Anime Expo 2024
16 August 2024 Convention Review Photo
This marks my 20th year in attendance (ignoring the COVID years) at Anime Expo and it has been wild to reflect on how far we’ve come in that time. From the humble Anaheim Convention Center days to the current LA Convention Center (LACC) era, the scale has grown enormous. Banners the size of an American football goal post advertising the latest season of Re:Zero or Persona 3 Reload. Booths able to swallow hundreds of attendees whole as they wait for precious, limited edition merch. Big-name streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll showcasing the freshest acquisition for their respective platform. Gone are the days of discovering a show in a 24-hour anime screening room. Now, we celebrate the series’ everyone has already seen, gushed over, made fanart acrylic keychains of, and are anticipating the next season to come.
Having been in the LACC since 2008, the headcount has nearly quadrupled since then. As a result, the crowd control and logistics at a con of this size has always been an evolving issue. Last year saw particularly bad incidents of overcrowding going viral on social media. This year, I am more than happy to say that there were numerous measures taken to alleviate this. The most obvious and pronounced solution was getting city approval to shut down a huge chunk of Pico Boulevard. This area was then dubbed “AX Crossing” (after the famous Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo), packed with food stalls and food trucks, and even hosted a performance stage to keep con-goers entertained while chowing down on ramen, takoyaki, shaved ice, and other Japanese treats. There were 5 total gates for general admission entry this year, each named after one of the AX original character mascots. Combined with use of the Evolv Security Scanning tech that’s started to pop up at venues around SoCal, it made getting in a breeze. Of course there were some delays, like at the start of the day when a massive horde of fans are packed in waiting to enter. But throughout the day, the wait to get in was almost nonexistent for the gates I entered. Finally, there was the addition of stanchions. Glorious, line-controlling stanchions. Having constant line flow in a single direction was crucial, helping to reduce the chaos that was walking from South Hall to West Hall and vice versa. Since this was the place most problematic in 2023, it was a very welcome sight indeed.
Panels have always been my go-to for activity throughout the 4-day weekend. Back in 2004, this often meant panels hosted by fans or relatively minor industry folk. In 2024, you have no shortage of incredibly talented, well-spoken individuals capable of delivering an enthralling panel. There isn’t enough space here to list out every last panel I attended this year, but some standouts are certainly worth mentioning. Day 1 had two music professors from Santa Ana College discuss the tunes behind Makoto Shinkai’s works, what makes the composer Tenmon’s work fit so well with the films, and how RADWIMPS and Shinkai work collaboratively on the soundtrack and story.
Day 2 was jam packed with high-profile panels. In the morning, two major creators behind the modern Persona franchise games, director Katsura Hoshino and character designer Shigenori Soejima, took to the Petree Hall stage to share details on their next creation. Not a Persona mainline title but clearly in the same vein as those, Metaphor: ReFantazio looks to be a slick, stylistic take on the high fantasy genre. Game of Thrones-esque political intrigue, a diverse cast (finally!), and Hieronymus Bosch-inspired titanic bosses have me VERY excited about this one. I also got to play a 15-minute demo of an early dungeon in the game and spent entirely too much time reading item descriptions and soaking in the atmosphere to get through as much as I wanted. That said, it plays as well as you’d come to expect from the team behind Persona 3/4/5. The October 11th release can’t come soon enough!
“Honkai Star Rail: Crafting Compelling Characters in Animated Shorts” was certainly one of the most anticipated panels of the weekend. Held in the Main Hall, thousands came to see the Trash Taste Boys host a star-studded cast of voice actors, including the English voices of Sam, Firefly, Robin, Blade, and the Japanese voice actors of Firefly and Robin too! They discussed all the voice work and mindset they have to get into to portray such strong personalities, all while feeding off the crowd’s immense energy. Broken up into Q&A and fan service-y live voice acting demos recreating famous scenes, the interactions between the actors had the crowd screaming with joy the whole way through.
Image courtesy of 33 USA Inc.
Part panel and part world premiere, day 3 saw the debut of Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin Arc, adapting the 2011 reboot manga arc of the same name. With howls of excitement, the crowd enjoyed the return of so many beloved characters to screen. Perhaps just as exciting though? Idolized voice actor and newly dubbed voice of Kinnikuman himself, Mamoru Miyano. The Miyano fan club was in full force, shrieking at any opportunity to get his attention in between Q&A segments. Perhaps most fun of all was the special giveaway of Japan-exclusive Kinnikuman posters, signed by Miyano, director Akira Sato, and producer Rui Kuroki. The whole crowd stood up to play one massive game of Rock Paper Scissors with Miyano himself, with the last 3 standing to win the prized posters.
