2024 marks my ninth time attending Anime Expo, with my first experience being back in 2013, and the con has changed considerably over these past eleven years. Some changes have been good, and some disappointing, but let's take a look and see how this year stacks up.
Everyone is here
One thing about Anime Expo that hasn't really changed over the years is the breadth of companies that attend. Every single company that has anything to do with localized Japanese media is at the con to show off their latest and greatest wares. From huge companies like Crunchyroll and Bandai Namco to smaller ones like Udon Entertainment and Denpa, if they're dealing with Japanese media, they're here. Probably the most notable exception would be Netflix, which doesn't have a very large convention presence as it is anyway.
Even companies that are more tangential to Japanese localized media like HoYoverse and VShojo had huge presences in the Entertainment Hall. Over the past few years, the Japanese companies themselves have been putting up bigger and bigger booths, too. TOHO Animation, in particular, had one of the biggest booths in the Exhibit Hall when just two years ago their presence was basically nonexistent.
If you're a fan of anything in the anime-adjacent sphere, be it manga, retro games, gacha games, vtubers, visual novels, or collectibles related to any of the above, you'll find something to enjoy at Anime Expo. Large conventions like this are also one of the last places you can organically get tons of StreetPasses on your 3DS outside of specific meetups. I got an Eon Ticket in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire—an item you can only obtain by being near someone else who has the item—after just one day at the convention.
From world premieres and announcements to convention exclusive goods to fan panels, there's something for everyone. It's worth mentioning that industry panels take center stage at Anime Expo, being one of the two biggest cons for industry presence (the other being Anime NYC). Fan panels seem to play second fiddle to industry at AX, so if that's your main reason for attending conventions, the SPJA's anime expo chibi might be more up your alley.
Speaking of alleys, the Artist Alley once again takes its place in Kentia Hall (the former parking lot under the Exhibit Hall). There was a huge variety of fanart prints, charms, and even more creative merch like pillows and apparel present. The one critical flaw of the Artist Alley was the poor ventilation. It always felt stuffy in there, and a friend's air quality meter showed over 2000 ppm of CO2 (where anything over 1000 means ventilation is poor, and anything over 2000 could lead to headaches after prolonged exposure). If you got COVID somewhere at AX, it was probably in the Artist Alley.
Linecon
Anime Expo has always attracted huge crowds, and huge crowds means huge lines. In the past, Anime Expo has struggled to manage its queues, but they're constantly tweaking their line management to keep up with demand. Back in 2014, I was nearly trampled as they moved the line for the Sword Art Online II premiere from one side of the convention center to the other. I suspect that incident, as well as probably several more anecdotes from that year, led AX to take line management far more seriously, and every year since the lineup locations for every panel has been posted in advance. In the years since, they've made it much more obvious which panel rooms are going to be cleared between panels, which makes it much easier to make it to the panels you actually care about. There are still instances where panel rooms are grossly undersized (the Look Back panel this year and the Bunny Girl Senpai movie premiere in 2019 both come to mind), but they seem to be more the exception rather than the norm.
Through 2022, Anime Expo also had a Premier Fan badge, which granted holders an extra hour in the Exhibit Hall on day 1, access to the priority entrance, and front of line access to nearly every panel. A Premier Fan badge cost 3-4x more than a standard 4-day badge, so it essentially made panel access pay-to-win. Undersized panel rooms like the Bunny Girl Senpai movie premiere ended up with a room filled entirely with Premier Fans and press, which was a terrible experience for anyone who wasn't willing to cough up several hundred more dollars. In 2023, Anime Expo did away with the Premier Fan program, democratizing(?) access to panels. This made lines a fact of life for everybody, but it meant that anyone could get into a panel if they were willing to sweat it out in an outdoor line.
2024 was the first year Fansubbing attended as press, which in prior years also granted front of line access to nearly every panel, but starting this year, that was no longer the case. Outlets had to contact panel runners ahead of time to be added to a press list per-panel, and only listed press could skip the line. This being our first year, we missed that memo, and even if we hadn't, it would've been difficult or impossible for us to actually take advantage of press access. I missed out on the Azuki panel because the panel right after it was Look Back and the room wasn't going to be cleared.
Despite some misgivings about line access, Anime Expo this year somehow managed to feel manageable in a way it hasn't in years. The line to enter the con on day 1 was still very long, but a few hours into the day the lines were hardly a problem. Common areas didn't feel quite as shoulder to shoulder as past years, apart from the opening rush, and lines never felt like they were being mismanaged. I genuinely can't point a finger at what they did differently, but whatever it was, it worked. Anime Expo hasn't published attendance numbers the past few years, so it could be that this is all just attributable to a decline in attendance, but that didn't feel like the case to me.
In conclusion
Anime Expo remains one of the largest conventions in the United States, and the industry presence there is only rivaled by Anime NYC. For a lot of things like exclusive goods and world premieres, it's the only convention worth attending, but after my experience at Anime Expo 2024, it doesn't feel like they've grown complacent. The hotel block situation is extremely rough, but that's a problem that affects every con I've been to. After over ten years since my first Anime Expo, there's a reason I keep coming back. When you have so many people attending, it attracts big names in the industry, and when big industry names show up, so do the fans. As long as Anime Expo continues to be the convention for the anime industry (and adjacent ones), I'll be there every time.
Thank You to Anime Expo for providing us with press badges.
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