When I first came to Chattanooga, I was faced with the dilemma of going to an convention 2 hours away from the city (Middle Tennessee Anime Convention and Anime Weekend Atlanta) as there were no local conventions. When I lived in Chicago, it was easy attending Anime Central without the long(er) drives.

The only fandom convention in Chattanooga was SciFi only: ChattaCon; Definitely no Otaku would even dare attend wearing a Bleach costume without getting attacked by Jedi cosplayers.

That changed when two new conventions were announced in 2007: JAMPcon and Connooga. JAMPcon is the city’s first anime convention. Connooga is the city’s first Multi-Fandom convention: that means all Naruto and Trek fans alike can be under one roof! Myself, on the other hand, was interested in only the 100% all-anime convention, with my phobia toward conventions like Connooga (including Comic-Con).

February 2008 was Connooga’s first year. Attendance for their first meeting was impressive: over 700 people attended the convention at the historic Chattanooga Choo-Choo/Holiday Inn. The attendees were mostly general SciFi fanatics, but Otaku were also the biggest attraction of the convention. There were many anime related events, such as a screening room, anime dealers, workshops, panels, and of course, cosplayers!

With my multi-fandom convention phobia, I could not attend this event, even if it was a full month away from JAMPcon. With the success of anime-centric attractions at San Diego Comic Con and at various Wizard World events across the country this year, I am giving this convention a shot in 2009.

The only anime industry guest announced so far for Connooga 2009 is Kevin McKeenly of Robotech…He’s responsible for monitoring the rating demographics when it aired back in the 1980s. As a plus, the series will be shown at Connooga 2009 as part of the Robotech Convention Tour. There are a few bands accounted for in 2009 as well, but they’re mostly local indie project; perhaps they’ll preform some anime theme songs, ala SWEK?

Connooga 2009 will be held on February 20th-22nd at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo/Holiday Inn, and Pre-registration starts at $35. I might be able to drop in on the event if I can get over my fears of seeing Ichigo getting beaten up by Chewbacca.