Now I’d be remiss to not mention one of the main reasons people attend AX every year: the legendary Exhibit Hall, Artist Alley, and Entertainment Hall. Each was larger than life this year, despite being in the same locations as always, instead swelling the size of the booths. The Exhibit Hall was especially packed to the brim with the major players in the industry. Crunchyroll dominated the back half of the hall, Aniplex and GoodSmile Company taking over the middle section, and names like Omocat, Bushiroad, Animate, Toho, and Toei all absorbing the front end. Off to the sides were booths from smaller groups selling countless anime figures, model kits, Funko Pops, manga, anime, original art, super fashionable clothing, desk mats, and so much more. But the big booths were where a lot of the excitement stemmed: unique photo ops with green screens and lifesize cardboard standees, more giveaways than I could sign up for, more elaborate celebrations of this medium we hold so dearly.
In fact, this year the Exhibit Hall spilled over even more into Kentia Hall, traditionally reserved for Artist Alley and a few other booths. That said, the amount of Artist Alley booths packed into their half of the hall was as overwhelming as ever to me, offering charms, lanyards, bags, stickers, art prints, and more of every popular (and some niche) series under the sun. The biggest presence was certainly HoYoverse properties (Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail), which was also reflected in the company’s presence in the Entertainment Hall.
Typically the Entertainment Hall has contained the AX Arcade (complete with token machines), various video game consoles and tables for checkout, tabletop gaming like Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Weiss Schwarz, a performance stage, and some well-designed sets to pose while in cosplay (or not). Now though? Hulu, Bandai Namco, and the aforementioned HoYoverse. It’s crystal clear how popular these properties are, with lines snaking around their booths and getting capped for hours in advance. HoYoverse had a wildly popular stamp rally sidequest challenge where participants had to go around to all their booths in order to return to the South Hall and pull the lever to a gachapon machine larger than 3 refrigerators. Their presence didn’t stop there either: on full display at the iBuyPower booth was their collaboration on a gorgeous gaming PC themed after Silver Wolf. Even more than that, they also had a section devoted to a collab with the super stylish anime-inspired streetwear group M.RAGE ASTRAL SYSTEMS. Their Acheron and Silver Wolf bomber jackets were insanely cool, especially when shown on stage for a giveaway during the Day 2 Honkai Star Rail panel. Bottom-line, if you play any HoYoverse property, or even if you’re only vaguely interested, you were eating GOOD at AX this year.
Nippon Ichi Software is a developer I’ve been following since childhood. I distinctly remember trading in a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the PS2 to Hollywood Video (GameCrazy) in order to buy the original Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on release day. The sense of style, quirky characters, tongue-in-cheek humor, and deep gameplay drew me in for many years to come, through their mainline Disgaea titles, as well as other series like Makai Kingdom and Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? But perhaps most of all, Phantom Brave was a special one. As the direct follow-up to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, main character Marona and her spirit companions like Ash were instantly endearing. The Confine system and gridless map were unique spins on the typical unit deployment and maneuvering. So you can imagine my excitement when Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero was announced at the June Nintendo Direct. Even more though was the presence of a demo for the game early in development at the NIS America booth! You can bet I put that demo through its paces, chowing down on every moment reuniting with the Phantom Brave cast. Recognizing that it’s still a very early build, plus running on the aging Nintendo Switch system, I was pleased with the performance and overall feel of the game. The new “Confriend” mechanic is such a good way to deliver fresh gameplay along with fanservice. Combining Marona with another story unit like Ash or newcomer Apricot creates an adorable fusion of the two in both power and costume. Keep an eye out for more towards the 2025 release!
I always appreciate what Anime Expo does to give you a little bit of an escape from the mega-massive crowds. Places like the Manga Lounge, Lounge 21, and the Beer Garden are all relatively peaceful spots to take a seat, take a breath, and possibly take a quick sip of something refreshing. Prices were surprisingly reasonable for those interested in an adult beverage, even if the selection was relatively limited. What wasn’t limited though was the selection of manga in the manga lounge. From hugely popular series to super obscure titles I haven’t seen in years (or ever), there seemed to be something for everyone. And the live entertainment in these spots was nothing short of fantastic. I caught chiptune artist Bumvox crafting a super chill set at Lounge 21, as well as Astellium performing their EDM/Anison fusion at the Beer Garden. The vibes were immaculate as could be.
Without a doubt, this has been one of the best AX’s I’ve been to in the past two decades. Besides the food prices, overflowing lines for high profile events like Dan Da Dan’s world premiere, and the need for just a few more shade-providing tents, I couldn’t have been happier. My hat’s off to all of the staff, volunteers, cosplayers, boothers, artists, and friendly anime fans I met along the way this year. See you next July for Anime Expo 2025!
– Chris Torrey / Marmar Tha Midboss of KUCI’s LAG Radio