Karachi:
At Habib University’s student-powered Hucon, Fahad Ali Shah first remembers fans in Pakistan gathered for anime. “They could never imagine a convention of this level,” he said. “It used to be on a very small scale. Now you find people with similar interests everywhere. If a person likes a character, you go and talk to them. There are references that only anime fans understand.”
It is this sense of recognition that has drawn anime out of the niche -social media circle it was limited to and to Pakistani youth’s social calendar. When it is limited to online prison groups, the culture is now filling the university’s auditoriums, exposals and social feeds. Student clubs at IBA and Lums organize events such as Ibacon and Comic Day, while suppliers created stalls to sell items like Naruto Pillows and A piece mugs. In Lahore, Geek Haven’s comedic con Pakistan first put Benchmark, and its spin-offs continue to shape what these gatherings look and feel.
Photo Credits: Fahad Ali Shah, Hucon Organizer
The most expected is popclash planned until the end of November. Organized by HOX Studios offers the convention free booths to artists, publishes original work and build spaces for cosplayers, illustrators and writers to transform hobbies into business. Similar efforts have been multiplied throughout the country. Geek con, arranged by Geek Haven, took place in Lahore last month and earlier in Karachi, with performances by young stunners along with anime-inspired art. Each event keeps microcommunity active, but more importantly, visible.
For organizers, driven is both personal and practical. “The reason they are too hyperactive to grow and invest is because Younglings get to write their stories and work in some situations instead of wasting their time,” said Mohammad Umair, hosted Popclash. Yasir Obaid, Geek Haven’s co -founder, described their first convention as a passion project that later revealed a wider market. “The few events that happened before were performed by old people, and we didn’t really get their mindset,” he said, “We would bridge this gap and do it in a more socially driven way.”
Streaming platforms have accelerated the shift. Netflix offered shows like The last airbender, Howl’s Moving Castle and The boy and hegre brought anime into new households, while global hits such as Attacks on Titan and Demon Slayer Gave it the mainstream status. “The stigma about seeing it’s diminished,” Yasir said. “It has now become cool to see anime.” Others track the boom back to the Covid-19-Lockdowns as people turned around available content as Dragon Ball Z. and Pokémon available online.
For fans, the appeal goes beyond news. “Unlike the children’s comics, Japanese anime is made for all ages,” said Arsalan Hussain, who has been following the genre since Dragon Ball Z -era. This broad demographic makes anime easier to maintain, he explained. For Umair, Fandom also reflects a particular profile: Educated, English -speaking and often work in business such as law, coding or freelancing. Even cosplayers, he said, saves and invests carefully to finance their craft.
The reasons, he claims, are partly linguistic. “Anime fans look at anime in Japanese, which have subtitles. For it they need a particular reading speed to consume it in Japanese and instantly understand the context. So you need a little bit of intelligence to do so.”
But most of the crowd is younger. “It has and fans out there in their twenties or thirties, but most are sixteen to twenty,” Umair said. “It’s more of a youth movement at this time.”
As November approaches, calendars are filling up quickly. Popclash in Lahore, Geek Con in Karachi and Comic Days across campuses will keep anime at the center of youth culture. What began as a niche -time advance is now an industry of gatherings, merchandise and shared language, proof that Pakistan’s anime nerds not only live but thrive.
