AM² (Which is pronounced: "A" "M" "Squared") was a three-day

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of acti ...

held annually in the summer at the

Anaheim Convention Center The Anaheim Convention Center is a major convention center in Anaheim, California and is the largest exhibition facility on the West Coast of the United States. It is located across from the Disneyland Resort on Katella Avenue. The original co ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

Programming

The content provided by AM² covers a range typical to anime conventions along with a few less traditional additions. Examples of this content include concerts, Masquerade (costume/talent show), various smaller

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subcultur ...

events, an AMV contest, an exhibits area/dealer room, an "Artist Alley", GoH and fan panels, workshops, video screenings,

tabletop gaming Tabletop may refer to: Mountains *Table Top Mountain in Rangeville, Queensland, Australia * Table Top Mountain (New York) * Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa * Tepui, flat top mountains in South America Places * Tabletop, New South Wa ...

console gaming A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...

, a

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

, an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

, and late night dance. Some examples of less common events include a Summer Festival,

maid café are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants, and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The ...

, and the hosting of a preliminary round of the

World Cosplay Summit is an annual international cosplay event, which promotes global interaction through Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. It developed from a cosplay exhibition held at the Aichi Expo in 2005. The WCS incorporated in 2012, by which tim ...

History

In April 2010,

Japanese Pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

Erina Mano is a Japanese idol singer and actress formerly associated with Hello! Project. She joined in 2006 as a member of Hello Pro Egg, as a trainee. In 2007, she became a member of the Hello! Project futsal team Gatas Brilhantes H.P. and its musical ...

was announced as a guest at

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first ...

for the world release of her acting debut ''Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro Kaiki''. When AX cancelled this appearance, an alternative event was created at the nearby

Club Nokia Club Nokia was a mobile internet digital distribution portal, similar to an App Store, operated by Nokia to provide special offers, paid-for ringtones, picture messages and game content directly to members. Following resistance from its mobile ope ...

. The premiere was organized by a former PR and marketing contractor who had been terminated from Anime Expo. Additionally, several other people joined the organization who had also left Anime Expo for various reasons. In addition to Mano-chan's appearance, several other attractions were added. The expanded 1-day event was named Club 2 the Max in reference to the choice of venue. Some of the added attractions included a Maid Cafe, a charity concert & music video shoot by

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/ speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

, and autograph session with Power Rangers stars. Club 2 the Max (aka MAX) was deemed largely successful by its sponsors, who decided to further fund it as an annual convention. MAX announced a name change in November 2010, choosing to be called AM². The first AM² was held on July 1–3, 2011, the same weekend as Anime Expo 2011 in one of Anime Expo's former locations, the Anaheim Convention Center. This occurred after a hacker modified the convention website stating that convention was cancelled. The convention returned to the venue in 2012 on June 15–17. It was initially announced that the convention for 2013 was indefinitely postponed to an unknown later date. No additional announcements were ever made and the official website was eventually abandoned.

Event History

Notes

*In response to the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six m ...

, AM² sponsored a charity art auction at Meltdown Comics in

West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages in ...

. The event raised just under $7,500 on behalf of the Japan NGO Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund. *AM² Passports included additional benefits including discounts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Am2 Conventions in California Culture of Anaheim, California Defunct anime conventions Recurring events established in 2010