner so you can all find us from at least a mile away (a bit of hyperbole, just kidding)...Anyhow, thanks for all your input, and I am glad we're yet again getting a really warm reception and also hope to see you all there!  And even if you don't attend the service, you'll notice my brother and I because we're Hughes and Mustang from FMA (respectively), and we're pretty loud and boisterous (except when I'm being Emo-Mustang and he's being Shot-By-Envy-Hughes he he he)...Catch you later!

Daniyel

[guspasho]

Umm...

Speaking for myself (who works for the convention,) the problem isn't so much the religiousity, but the fact that you've "decided" you are going to do this at the convention, apparantly on your own. Where were you planning on doing this? Have you submitted a panel request? I think our Yojimbo (security) people as well as the hotel's might have a problem with any large gathering clogging the hallways. It is difficult enough to keep the hallways clear of the small gatherings that are continuously forming. It's just not a good idea to try to hold unsanctioned events in the hallspace that is meant to keep people moving from point A to point B. Plus, much of that space is designated fire lanes- ie we are prevented from having tables there that are very wide.

If you haven't, I would recommend that you contact Brenda, the Director of Programming, and get a panel request form to submit to her. Having the space to hold your event will make everyone's lives that much easier.

EDIT: Just saw your last post. I don't see any problem with doing it outside, just be sure not to block foot traffic, but you might want to scout out your space in advance (ie tennis courts might be preferable to parking lot) and see if it needs to be reserved. Or have someone do that for you if you can't be there at the May meeting.

[mercygraves]

Thanks for all the info.!  I sent an email to your Con Chair about this already, it's something we do every Con we go to because people seem eager to have it, and we do it outside in "free space" (where usually the Con and hotel doesn't mind), and if that doesn't work, we would relocate to our own hotel room so there isn't any issue.  We don't really want it as an official panel, because that has a very different format than what we do - but just know that we won't clog halls or take up any space that would infringe on the Con at all (we're not out to do that sort of thing)...And yeah, what we usually do is meet in the hotel lobby and then walk to where ever we have scouted as a good, quite spot that isn't in any one's way.  Hope that sounds good, thanks!  Also, the whole thing lasts only about 1 hour, so it's pretty low-key...Thanks again, and if you could give me the email of your Programming person, I will email them anyhow just so they know what we're up to.  We definately don't want to "sneak up" on you guys at all, that is why we are posting about it, etc.  Thanks again for understanding!

Daniyel

[Nyco27]

You're welcome to use the outside space or heck, I have an open room that'll seat 200 or so if you'd like to be a part of the con space. Also, if you'd like to be recognized in the con book, you could just send me a little blurb and we could put you in there.

The way I see the whole religion in the conspace thing is the same as every other panel or event. If someone wants to run it and can get the paperwork in on time they can pretty much have what they want.

My email is nyco27@yahoo.com or programming@kumoricon.org let me know what you think.

Brenda