When my interest in anime really started budding about nine years ago, I was under the impression that the extent of my fandom (fan domain) would be the Internet. I watched the shows and was able to talk about them with people on sites my mom had deemed safe for me, but I wanted to be able to experience more.
 
All types of fan conventions generally are branches of science fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s. Anime conventions center on Japanese animation, and there are hundreds of cons held every year in America.