Zezzie and Leon Evergrim join Cara Lieurance to talk about the guests, panels, vendors, dances, competitions, games and more that will make up the 7th annual Dokidokon, held Jul 19-21 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo. Three levels of the hotel will be used by over 2000 participants, many of whom are cosplayers modeling ingenious hand-made costumes of their favorite characters from anime, gaming and elsewhere. Another draw will be appearances by widely-known voice actors and influencers.
Zezzie is a captain of team events. They explain that weekend participants can join Team Ruby, Emerald or Sapphire and gain points in a range of ways from scavenger hunts, to a "Name That Tune" contest, to tug-of-war. The winning team wins a championship belt and bragging rights until the next convention.
Both of the Evergrims know from experience that events like Dokidokon are especially good at bringing strangers together who then establish friendships and attachments that last. "Room mates have found each other. Best friends have found each other," says Zezzie.
The theme this year is "Isekai." Leon says it's a genre of anime where the storyline involves a character "dying in one world and being reborn into another. Or traveling to another world abruptly."
For registration and more information on Dokidokon, visit the convention website.
