Vladikavkaz - the capital of anime

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In 2014, several Russian-speaking publications released angry articles about the Japanese amateur artist who painted a manga about the Chechen war called “Shamil Basayev. Legendary start. " In 2018, Dagestan activist: Ki, who in the republic is called the "morals", tore the festival "Anidag" in Makhachkala . In the 2010s in North Ossetia , ægdeau acted in North Ossetia Want to know what it means and how this word sounds? Watch this video -patrols ” who stopped passers -by because of an“ informal ”appearance.

And at the same time, popular comedians write about the anime, festivals and even a character are held in the cities: they portray a traditional epic in a manga-stylistic manga. In a column for DOXA, the author under the pseudonym Evon makes it possible to feel how the passionate of anime, disputes about the traditional culture and the consequences of military conflicts are interconnected in today's Vladikavkaz.

"Twilight" and the Nart epos

“I tried to be Edward Kallen [from Twilight]. You do not redeem all the contrast of the situation: in the Caucasus, in Ossetia, in the small orthodox village,-the stand-up comic of Chermen Kachmazov from the village of Nogr in North Ossetia jokes . - I have a plowman [father], when I saw this hairstyle, fucking, he is: “Let you either fuck yourself from the village, or I call Volturi [an influential vampire clan from the world of“ twilight ”.” You can’t. ”

I still ate a sour mayonnaise so that there is a pale skin color "

In a solo concert, Kachmazov recalls how, as a teenager, he could not share his interest in “twilight” and anime with others because of gender stereotypes. But now “DO” has collected more than 600 thousand views in YouTube, and in the comments of the comedian they are called the “Minister of the anime and“ Twilight ”of the Republic of North Ossetia.” On the personal channel, Kachmazov lays out the “Thursday of the Nightmares” show, where, together with the co -hosting Zaur Dzukaev and the guest: Yami discusses “Favorite, Shy, New Anime”, unpacked sets with figures from manga and even creates his stories.

The association "North Caucasian Modern Cultural and Philological Research Institute" in anime stylistics depicts historical events and images from myths. One of their posters is dedicated to the capture of the Dagestan village of Gunib, where Imam Shamil surrendered to the capture: Tsam during the war of the Russian Imperial Army with the North Caucasus Imamat (1817–1864). It was the capture of Gunib that became a point in the war, after which most of the territories of the current republics of the North Caucasus were under the control of the Russian Empire.

Another example is a poster with a shatana, the heroine of the Nart epic, common among many peoples of the North Caucasus. Shatan there acts as a persistent and principled woman who is not amenable to the cunning of the rival: c. For Ossetians: OK Nart epic is one of the cultural foundations of society. Images on his reasons can be found throughout Vladikavkaz: in murals, in the interiors of the cafe, on the walls of private houses.

"Nephors" and "ægdau-patrol"

Meet a fanato: you can also be anime on the streets of the city. 2022, spring. In the middle of private houses, there is a cafe with a square courtyard and a small homemade lake. This is not uncommon for Vladikavkaz, on the contrary, such courtyards are common and have a neighbor: to spend time together.

At the entrance to the hall are stands with K-Pop K-POP idols, the icons of the Chinese computer game Genshin Impact and the hero: in other popular Japanese manga: haikyuu! , Hunter X Hunter. On the veranda passes the defile cosplayer: K, Participation: TSE demonstrate costumes and play the character: to from anime. Number Visitor: NIC - about a hundred people a day - surprises me and the organizer themselves: to the event.

“And this is not the first festival! We went to the Palace of Pioneers, there were about 300 people there, ”says a friend in response to my surprise. The ICHI-Ni-SAN festival was the first time in 2022 and took place annually in the local cafes, and in 2024 was the first time in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

Comic from the Telegram channel Mari-Go-ROUND. In the village of Fiagdon and the surroundings, the Ossetian buildings of the beginning of the last millennium have been preserved, now it is one of the most visited tourist places in the republic.

In Vladikavkaz, the organizer: ICHI - Ni - San did not face direct pressure, but in neighboring cities there were such cases. For example, in 2018, the Anidag festival, already the seventh in Makhachkala, was canceled due to the requirements of the “morals”. The latter acted not as a centralized movement, but disparate. Many were united in social networks in groups resembling the popular public "A.U.E." With quotes about the rules of life, relationships with women and brotherhood between men. Before the Anidag, at the request of the “morals of the morals”, the concerts of Yegor Creed and Olga Buzova were canceled .

