In high school, I became something of a comics geek for a period, and while at the city library they had a display on Akira that included both the US comics release and the original Japanese manga. I spent some time looking into that and eventually bought the movie (I also found the Robotech tapes available for rental at my local grocery store and once marathoned the full Macross Saga).
When I started college, one of my neighbors in the dorm had early releases including Castle of Cagliostro which I recognized from my youth. (as a kid, I played the LD game "Cliffhanger" for as long as I had quarters in the bowling alley) I soon joined the fledgling anime club he created and got to experience a lot of new anime as the American industry was just beginning to truly grow. Those halcyon club days when AnimEigo billed itself as having "The best anime you'll ever read" were a lot of fun and I think those early to mid nineties days really were the golden age for anime FANDOM.
In this period, when anime fandom was starting to really find an audience and the internet was just starting to take hold, being a fan took a measure of effort. I think that's one of the big reasons it was so different. Anime fandom was not "exclusive" but the only people who were really involved WANTED to be involved. It was an active participation hobby, and in many ways the community was better for it. One of my fondest memories is that I made the "top 50" (not noted as such, but scores were posted) in the AniPike trivia contest. (anyone else remember the Anime Web Turnpike?). That truly was an absolutely brilliant contest.
In 1994, I went to my very first anime convention. I believe I spent over 60% of my time in the video rooms (which would be pretty ridiculous to most people now) and had the time of my life. Two years later I volunteered for that convention and hit a few others. (Another fond memory was travelling over 24 hrs by car to go to Katsucon 2 SOLELY because they had random chances to audition for the "Oh My Goddess" english dub, I failed to get one of those chances despite numerous efforts but still had an incredible time. They also had some great guests that one of my club-mates asked for autographs from) I've been to cons all across the country including Katsucon, Anime Weekend Atlanta, AnimeExpo, Project A-Kon, AnimeFEST and Animazement.
Around 2000, I felt my primary local anime convention was starting to deviate from anime fandom and put too many resources into other areas. After several attempts to "fix" this (doing my best as a volunteer of several years), I took their advice and started my own convention. Ushicon was born from a desire to see Texas anime conventions do as well as conventions in Virginia/Baltimore (I took it as a given that west coast fandom could do a little better solely based on proximity to Japan). "Ushi" was the translation I found for "cow" and was my attempt to be "clever" and do a Texas spin on Nekocon.
Over the next five years, we worked to build a reputation among industry and fans as a great local anime con. (with varying degrees of success) By our fourth year, some cracks in our team had started to build mostly due to our concerns about who was attending conventions. The head slapping moment for me was during an Opening Ceremonies that saw our Japanese guest of honor receive polite applause which paled in comparison to the raucous cheering a random cosplayer dressed as a box of pocky received while walking in late a few minutes later. Burnout was approaching, and as someone who got into the effort solely because another con wasn't catering to a fanbase that I started to question the existence of, we gave it one more year as a "last hurrah" and called it quits.
And yet, the strangest thing happened that final year. So, in my final year I was able to get an appearance from Ikuko Itoh (a personal idol, I love her character designs). The convention went as one would expect, our Japanese guests were well received, but not as much as might've been true (percentage wise) a decade previous. We all walked away satisfied, but shortly thereafter, several of our Org. team took a group trip to Japan (on our own, just for fun because we wanted to go to Comiket and all that). While there, Ms. Itoh arranged for us to visit some studios* as well as an amazing night where we met a large percentage of the cast and crew of "Princess Tutu". (a favorite of my wife and several of our team members) After that trip, while reading ANN I heard/read rumors that "Princess Tutu" vol. 6 might not see release due to weak sales. We had been toying with an goofy get together idea, but in light of the amazing hospitality we had been shown, we COMMITTED to doing whatever we could to help promote that series. That was how (and why) the "Princess Tutu Cast Party" came about. (a truly interesting event showcasing the series and including Japanese and American cast and crew) On the one hand, I was impressed by a small number of fans that attended (including FOUR truly dedicated fans who came FROM JAPAN to a TINY little event in central Texas); but on the other hand I was again aghast at other "fans" (the anti-thesis of the Japanese fans being at least one person who lived in the same city saying online that they weren't sure they could make it since it was on THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN) (-_-;).
We later ran a cafe near a convention, which was a lot of fun but also complicated. In 2010, we decided to try something very different. I heard about "Providence Anime Conference" (21+ anime con) and I heard two major descriptors: 1) A GREAT convention for older/old school fans, 2) low attendance. (as an aside, I want to note that I've thought for several years if I could find a good way to implement an "entrance exam" for an anime convention, I'd do it in a heartbeat) That sounded awesome, and our old convention team re-formed with the goal of replicating something like PAC. To offset the attendance issue (and to try to rebuild the "community" feel I remembered from mid-90s) we re-launched Ushicon as an 18+ convention in a VERY small (one meeting room, ~60 hotel rooms) hotel. I found a small number of dealers who are also fans and we ran a convention utilizing hotel suites (as "anime shops" run by dealers), regular hotel rooms as video rooms and our one function room for all our major events. I lost money on the project but I honestly had the best con experience of my life thus far. Taking feedback from the event, we moved to another local hotel that had more function space (a member request that I could surprising fulfill at little to no added cost) and returned as a more "normal" con, but still with the age cap.
I could rant for DAYS about the current state of American "anime" conventions. (^_^;) For now, my one main goal is to bring ANIME fans back to conventions (or at least to our convention
) and try to rebuild the community I remember and loved. Anyone on here is invited and WELCOME to come check out Ushicon or ask any questions. 
I still watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga as well. If anyone hasn't seen "Summer Wars", I highly recommend it as well as several new shows.
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* - One of my favorite childhood anime was "Panda & the Magic Serpent" (Japanese title: Hakujaden, original release: 1958), which I've read is one of the first (if not the first) titles Hayao Miyazaki worked on as a young animator. Watching it as an adult, it has a truly horrendous dub, but I still have an incredible fondness for it. As such, one recent thing that made me TRULY geek out was while touring Toei studios in Japan they have numerous display cases of figures, toys, etc. One of those cases included two figures from Hakujaden. I took a photo and went nuts that this anime studio actually HAD little figures from that OLD anime.
I don't know how I should think of it, but if I ever stop and TRULY think about it, it's a little sad that 10 years ago, my one overriding thought was how to make fandom better for other FANS in my community, and now my one overriding thought is how can I make FANDOM better for the amazing and dedicated people that create the works.
