Anime Expo 2022 returned to the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 1st to July 4th. It drew in tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world. Of course, with COVID restrictions and policies in place, this attracted the attention of the fire marshals who were working to keep the crowd safe.
In-booth dance party, video game trailers, demos, TV show reveals and activities centered to celebrating Japanese pop culture. All went on inside as attendees bought clothing, toys, accessories, manga, original art, posters, and collectibles from hundreds of booths and displays.
The latest news is that Anime Expo will host a new event in Ontario, CA on November 12-13. This came at the closing ceremony of AX and their official Twitter.
Now fans can attend a smaller version of AX and would not have to wait a whole year for the next one. Good idea but some reservations are involved. Ontario convention is small and they will need to cap the tickets or limit the amount of tickets they sell or it can get out of control quickly.
Anime emExpo has announced 30+ exclusive premieres (world & North America), 250+ industry panels, celebrations, special performances, and concerts. The 300,000+ sq ft exhibit space held over 400+ exhibitors, 300+ industry appearances, and 400+ artists across the entire 4 days.
Anime Expo is not your typical anime convention. Not only do cosplayer come from all over the world, different cultures, racial and ethic backgrounds. That’s why I like to highlight the panel for Diversity in Cosplay. As a woman of color, I am surrounded by even more diversity in cosplay and I love it. We have all gotten criticism when cosplaying characters we didn’t fit the “mold” of. This is why anime/comic conventions are an amazing place to have this conversation. Everyone deserves to have some awesome experiences. Here are someone of the cosplayers I shot during the event.
Giving The reputation of AX, common sense would dictate how the organizers of Anime Expo would be prepared for such an event especially after 2 years of COVID-19 lockdown. Through out the convention, several vendors and attendees took to Twitter to express their concerns and failings and how they were being treated. This includes then mmm waiting until the staff finished chatting and smoking. This includes forcing venders to through out their food and drink in order to enter. That’s means those with smaller booths are starving and going 12+ hours without help and without food and water. Some even spent $20 just for some chips and some soda. This was asinine to me and broke my heart.
Anime Expo is still very much a fan event and a place for Japanese culture to come together. However, after this year, AX may have lost a lot of their loyal fans or will stick to their virtual options.
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