Fanime Con 2019
SAN JOSE, CA (May 24 - 27, 2019) - Fanime, Northern California’s largest anime convention, just celebrated their 25th Silver Celebration this past Memorial Weekend. Known to be a 24 hour con; attendees are able to enjoy various events like shopping in the Exhibitor Hall or Artist Alley, visit Panels ran by guest and attendees, go and watch various animes in Video Rooms, enjoy dancing at the nightly Raves, or even go gaming at the arcade which never closes.
Special guests like Aya Hirano and Nobutoshi Canna were in attendance for this special year renowned for their cult favorite hits like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Berserk respectively. At Aya Hirano’s meet and greets hundreds of guest lined up for a chance to see her, and Fanime made the decision to cut off the lines at 100 attendees to ensure that they all would have the opportunity to meet the renowned seiyuu herself.
Cosplay guests VampyBitMe, D-Piddy, and AiCosu were popular cosplayers invited to the convention this year holding panels as well as meet and greets located in the Artist Alley for people to come see them. Then of course there was the MusicFest brought together Phoenix Ash as well as The Beat Garden.
Exhibitor Hall and Artist Alley were booming like usual with a wide variety of goods everywhere and a carefully curated room full of artists. Tons of anime merchandise vendors like Anime Jungle from Los Angeles were present with their balancing game for a chance at larger prizes. Animebooks.com which sold everything from collectable figurines, kuji tickets, artbooks, and manga were also present supplying people with all their otaku needs. Tons of Japanese pop culture fashion retailers were present like Arsenic x Cyanide who specializes in anime/pop culture acrylic laser cut hats, Kinfold with their beautiful windbreakers and hoodies, and of course popular wig vendor EpicCosplay were present with tons of different style lace front or general wigs for cosplayer’s last minute needs.
Inside Exhibitor’s was also various food vendors such as the San Jose local Psycho Donuts bringing convention exclusives like mochi donuts [or in Japan known as Pon De Rings at local favorite Mister Donut] and ube flavored cake donuts. Okamoto, local to Southern California, brought forth their convention bento boxes featuring con-loving favorites like curry. Wild Bill’s is widely popular around the convention circuit for their all-day drinks and reusable barrel style mugs, and this time around they also promoted their reusable straws which were new to us this time around since we had last seen them.
Inside the game room held hundreds of board games, PC gaming, live stages, and most exciting of all the free arcade cabinets! There was something from everyone whether you are into fighters, rhythm, or drifting.
Silver Island was a new addition to the convention this year being held at the DoubleTree. A shuttle system was placed for easier access to the venue. Inside held tons of different events and dealers for the 18+ crowd, and it did not disappoint. Venturing inside there were of course Hentai Video Rooms, an entertainment stage that held Bishie Bingo [as well as other forms of elicit shows], even an exhibitor hall that had doujins, dakimakuras, and art galore.
This year around crowds were amazing and slightly larger compared to last year when we had attended. It was a good overall year, and we saw tons of various amounts of cosplay from all ages and walks of life. The Boku no Hero gathering on Saturday of con was especially large compared to last years; with it covering the entirety of the amphitheatre steps and all. Photographer corner had been booming like usual showcasing the various amounts of cosplay work from ornate to simple. It was smart of Fanime to utilize the neighboring and convention hotels of their space to compensate for the ever growing size. We cannot wait to see what is in store for next year whose dates have already been announced for May 22-25, 2020.
Website: https://www.fanime.com/
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