By Kim Peterson

Dust off your costume and brush up on your Pokmon: it’s time for Banzai Anime, a national animation convention tour.

This Friday and Saturday at the Salt Lake Community College-Redwood Road campus, participants can get into animated heaven for $15: People can come, meet famous anime artists, discuss anime and discover new titles. Particularly enthusiastic supporters can even live anime-many participants dress up and actually act as their favorite characters in a pasttime referred to as “cosplay.”

For those unfamiliar with the wonderful world of Japanese pop culture, “anime” is short for an animated television show and/or movie. Essentially, “anime” is a cartoon, but it’s not usually a cute, “for-children” cartoon. Anime spans most genres-including everything from horror to comedy to “adult programming.” Popular “anime” titles include “Full Metal Alchemist” (a show about alchemy), “Naruto” (a show about ninjas), and the world-famous, “Pokmon” (a show about?uh, Pokmon).

If none of the above titles rings a bell, this weekend’s anime convention is the perfect chance to increase one’s animated television repertoire. If an afternoon of anime doesn’t tickle your fancy, the entertainingly unique individuals-decked out in costumes of their favorite animated characters-certainly ought to.

“It’s going to be crazy and sweet!” U junior Jenny Guerra said. “Any place that there’s a chance of seeing a 6-foot-tall Pikachu is a good place.”

For more information, check out www.animebanzai.com.