This event features the best in Japanese entertainment, music, fashion, and video games. The crowds gather in the South Hall Lobby of the Los Angeles Convention Center as they wait for the opening of Anime Expo 2022. Anime ExpoĪnime Expo brings together fans and industry from Japan, the US, and all over the world for the largest celebration of Japanese pop culture in North America. Check out these cosplays from Day 2 of Anime Expo. This is the first time since 2019 that it has happened in person. With any large gathering nowadays, “you pays your money and you takes your choice,” as the saying goes, but given the significant number of COVID+ reports afterward from attendees–I feel safer masking it up.Anime Expo (AX) is North America’s largest anime event held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Compliance was fairly haphazard and not consistently enforced by volunteers who understandably were probably reluctant to get into confrontations on such a volatile topic.
While Anime Expo had initially announced they were not requiring masking/vaccinations, they reversed that shortly before the start of the convention and mandated both…sort of. One thing I appreciated this time around was that there was a lot to see outside the building and in larger areas such as the Entertainment Hall, the Regal Cinemas, and the Ballroom at the JW Marriott, given the rising COVID infection rates at the time. Over in the Entertainment Hall, huge areas were set up to allow gaming of every sort from tabletop to arcade to gacha, as well as AX’s traditional cosplay photo sets.Īmong the larger walk-through booths in this area, Disney’s Twisted Wonderland was represented with a look at the many characters in the game and a listen to their great voice acting in the magic mirror.Ī post shared by Jeanine / a streetwear fashion company known for its anime collaborations, put on “Hyplandfest” outside of the convention center, with concerts, food, and games themed to popular titles Y u-Gi-Oh!, Naruto, Hunter X Hunter, and Bleach.Įven the food was appropriately themed, as the Paradise Cookies & Ice Cream truck took on the graphics of the mobile game Tears of Themis and offered magnets, postcards, and in-game loot to accompany the sweet treats.Ĭlearly, a lot to see and do even before getting to all the panels and premieres that made up the bulk of the programming at this year’s Anime Expo. Several had brought voice actors from Japan to do meet and greets and make appearances at the booths as well, which often brought more enthusiastic bodies than the area could easily accommodate. Over in the Exhibit Hall, where there were over 400 exhibitors, photo-ops enticed fans of shows and games and comics to come check out all the many properties at the different booths. The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) hosted the event as Japanese popular culture was presented in all its facets for fans from over 70 countries.ĭespite the ongoing COVID threat, convention attendees came out in droves to attend panels, get autographs, watch premieres, and buy merchandise dedicated to anime and manga of all genres. Anime Expo, the largest celebration of anime pop culture in North America, came back from its three-year-COVID-mandated hiatus to once again set up shop at the Los Angeles Convention Center this past Independence Day weekend.
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