What the title says. “Sunday afternoon at an anime convention” is a big mood, because it’s a complex of moods, the specific combination of which happens only at an anime con on Sunday. I went with “Sunday afternoon” because Sunday morning doesn’t last long enough. Friday lasts forever, Saturday moves at its own pace, while Sunday is almost gone in the blink of an eye, the afternoon is there before you know it. While there are the pop-up conventions that only run for one day on Saturday, or the giants that run until Monday, the vast majority of them end on Sunday, and that’s the vibe many con-goers are familiar with.
There’s a lot going on. The exhaustion that’s hot on the heels of Saturday’s euphoria, which in turn was influenced by Friday’s excited anticipation. The fatigue of having woken up too early to check out of the room after entirely not enough sleep and getting all of your luggage out. The limbo of no longer having a room to keep all your stuff in but you’re not ready to leave yet. The empty wallets and purses, save for just enough money to pay for parking and gas to get home. A handful of cosplayers showing off their craft one last time. The dwindling options of things to do on the schedule. The tired faces of staffers as they wind things down; for the sooner they start that process, the sooner they too can go home. The murmurs of goodbyes among the thinning crowds, some said to you, some said by you. Conditional promises of seeing each other at the next convention if those Other Things don’t get in the way, as we know they can.
Many of these moods contradict each other, amplified when put in contrast. You are simultaneously re-energized and completely spent, ecstatic and melancholy, rested and sleep-deprived, satisfied and yearning. You’re hungry for something with nutritional value but you’ve made up your mind that you’ll stop somewhere on the way home for a pile of greasy fried food. Your mind is vacant yet full of thoughts in need of processing. You don’t want the party to end but you know it’s about to; it must. You want to stay, you want to leave. The convention is now a shell of its former self compared to yesterday evening. The bigger the convention was, the more stark and overbearing the kenopsia becomes. Do you try to wring out that last hour or two of value from your badge before it becomes nothing more than a memento? Do you roam the convention space? People-watch in the hotel lobby? Go to whatever video or panel room is still running? Do you attend Closing Ceremonies to witness the official end? Or do you decide that you had your fun and now it’s time to start the journey home?
Maybe you have a flight to catch or you’re trying to get ahead of some bad weather and that makes the choice for you. Maybe you live locally and home being only minutes away gives you the luxury of leaving whenever. Maybe you have reasons to stay in the area another day. More likely, you’re facing a long trip home and you know you’re not getting back before dark, or possibly that day. Mundane life awaits, for better or worse, sooner or later. You have things you know you need to do. You know you’ll need to unpack, physically and mentally. You know that the weekend changed you, and you’re now a different person than you were 48 hours ago.
That’s what Sunday afternoon at an anime convention is about.