Convention or Kindergarten? Finnish Failplay At Work

Author: nova

Recently there has been quite a lot of buzz within the Finnish online anime circles about cosplay-fanatic preteens causing disturbance and utter chaos at conventions. But silly Nova, this is an universal phenomenon right? Maybe it is. But looks like comic convention Tampere Kuplii 2009 was the breaking point after which the Finnish anime scene seems to have distinguished itself as a haven for unruly teenage japanophiles with immoral tendencies and irresponsible behaviour. As I found this phenomenon rather interesting, I decided to do a bit of research on the subject and compose a post of my own about it – considering that the Big Two of Finnish anime blogosphere have already had their say on the matter.

There is a whole new term now going around the anime circles: Pusupiiri (eng. Kiss circle). This describes a group of (young) convention attendees who engage in disturbingly sexual acts with each other and even other attendees, usually with cosplay involved. These circles often utilize a sort of a card game that has players sitting in a circle handing cards to each other which then oblige a player to perform different tasks such as “hug the one sitting to your left“, “grope the crotch of the one who gave you the card” and “dry-hump anyone dressed as Sasuke“. While the players then execute these tasks the rest of the group prances around squealing, giggling loud enough to break delicate glass ornaments, taking pictures and trying to imagine the two unfortunate dressed in awkwardly fitting yellow overalls, plain white shorts and a blue shirt as Naruto dropping in supplies through poor Sasuke’s rear hatch.

From what I have understood these said groups played quite a role in the lengthy internets drama that arose in the wake of Tampere Kuplii ‘09, mainly by annoying many other con attendees with their obnoxiousness, making out with each other in broad daylight and doing all this in all possible places including the already crowded hallways. Now I do not think kissing and hugging in public should be banned but it seemed to me that these circles like to take things a bit farther than that – ramming tongues down each other’s throats and sucking like their life depended on the saliva of the partner in question. But where can you draw the line you ask? Two words: Common fucking sense. I’m sure every teenager has been to a mall and many even have closely acquainted themselves with the security staff. A simple guideline to what is fitting to perform at a convention and what is not is to simply imagine what would happen if you did the same thing in a crowded mall. If you sit with say five other people in the middle of a crowded hallway somewhere between Subway and Hesburger and do a 5-minute long French kiss accompanied with some groping and maybe dry-humping, you can count on the security staff or cops to remove you and your friends from the building. Whereas if you give your girl/boyfriend at a quick kiss or even a more passionate one if the location is more discreet, nobody has a problem. See, that was pretty damn simple even for a nerd like me! Now ask yourself a question: Why would conventions be any different from malls? If you want to have dry sex with someone dressed as Nay-roo-toe, fine if that floats your boat – but you have to consider that it does disturb the hell out of other people who all have rights equal to yours to enjoy the convention experience. Another side of the problem is that these Pusupiiri-members do not always limit their activities among themselves but have disturbed other con attendees, largely cosplayers, trying to convince or force them to kiss or even grope each other. Then there are the yaoi-paddlers but everyone knows about that. Falcon punch works wonders if you come across one.

“Kiss circles are immoral.”

But what I have said thus far has surely been said many times before and I do not expect any people involved to read and take heed (I’m surprised if they even made through the first paragraph). What I have learned from the basic teenager behaviour when having them placed under my supervision at work is that the first and foremost in a young person’s world is the “right to behave any fucking way I want to and you can’t just tell me what to do because you don’t understand or care!“. This is why the behaviour and argumentation of these people are full of contradictions – they can tell you not to do something that annoys them and then pull off a similar act themselves without feeling like hypocrites. An average teenager believes above all in freedom without responsibility and personal satisfaction over the welfare of others. Thus arguing with these Pusupiiri-teens is a futile effort, because they will not understand why their behavior is bothering other con attendees nor do they care. You may even witness such naive counter-arguments as “it’s discrimination!“, “kissing isn’t illegal” and “you’re just homophobic“. However let me break the generalization at this point and say that I believe majority of con attendees regardless of age are decent people who care enough about the common good and morality to refrain from behaving like total fap-deprived asshats. Okay, I’m politically correct again right guys? Right?

You most certainly don’t, bitch! And you’re not licking anyone at the next con either.

