Caroline Ward went all out with her cosplay costume, and proudly shows it off in the lobby of the DoubleTree by Hilton in Nashua Saturday during Another Anime Convention 2018.

NASHUA – Another Anime Convention returned this year, with cosplay characters taking over the DoubleTree by Hilton in Nashua.

This creative gathering allowed fans of all kinds to converge in one spot to celebrate aspects of Japanese culture, with a focus on Japanese animation. However, the event expands to other aspects of fandoms, including steampunk, science fiction as well as internet media. Attendees participated in panels, workshops, video games, an outdoor vendor tent and much more. The convention ran from noon to midnight on Saturday and from 9 a.m. on Saturday until midnight on Sunday. The event will wrap up today, with schduled hours set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“There’s this flow of energy that kind of picks you up and keeps you going,” organizer Lisa Sussenberger said. “Everyone here is excited to be here.”

Lisa and her husband, John, organize the event each year. From video game characters to television show stars, nearly everyone in attendance went above and beyond to ensure their costumes stood out, and as the creatures and heroes explored the hotel, many wide eyes and smiles beamed throughout the halls.

The convention began in 2006, bouncing between Manchester and Nashua over the years. The event is being hosted at the DoubleTree in Nashua for the first time this year.

“We started fairly small,” Lisa Sussenberger said. “We were only a couple hundred people, and it’s grown to a couple thousand. The growth has kind of come along over the years.”

She said the hotel has been very positive toward everyone who’s passed through its doors over the weekend. In addition, she said although there are younger people coming through, there’s still a lot of older people who bring their friends along.

“A lot of the people that come every year have been coming from the first year, so we’ve seen them since they were 16 to now,” she said.

While young elementary-aged children dressed up in costume, so too did those old enough to be their grandparents.

“It’s definitely an artsy crowd,” John Sussenberger said. “Most of the people here are creative types.”