Cartoon festival lures animated crowd

If you ran into more characters than usual wandering the city's streets with yellow spiked hair and red leather ankle-length coats last weekend, the reason was the second annual AnimeBoston, held at the Park Plaza Hotel.

More than 3,300 fans of anime -- the intense stories told in cartoon format that originated on Japanese television -- fanned out across the city, many in costume. Twenty-somethings and teenagers alike dressed as the characters depicted in the animated DVDs and comic book series that have exploded into the mainstream in Boston.

"I recognized a number of people as [convention] attendees at the Prudential," said Jon Niehof, the event's panel coordinator. "They were all still wearing their [admission] badges."

AnimeBoston vice chairman Patrick Delahanty added, "We saw people in costume in Chinatown, walking through the Common, [and inside] the Cheers bar."

The MBTA hosted suburbanites who parked at transit stops outside the city and took trains into Boston, Delahanty said.

"When we've got three or four thousand people coming in [to Boston] and everybody's buying lunch, staying at hotels, and shopping downtown, that's got to have a significant effect on the economy," he added.

Although the anime stories can be serious, fans often poke fun at themselves and have fun with their costumes. Alli Watts, 16, and Rachel Bernfeld, 18, both of Natick, were shopping last weekend at the Park Plaza Castle at Arlington and Stuart streets, a block from the hotel, where vendors hawked anime DVDs, comic books, models, and other products. Watts, dressed in a blue miniskirt, strapless white top, and pink wig, said she was emulating the character of Himeno in "Pretear." Bernfeld wore white capris and a white top, like the character Sagashite in "Full Moon."

"I'm a geek," Bernfeld acknowledged. "I go on the computer, I study Latin, and I go to anime conventions."

Joyce Pellino Crane can be reached at crane@globe.com.