It’s been about a month since Anime Expo® happened. I am still a bit dazed that I was just there in Los Angeles at this convention and all the fun things I got to experience. It honestly still feels like a dream, and every time I see a new anime I saw there, I’m like “wait a minute, yeah I did see that at Anime Expo. Wow”. It’s very surreal to go to a dream convention and still not believe it afterwards.
A spur of the moment, last minute decision, I was able to pull off attending Anime Expo with a friend. Dream come true, but not without its mishaps. Twenty minutes into the convention someone stole my badge (and I wasn’t the only one). Looking back, it’s a funny story to tell. At the moment it was happening – not super fun. A good friend of mine saved the day and was able to grab an extra badge for me to use for the rest of the weekend.
But despite all the drama and panic that came from the start of my time at Anime Expo, I have never enjoyed a convention so much before. There were live concerts in the beer garden every day, fun cosplay meet-ups, amazing merch to buy, all the walking to do, people watching, and fun photo ops. There was never nothing to do, because every few steps you took, you would find something else to check out and do. Sadly, I once again failed at going to panels. I only attended one, the Gachiakuta premiere of the first two episodes of the new series (it was so much fun). But that’s the only panel I went to, there were just so many other things to do and it was hard keeping track of time (and being stuck in line for a lot of things).
I think I spent the majority of my time meeting new people while walking around and taking photos, also doing a lot of the activations that were set up. I went through Hulu, Crunchyroll, and many others. All of these were super fun, and you couldn’t really take a step in any direction without people handing out freebies and swag. It was crazy packing to come home and seeing all the goodies. It was also insane meeting and seeing all the big Tik-Tok-er’s, and big anime/cosplayers on social media in person. I got to meet so many of these people and they were so cool and nice! It still feels surreal looking back on the photos with them and just being like “wow”.
I also threw together some very late minute lazy cosplay outfits I already had (tweaked a bit so I would not die in the heat) and one long shot brand new cosplay. I ended up only wearing my modified Luffy from One Piece cosplay the first day and the rest I wore my new cosplay that I’m still surprised I got done in time (and actually looked good). This new cosplay was Rumi from K-Pop Demon Hunters, it was a huge hit. I was stopped so much for photos and did a lot of photoshoots and even went to a meet up for the movie. It was insane and amazing and probably my favorite time at the convention.
The vendor hall was super cool, and I had a blast at all the booths and doing the fun little things they set up for photoshoots and games for people to play and win cool prizes. The artist alley was also packed FULL of incredibly talented artists, and I bought so many posters (I normally don’t anymore because I have a lot already). I did get laughed at by friends because I pretty much just bought K-Pop Demon Hunters merch and I regret nothing.
I also had a blast every time I went to the beer garden because the music there was so good, and I kept going back to Thirsty Waters to get their themed Demon Slayer boba teas. I tried as many of them as I could and they were delicious, and I wish I had one right this minute.
As soon as we got back, I slept a whole day, which is kind of crazy because I’ve never done that. It was pretty funny waking up because I really thought it had all been a dream. There was also no convention hangover, another big first. I think it had a lot to do with still being stunned that I got to go to my dream convention. I also think you can all guess that I can’t wait to go back next year when it returns to Los Angeles, California from July 2-5, 2026
Were you at Anime Expo? What were your highlights? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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