In North Ossetia, there is also something like the “morals of morals”-“ægdau-patrol”. Occasionally, they act now, but the heyday of the movement came in the 2010s. Then “æGDAU-Patrols” were called by those who defended “Ossetian traditions”, stopping people on the street in unusual clothes or with colored hair, men with long haircuts. The “ægdau” idea was also trying to appropriate the Council “Shergihas” - a social movement that criticizes for moralism and the lack of “attention to pressing problems” in the republic.

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Activist: Ki, who promote Ossetian culture, note that one of the positive manifestations of æGDAU is the development of horizontal connections. For example, in one of the podcasts of the Ossetian television “Wings TV”, local historian Alik Puhati speaks of the connection between ægdeau and “ Hionism In a negative way, it can be translated into Russian as “kumovism”, in positive - as “strong horizontal connections”. ", From the Ossetian word" his ". With co -hosting Batrase Sidamon and Guest, entrepreneur Fatima and Zerov Kusov - co -founders of the “Lamp” space in Vladikavkaz, both of them were among the Beslanes: C and are held, including events related to the memory of the terrorist attack. And the activist Fatimal Set, they discuss her attempt to build a large pedigree tree and introduce all his participation: Ts among themselves . The presenters and guest joke about the stereotypes that surround the Caucasian Networking: “Do you understand that you have created a huge corruption scheme that prevents the Caucasus from developing? There is no corruption throughout Russia, but we are in the Caucasus like a black belibo with our clans! ” In fact, it is the unification in the community that Ossetians helps: Kam, when they leave to live in Moscow and other places.

The habit of self -organization manifested itself in September 2022, when a resident: Nitsa North Ossetia helped a huge queue from Upper Lars to survive a day on the mountain serpentine. Then people of completely different views united: cooperated: TS of the Republican Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ossetians: Ki, who, on the contrary, fled from Tskhinval during a five -day war between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia; Those who returned to Vladikavkaz after a life in Moscow, St. Petersburg or Europe. In Ossetian society, it is customary to take into account such manifestations of æGDAU and therefore not put an equal sign between the “æGDAU-patrols” and those who adhere to traditions.

When will a neighbor on the entrance return from the war?

And at the ICHI-Ni-San festival there is a defile with a manga-staffing: Kami of the Hisoka in the Vladikavkaz courtyard Do not know who it is? Look at the picture above. There from left to right: Kiriko, Kurapika, Hisoko. All of them are the characters of the Hunter X Hunter anime. And kurapika, we admire the wig from Nastya Fox and the charm of cosplayer Kiriko . In the meantime, in the meantime, conversations about the household are adjacent to questions about when a neighbor on the entrance returns from the war. They also recall those who will not return and remain in the east - the Vladikavkaz cemetery.

Among the cosplayero themselves: to the most of all those whose childhood fell on zero. Born after the war in the suburban district and south, having survived the mourning of the mourning for those who died during the glacier’s gathering in the Karmadon Gorge and in a terrorist attack in Beslan, in the manga they could be distracted from complex realities from childhood . Now at the anime festivals, shows of the films of Hayao Miyadzaki or the animated series "Sailor Moon" you can even find former participants: С "ægdau-patrols".

In opposition media, the North Caucasus is often described only as a zone of violence and murders on the basis of honor. The state, on the contrary, seeks to attract Turisto there: K. Russians: Ki, in conditions of difficult access abroad, are increasingly traveling to the resorts of North Ossetia, Dagestan and neighboring republics. Local activist: Ki tries to tell them about history and culture without excessive exotization and “dzhigits with papas”, thereby destroying the usual deliberately masculine image of the Caucasus. This does not cancel problems within the republics, abductions of LGBT+ people and other “objectionable” ones. But, like this column, it shows that the North Caucasus is more and more complicated than its usual image. And many of his inhabitants: Nitsa find the opportunity to combine what seems incompatible from the side.

For example, the Society of North Ossetia is characterized by strong horizontal connections. But this phenomenon does not come down to the stereotype of "clanity". On the contrary, anime-festivals, and interest in family history, and volunteer assistance in difficult political situations-all these are its manifestations. People unite and help each other continue to live, including in the midst of wars and their consequences.