Cosplayers and fans of comics, anime and video games vowed to boycott a long-running anime convention in Arizona in January due to allegations of misconduct and sexual assault against the convention’s director, who has since resigned.
On December 15, Arizona resident Allie Heady, 25, detailed in a public Facebook post that she had been sexually assaulted by someone known within the anime and cosplay communities as Gackto in December 2017. Gackto was also the name of the director of Taiyou Con, an annual anime convention scheduled for January 7-9 at Mesa Convention Center.
Heady’s post garnered hundreds of comments and shares as her story spread across social media platforms.
Taiyou Con organizers posted on the event’s social media accounts three days after Heady’s post that “the current convention director has voluntarily resigned,” effective immediately.
Calls to #BoycottTaiyouCon ensued, with some calling the statement a lackluster response.
Taiyou Con aims to “rebuild community trust”
On December 20, Taiyou Con released a second statement that acknowledged that “our team did not help resolve the issue immediately” and named the director who would no longer be working with the convention as Gackto.
“We do our best to make the convention a fun and safe place within the anime, video game and comics community. We are aware of the recent allegations on social media and do not condone any inappropriate behavior,” the statement read.
“We will be actively investigating this matter. What we plan to do in the future is to rebuild the trust and goodwill of the community. … We have begun work on transitioning to new leadership and ownership, and it would be legally inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
While some social media users applauded the organizers for taking these steps, several attendees and vendors announced that they would withdraw from the 10-year Mesa convention.
Heady told The Arizona Republic that Taiyou Con’s responses “have been disappointing.”
Taiyou Con Director Accused of Assault in Facebook Post
Heady, an anime fan living in Arizona, alleged in her Facebook post that she now has post-traumatic stress disorder after being sexually assaulted by Gackto four years ago.
“It took me a long time to introduce myself and talk about this. But I keep seeing him, and his posts and his ‘accomplishments’. And I don’t want to,” she wrote. “And whether anyone believes me or not, I can finally get this off my chest.”
At the end of her post, Heady added a call to action: “He also created an anime convention called Taiyou Con. Please boycott it. Please understand the nightmares you have put me and others through. Please share my story and encourage those who may be too afraid to come forward, because it happened. And I won’t, I don’t want to stay quiet anymore.”
Gackto appears to use various aliases on social media. People who engage in cosplay often create names for their characters and are known by these nicknames to others in the community.
According to the Arizona Corporation Commission, Taiyou LLC consisted of two members: Kato Tan and Rida Son. Public records also show the name Kato Tam attached to an address listed in the corporation’s information.
On December 16, Gackto Kristian K Takaida posted a statement on Facebook, which he also shared on various local Facebook groups, acknowledging that he spent time with “this woman” in the manner Heady detailed in his post, which included buying boba tea. . with friends and have a date together at a sushi restaurant.
However, he refuted Heady’s assault charge.
“An allegation that I inappropriately touched a woman has been published. This is (a) serious matter, so I want to address it immediately. I will clarify and explain that I am NOT the person involved in this inappropriate incident at the 2017 concert,” she wrote.
The Arizona Republic has reached out to Taiyou Con and Gackto for comment on the allegation, as well as more information on the identities of the organizers and plans for the event going forward.
What is Taiyou Con?
Taiyou Con is “an intense three-day anime convention celebrating anime, cosplay, video games, and other aspects of Japanese culture with guests, shopping, and more than 375 hours of interactive activities,” according to its website. There are panels, autograph sessions, a cosplay competition, a bazaar, and a “mini-Japanese festival” over the course of the weekend.
According to their Facebook event, more than 300 people plan to attend and 1,100 people are interested in going.
The convention, which has brought thousands of fans annually to Mesa for the past decade, has a page on its website detailing its harassment policy. It says, in part:
“Physical bullying, verbal bullying and/or assault will be treated with zero tolerance. This includes, but is not limited to: physical assault, battery, willful intimidation, stalking, and unwanted physical or verbal attention. However, falsely accusing a person of harassment will be considered an act of harassment in itself and will be treated as such. Remember: cosplay is not consent.”
