As a result of finding a larger venue, organizers expect to see the biggest crowd ever at a local celebration of Japanese animation, manga and traditional arts.Wilmington’s fourth Aniwave Festival will be held 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday in a wing of the new Wilmington Convention Center.

Manga are Japanese comic books often made into cartoons called anime. The term cosplay refers to when manga and anime fans dress in costume and act like the characters they’re trying to portray. Aniwave will include a cosplay contest and anime dubbing workshop, as well as a panel of performers whose voice acting skills are used to translate anime to English.

Holding the event in the new convention center, a larger venue than previous locations, means the festival has been able to bring in vendors, including Wilmington businesses Memory Lane Comics and Cape Fear Games, as well as an anime/manga vendor and one that sells cultural Japanese items such as fans, kimonos and figurines, said Alejandro Canosa.

Canosa and his wife, Stephanie, are the event’s directors. They took over from Aniwave founder Michal Wisniowski, an artist who moved away from Wilmington. In 2007, its first year, Aniwave was held at Cameron Art Museum and Jengo’s Playhouse.

In the past, Aniwave has mainly been a film festival, Canosa said. And while there will still be screenings with titles like “Vampire Princess Miyu,” “The Samurai I Loved” and “Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens),” the event will also include workshops and demonstrations. “When they get exposed to anime and manga, (fans) become curious about Japanese culture itself,” Canosa said.