Elise Antel began attending Tekko, an anime convention held annually at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, as a middle-schooler in 2008. The level of creativity displayed in the Japanese cartoons Tekko celebrates and the sheer amount of them at her fingertips drew her in and kept her there.
“The thing that always appealed to me with anime is that they’re these fantastical stories where the effects are great and there are all these crazy characters, but the storylines are very relatable,” Antel told the Post-Gazette. “There’s some anime out there that everyone can relate their personal story to.”
Antel is now the treasurer for the Pittsburgh Japanese Culture Society, the nonprofit that puts on Tekko (formerly known as Tekkoshocon) every year. Tekko 2022 is set to take place July 21-24 and, after a rocky few years financially, is expected to feature all the cosplay, games, art, music and celebrity guests that have made the conventions such special events for anime enthusiasts from Pittsburgh and beyond.
“We’re bridging that gap between people from all walks of life,” said PJCS CEO Peter Gaudoin. “It’s amazing the broad range of people being like, ‘I didn’t really have a place where I belong. Tekko has given me that.’”
The society formed in 2013 and inherited Tekko, which has been around in various forms since 2003. PJCS president Justin Quaranta said that though Tekko has become the “main programming that we do,” his group also puts on smaller events throughout the year centered around Japanese fashion and music. Most of those are currently on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as PJCS focuses on Tekko 2022, Quaranta said.
Gaudoin said that the Pittsburgh anime community has grown a lot over the last decade and is “much bigger than we thought it was.” He said they assumed Tekko depended mostly on out-of-state support and were pleasantly surprised to discover that about half of the more than 9,000 attendees in 2018 registered with a Pennsylvania ZIP code.
That interest in anime and Japanese culture displayed by Keystone State residents convinced Quaranta that there remains a market for the types of activities in which PJCS specializes.
“The big thing is trying to get out there a Japanese cultural experience in a way that’s appealing to a wide audience,” he said. “It’s not just lectures and educational content. It’s heavily centered on anime, gaming, dance ... all these things to bring everyone together into one, big community.”
Tekko started at the convention center in 2009 before briefly returning to a hotel setting in 2011 and 2012. It was back at the convention center in 2013 and has since grown from only needing a small section to utilizing the whole building. Tekko 2019 tallied 11,385 attendees and it appeared its growth would continue unabated.
You can probably guess where this is going.
Tekko was scheduled for April 2020 and had to be canceled because of the pandemic. They were able to have Tekko 2021, though only about 4,800 folks showed up. The amount of money the PJCS lost two years ago combined with the smaller turnout in 2021 and the rising costs of pretty much everything put Tekko 2022 in jeopardy.
“We knew we were going to take a loss,” Gaudoin said. “We didn’t fully see the impacts that COVID would have on our operating expenses.”
The Pittsburgh Japanese Culture Society determined they would need to raise $60,000 to put on Tekko 2022 as planned and scrounge up an extra $40,000 to secure Tekko’s future. So, they started a GoFundMe campaign that as of July 7 had brought in more than $65,000. Antel said that Station Square-based Schell Games has agreed to do a dollar-for-dollar match up to $20,000, and PJCS is holding a virtual “TekkoThon” fundraiser via Twitch on Saturday as a final push.
Quaranta has been blown away by all the help they’ve received from the Tekko community and the positive comments contributors have left on its GoFundMe page. Antel mentioned all the LGBTQ+ attendees she hears from who tell her what a safe space Tekko has been for them. That made it even more imperative that the convention go on as intended in 2022.
“To see people actually willing to put part of their paycheck toward this is really heartwarming,” she said. “It’s really important to see the impact that Tekko has had on people.”
Now that their economic burden has been mostly lifted, Quaranta, Gaudoin and Antel can go back to preparing for Tekko 2022. They’ll be leading a staff of 200-300 volunteers whose jobs are to ensure everyone has a great time. They’re looking forward to walking the convention floor, checking out all the homemade cosplay and watching anime fans of all stripes unite in Pittsburgh.
“There’s really something for everybody to do regardless of what your interest may be,” Quaranta said. “It’s been really wonderful to be able to stand up and say, ‘We’re the group providing that cultural experience in Western Pennsylvania.’ It’s been really amazing and impactful.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: July 8, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