Why then have these circles become such a prominent phenomenon if the people involved in this activity are not even a majority? Because I do not see much effort to stop them from happening. Tampere Kuplii ’09’s rules of conduct had little if any restrictions on such activities, mainly telling the attendees to obey the Finnish law and use common sense – then listing a whole lot of things focused on cosplay props. Same applies to last year’s Animecon which mainly bothered informing the attendees about cosplay prop and alcohol/drug-use policies. Desucon, an upcoming anime convention with a motto “New And Most Certainly Totally Different Event” makes little exception either, with only rules for not block the hallways with these said circles and not inappropriately disturbing the con staff. For comparison some American conventions such as Sakura-Con (in b4 GUHROOGAMESH :D:D) have set clear restrictions to disruptive behavior:

These activities are not allowed during the Sakura-Con convention:
Loitering;
Engaging in disruptive and unsafe behavior that disturbs the public or staff;
Physical or verbal harassment of the public or staff;
Any act which could result in substantial risk or harm to people or property;
Sexual misconduct, such as indecent exposure, offensive touching, or sexual harassment;
Engaging in any activity prohibited by law;
Possession of any item defined as a weapon, illegal or not;
Literature distribution without the written permission of ANCEA.

Is this kind of stronger use of authority needed in Finnish cons? Maybe, but at the very least there is a dire need for discussion on the matter. Bulk of the problem is caused by young fans whose knowledge and taste in anime is actually very narrow but who are attracted to cosplaying, yaoi and simply having a chance to hang out and do crazy shit with friends. These fans have already formed a whole new layer of their own within the Finnish anime fandom and it’s high time the convention organizers did some research on their market – because the needs of this new breed are not satisfied in the same way that the “conventional” anime nerds such as myself are. Which one is the audience one wants to cater with priority? And without effective rules of conduct the coexistence of these two groups is difficult. To this brand new generation the mere idea that someone likes anime without cosplaying is mind-boggling – here’s a forum post that illustrates my point quite well (translation from slang Finnish full of grammatical and spelling errors):

Yeah, the topic says everything. I was bored and decided to put this kind of thing here. Mod can delete and note that this belongs onto the Others-board but I don’t really know because this is about cosplay…So, what do you think of regular people at cons? I think it’s kinda stupid, they just take space from cosplayers having fun. They can just go somewhere else every day or something. Con belongs to the cosplayers not some regular peeps who then come for example Say hello to their pals and just hang around without a reason.

See the bold part? That’s some scary stuff! Unfortunately this is the way many seem to think and especially those who engage in these Pusupiiri-circles to which cosplay is the most important aspect. A person like me who has more or less wide knowledge in anime, watches and writes about each airing season and would attend a convention for the panels and honorary guests, but has absolutely no interest in cosplay, Japanese culture otherwise or sad weeaboos like Laura Vanamo, is according to the New Generation not an enthusiast at all but a boring asshat who’s only taking space from people who are DOIN IT RITE. Another sign of the younger audience rising is the recent drama about con bullying, as silly as it sounds. But what do you expect to happen when you let hundreds upon hundreds of middle school kids roam free in a convention center without much rules to bother about? The victims and a whole bunch of moralfags of course demand the immediate attention from the con organizers, but I think this whole issue is entirely of secondary concern. The question is, do people so young and immature even belong in a large event with people from several age groups? Anime conventions are about as much kindergartens as rock festivals are and I believe the failure on the organizers’ part to press on this fact is the root of this problem.

Say hello to the Con bully-card. Your opinion is invalid.

Then why aren’t organizers doing anything? Maybe some are, maybe some are not. But perhaps a reason to the lack of response is the unwillingness and fear of losing a lot of the huge audience. This is also what makes catering the New Breed and embracing Kiss circles as a part of the Finnish otaku scene a more attractive option than serving the needs of a few elitistic and demanding nerds. Just throw in a cosplay contest where everyone wins something, a panel about yaoi and make sure there are enough L and Light cosplayers willing to lick each other – you’re done! Enjoy the sponsor money and the impact the high attendee count brings! Who cares about the smelly nerds anyway right? In my opinion though this entire skyrocketed interest in Japan and its media culture in the recent years is another fad that will subside over time as youth finds something else to get radical about, so fellow nerds out there: Don’t lose hope, it may well be that when the dust settles it’ll be just us left again. Well, you. I’ll stay in the closet, it’s warm and comfy here. In any case, Kehittyvien Conien Suomi and their firstborn Desucon promise to “save the manga- and anime-hobby in Finland“. But who is saved and who is forsaken?

Such a lengthy post. I apologize to the international viewers, to whom I mainly focus on here at Jinx!, for this huge piece of boredom about a cold place full of frozen forest somewhere next to Russia. However if you did indeed finish reading it, then please let me know how things are in whatever your location is. Is this entirely a Finnish phenomenon or a common occurrence on a global scale?