Katsucon 2018 Convention Report

/
Katsucon 2018 Convention Report

The 24th annual Katsucon anime convention was held last weekend from February 16-18, 2018 in National Harbor, MD.  Unofficially they may have surpassed the 20,000+ attendee mark for the first time, but of course we won't know until the official numbers are released.  Even if they didn't reach that milestone, the halls were definitely more crowded this year compared to last year, and that's certainly a healthy sign for what has become the premiere anime con in the DMV region.

Read More

Super MAGFest 2018 Convention Report

/
Super MAGFest 2018 Convention Report

What is there really left to say about MAGFest that hasn't already been said?  The Music and Gaming Festival took place this year from January 4-7, 2018 in National Harbor, MD.  It continues its fine tradition of melding video games, music, and gaming culture together for an annual 4-day bash.  From concerts, arcades, video games stations, indies, dealers, industry guests, fan panels, and more, MAGFest continues to be one of the best places to celebrate our love of video games (despite the bone-chilling weather!).

Read More

Anime USA 2017 Convention Report - Christmas Edition

/
Anime USA 2017 Convention Report - Christmas Edition

For the first time in Anime USA's history, the annual anime convention was held in the month of December this year from the 8th through the 10th.  And of course, being December means that it was a Christmas-themed year.  Not to be outdone, Mother Nature herself joined the festivities by sprinkling some snow throughout the day on Saturday.

Read More

Anime NYC 2017 - First Year Convention Report

/
Anime NYC 2017 - First Year Convention Report

The first ever Anime NYC convention took place this past weekend from November 17-19, 2017 in New York, NY.  Despite being the largest city in America, it's kind of surprising that there has been a void in terms of anime conventions in New York City for so long (and no, the New York Comic Con's Anime Festival doesn't count).  The con boasted of strong support from all of the anime industry giants in North America and also brought over a number of guests from Japan as well.  For its first outing, Anime NYC was a resounding success and I look forward to seeing how it grows in the upcoming years.

Read More

NekoCon 2017 Convention Report

/
NekoCon 2017 Convention Report

This past Saturday I traveled down to Hampton, Virginia to attend my first NekoCon anime convention.  The convention took place over the November 3-5, 2017 weekend although I was only there for one day.  This medium-sized con is located near the ocean and had a lot of nice locations nearby and a lot of food options to choose from within reasonable walking distance.

Read More

Mitsuwa Marketplace - Japanese foods, grocery, and merchandise

/
Mitsuwa Marketplace - Japanese foods, grocery, and merchandise

I took a road trip yesterday to the Mitsuwa Marketplace up in Edgewater, New Jersey across the river from New York City.  Mitsuwa is basically the closest thing to a Little Tokyo that we'll get on the East Coast.  The mall area is basically split between two buildings.  The main Mitsuwa Marketplace building houses the restaurants, a few shops, and the supermarket.  Outside across the little alley is a line of buildings with additional shops and boutiques.  The main interest for otaku fans is the Kinokuniya Bookstore and the Little Japan USA essentials shop.  Of course being Asian I took some food shots but decided to spice things up a little by posing some Saber figures from the Fate series with the food (because why not?).

Read More

Colossalcon East 2017 Convention Report - Poconos Debut

/
Colossalcon East 2017 Convention Report - Poconos Debut

The debut of Colossalcon East took place this past weekend from September 8-10, 2017 in Pocono Manor, PA.  I've never been to the main "pool party" in Ohio before, so this marks my first time attending a Colossalcon convention.  Having run the successful anime con in Ohio for the past 16 years, Colossalcon has now made a successful expansion eastwards to Pennsylvania at the Kalahari Waterpark and Resorts up in the Poconos Mountains. This will be one of those blog posts that I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

Read More

Otakon 2017 Convention Report - The DC Debut

/
Otakon 2017 Convention Report - The DC Debut

After 18 years, Otakon has finally left Baltimore behind to find a new home in our nation's capital.  With spiraling attendance numbers and increasing discontent about the crowded and antiquated Baltimore Convention Center, Otakon is looking to open a new chapter in its history by moving to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center which they claim boasts five times the square footage.  The DC debut took place this past weekend from Friday, August 11 through Sunday, August 13, 2017.  I'll be completely honest to say that leading up to this event I had a sense of anxiety and doubt about how Otakon will fare in this new location.  But to summarize in case you don't want to read the entirety of this lengthy report to get to my verdict: I was impressed.  Very impressed.

Read More

AnimeNEXT 2017 Convention Report

/
AnimeNEXT 2017 Convention Report

The 2017 edition of the AnimeNEXT anime convention was held this past weekend from June 9-11, 2017.  This is the second year that AnimeNEXT has been held at the Atlantic City, NJ location (and my second AnimeNEXT as well).  It was certainly a beautiful weekend for the convention, and I certainly look forward to coming back again in the future.

Read More

Zenkaikon 2017 Convention Report

/
Zenkaikon 2017 Convention Report

Last weekend was the Zenkaikon anime convention held in Lancaster, PA from April 28-30, 2017.  It is essentially my hometown con since it's only about 25 minutes away from my parents house.  But, forget the guests, panels, events, cosplay, merchandise, etc.  This weekend was all about the donuts.  Chocolate covered maple bacon long john donuts to be exact!

Read More