I went to Anime Expo this year to participate mostly in the exact same things Anime Expo always offered: top lineup of seiyuu presenters at their industry anime stages, one good anisong concert, and midnight mahjong. On the side, we all know this is my one con to see Rinahamu and eat at Yard House. Also, there are international IM@S Producers gathering every time for some reason.

I said “always” but we know this is all just recent history. A couple years ago, it would take a whole village to camp for some Guest Of Honor autograph, literally, because that’s how those Funko Pop rings worked. This year it only took me a minute to reverse-engineer the wrong URL AX used to list Peach-Pit, in the comfort of my office chair. I really don’t know what to say other than, maybe this is the real lasting legacy of Anime Expo–that it screws fans, industry and staff alike, out of just near-competence and bad luck.

Of course credit is still due where it is due–I had a blast at Anime Expo this year, they made strides to improve the con. Outsourcing their autograph thing to Epic (or now part of Leap, like Growtix) may have made some things weird (I hear you Bannam) like other changes, but it’s a net positive overall. Everything on site worked smoothly once you figure out what is happening as it is new to me. The new layout of the JW ballrooms is new to me but we figured it out quickly. There are fewer volunteer staffs than ever, for better or worse, which means everyone is somewhat more rehearsed but also gaps of comms did exist in the few places I had to communicate with the hired hands at the con. For the most part the crowding is managed this year other than the day one linecon to get in.

This year they blocked off even more areas outside on the streets, and there were basically 3 or so food court/beer garden areas that are separated. At least two of them also have a stage. I wonder how much it would take for AX to put some anikura up on stage instead of random karaoke or whatever. I think once the sun sets outdoor grassland activity can be a real nice fit. Adding the Peacock theater for AX’s largest stages is also a great move I think. It still capped from a couple events, which is impressive.

I also think the attendance sort of flattened a bit from last year. There should be more people at the con this year than the last, based on my cursory observation, but it’s hard to see the masses all at once because AX has fully spread out all over LACC and LA Live. It was hard to actually canvas the entire con just due to the crowding at certain time/points and the sheer large area you have to go through.

The dealers were even more distributed between the South Hall (Exhibition Hall), West Hall (Entertainment Hall), and Kentia Hall (Artist Alley). I saw booths selling fanart in the Exhibition Hall. Usual suspect Retro Saikou is out in the Entertainment Hall along with all the Chinese mobile game booth hells. Everything is kind of scrambled. Also TIL Intel was sponsoring a glow-up experience at one of the PC gaming brands. Times have changed.

As per usual, AX this year had a lot of random stuff happening. We were half expecting a surprise Mariya Ise to show up at Panty Stocking S2’s premiere, but I didn’t think it happened? Instead we got surprise Asami Seto-chan at the Apothecary panel with the ever-not-AX-size Yuki Aoi. The seiyuu list is pretty star-studded this year compared to even the last, given how many more of them are here. I think I finally got to see Suguta close up this year, and also, lol, Sora Amamiya? Her famous cheeks made their Continental US debut at an event.

I somehow was not able to see Isobe or Shimayuki, probably because of conflicts, which is kind of unthinkable 5 years ago. Carin Isobe at AX and I didn’t go see her? LOL. Anyways, lots of people enjoyed the two of them who were dishing out fan service during the Proseka panel, or so it seemed.