The final bullet point of the policy reads: “Depending on the severity of the situation, Taiyou Con reserves the right to contact local law enforcement at the discretion of the convention director.”
What has happened since Gackto’s accusation?
After Taiyou Con announced that their director resigned, several people asked the organizers for more information about Gackto’s future participation, including his financial gain from the event.
As of Dec. 20, Taiyou Convention LLC’s information was updated to exclude Kato Tan, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission. Current members are listed as Rida Son and Beskar LLC.
Taiyou Convention LLC was incorporated in 2016 and has a separate identification number from Taiyou LLC, which was created in 2010 and lists Kato Tan.
The convention announced that Jai Son, who “has been with Taiyou Con since the beginning,” has been chosen as the new director.
A week after Heady’s accusation, several vendors shared that they would be pulling out of the event. Others have said they would no longer attend. Some people expressed that they hope to see changes and new leadership.
Marina Sharpe, a model and actress who has been involved with the Arizona cosplay community since 2013, posted on Instagram that she no longer planned to debut her version of the anime and manga character Utena Tenjou at Taiyou Con.
Sharpe told The Republic in an email that she attended Taiyou Con twice, in 2015 and 2019, though she’s “not very involved in the local anime convention scene.”
“Given the numerous testimonies of victims of harassment and assault at the hands of Gackto/Kato Tam (the now former scam director), I will not be assisting Taiyou,” Sharpe wrote in the caption of his December 20 Instagram post. . “I stand with the survivors, and until Taiyou takes meaningful action to address the atrocities committed by one of its founders, I urge my fellow Arizona cosplayers to #BoycottTaiyouCon if they can.”
Sharpe told The Republic: “I was actually sexually assaulted by another cosplayer shortly after my first scam, though it took me a long time to come to terms with it. When I read Allie’s post, he resonated strongly with my own experience.”
Some cosplayers demand a change from Taiyou Con
More than 70 people have joined a private Facebook group dedicated to planning how to effectively boycott the convention and expose misconduct at all anime and cosplay conventions.
A 23-year-old cosplayer and Arizona State University student who goes by the name of Kaila Rain organized this Facebook group, as well as a Twitter account called @BancottTaiyou. He helped draft an open letter to Jai Son and Taiyou Con staff with suggestions on “how we can move forward and begin to heal this community.”
The letter’s requests include refunding tickets for those who no longer feel safe to attend and ensuring a safe environment at future events by creating plans to “help the victim, de-escalate the situation so everyone is safe and ( enforce) concrete consequences for the perpetrator. ”
Sharpe agreed that the option of getting a refund, as well as “a clear plan of action on how they intend to keep the remaining attendees safe, is essential.”
Kaila Rain also plans to create a coalition called Cosplayer Survivors of Sexual Assault that is dedicated to “fighting predators at the scam scene,” she told The Republic.
There is an unrelated organization based in Ohio called the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network. It describes itself as a “volunteer organization dedicated to improving the convention community. We work to provide resources to those who have experienced or are experiencing abuse, assault, or harassment and encourage conventions to create better policies to ensure safer environments.” “.
An alternative event sprouts in Phoenix
In her Instagram post, Marina Sharpe said she would be attending Luna Con instead of Taiyou Con. A Phoenix store called Kei Collective organized it as a “free and safe pop culture convention” that fans can attend if they no longer they are interested in supporting Taiyou Con.
Proceeds from Luna Con will benefit the Arizona Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, according to its website.
The event will take place January 7-9 at Kei Collective, 2303 N. 44th St., Phoenix. It will feature a vendor room, a maid café, panelists, and a cosplay contest. Attendees are required to wear masks while inside.
Kei Collective “features independent artists who specialize in alternative styles,” according to their website.
In an Instagram comment, organizers said there will be “zero tolerance for bullying of any kind,” with trained volunteer security personnel stationed “in every building.”
Victims of sexual assault and abuse can call the 24/7 National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or chat with a trained staff member at https://hotline. rainn.org/online.
Contact the reporter at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.
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