It is unlikely that there are many people at Stevens who do not know what CPAC is. For those that are unfamiliar with the Castle Point Anime Convention, campus is overtaken for a day by anime fanatics cosplaying, or everyday garb, as a part of a fun experience for local anime fans. CPAC is organized and operated by the Stevens Anime Club, which consists of Stevens students. It is a fun event for everyone participating, as well as a beneficial experience to staff in event management.
CPAC is a weekend filled with a variety of programming including panels, industry guests, cosplay competitions, and even musical performances. For those participants who are interested in cosplay, there is the generic cosplay contest. Yet, there are also numerous other exciting activities like Cosplay Speed Dating, which is when cosplayers are matched with dozens of other participants to go on mini “dates.” The cosplayers answer the MC’s questions in-character to woo their pairing. At the end, there is an awards ceremony, at which the most popular ships at CPAC are revealed. Other competitions include Cosplay Chess, Cosplay Pro Wrestling, and Cosplay ScavengerHunt.
Stevens’ students and anime fans, but also from industry experts. This year’s guests are Lauren Landa, Josh Grelle, and Bryce Papenbrook. Landa is known for numerous voices in the anime world like the ninja beauty, Kasumi in Dead or Alive 5 and the kind hearted Leia in Tales of Xillia. Grelle has been voicing characters for over 10 years in shows like Wedding Peach and Steam Detectives, and has lent his voice to a number of video games, including Sima Shi in Dynasty Warriors 7. Papenbrook has performed in numerous video games, cartoons, and television shows and has been a professional voiceover artists since the age of eight.
Anime fans will appreciate the music talent featured at CPAC this year, featuring: Immobius, DJ Sanchez, and AKIRA. AKIRA will have her own solo concert at CPAC. Her solo debut was in 2014 as a Sony major artist, her song was featured as the ending theme song in Black Butler: Book of Circus. DJ Sanchez has performed all around the world, yet he is no stranger to anime fans since this will be his second time performing at CPAC. Immobius has participated in CPAC for over four years, this will be his third time as a DJ. He specializes in “nerdy” electronic music; his music combines elements of music from genres like video games and modern dance music to remix songs like Undertale and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Of course, how could CPAC be an anime convention without some anime panels? There will be a number of featured panels, one group panel will feature Crusher-P, Creep-P, Misha, and MystSaphyr. All four of them had made their name in the anime world in their own way. Crusher P makes product demos for Yamaha, Creep-P is a VOCALOID producer, known for his eerie, yet upbeat experimental-styled music. Some of his popular songs include Creative, LOVE, and SHARDS. Both Misha and MystSaphyr are “UTAU” and VOCALOID users. All of these musically talented people should make for an interesting panel.
CPAC weekend will be filled with lots of excitement and events, with someone for everyone to do and if you’re one to not like big crowds, well you might want to hide for this specific weekend. There will be sure something to see and most people will probably leave the weekend with lots of stories to tell. For those who are not frightened by this prospect, can find more information on the Castle Point Anime Convention website, www.cpac.moe. For those students interested in volunteering at CPAC 2016, on 23rd and 24th April, contact Tyler Romeo or look for volunteer posters for more information.
