![]() ![]() Complete strangers stop and talk, compliment each other, dance and laugh together. People from every background are connected by Kami-Con. Raymond’s urge to give back to the community has created a huge family on and off UA’s campus. Every issue that popped up, he and his wife handled it in stride. Everyone was eager to return, and Raymond was eager to host the conventions safely. The community at large felt the huge hole left behind when the convention skipped a year. They had to cancel the 2021 show-though not 2020, as it was hosted in February just before the pandemic began - and worries of Omicron didn’t keep many people away in 2022. They spend the entire year preparing for the three crazy days of the convention, then turn around and start preparing for the next one the very next day.Įven COVID hasn’t slowed Kami-con down. Just like the manga and anime communities, SOS Brigade is a family. New members join every year, many of whom stick around even after they graduate. The SOS Brigade, like Kami-Con, has continued to grow. Many of the staff that were instrumental in the first few years are still working with Kami-Con, some traveling across the country just to help out. ![]() Lenzna made an on-campus club, SOS Brigade, to help plan and staff the convention. After working with so many conventions, he got a crazy idea: “I can make my own convention, right here!” And just like that, Kami-Con was born. It started out with posting episodes of anime for free on YouTube, (when it was still a wild and lawless place), and volunteering at conventions and music shows. Since then, he has searched to find a way to adequately thank and give back to the community that did so much for him. ![]() It encouraged him to get out and participate in clubs, go to conventions, and make friends. The tight-knit manga community eventually gave Raymond his life back and lifted him out of a dark cloud of depression that had slowly enveloped him. His only respite was going to the library for manga-Japanese comics or graphic novels. He had very negative feelings and began to shut himself in until he rarely left his dorm. Early in his college career, Lenzner faced the same problems that many people do. It all started with Kami-Con’s creator, Raymond Lenzner. At their 2022 show, their fourteenth season took over both the North and East Halls of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, hosted 37 guests including voice actors, comedians and musicians, and brought in a whopping 9,000 paying visitors. In 2008, Kami-Con took place in the Student Center with three guests and brought in roughly 460 visitors. These entrepreneurs shared an interest in providing the state with a convention similar to the ever-popular San Diego Comic-Con and over the years, have worked to fulfill that dream. It started small, with just a few students here at The University of Alabama and a man with a need to give back. Kami-Con, Alabama’s largest anime and gaming comic convention, was not always as popular as it is today. ![]()
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