I had the luxury of getting a Press badge to attend AWA this year. The last time I went was in 2022 when it was at Galleria, but this year it was at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Venue

This year the convention was held at Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC). Being at the same convention center as Momocon (I did not attend), provided mixed feelings. Mainly the issue of parking. It was recommended by Atliens and AWA to take local transportation to avoid parking fees, while some did utilize that, there was constant discourse about parking fees that were up to the hundreds. GWCC did have priority parking that you would have paid for in advance, but there was no overnight parking as that hit you with another fee. Again, this is a 24-hour con.

Like all cons, you will get your steps in. For the most part, everything was close together, but if you were all over the place, like me, you were definitely walking. There were 3 different floors, one hosted the dealers’ hall/artist alley and autographs and gaming, and the other two had rooms for panels and rooms where other activities were held. Some rooms were bigger than the other, and some rooms would hit max capacity depending on the event being held. Thankfully, you wouldn’t have to wait long, as people would cycle through.

It was very spacious! I don’t know if that was due to the fact the con was moved from August to late December, but from my previous experience at AWA, it can get very packed. There was ample space and plenty of places to sit/hide (on the floor albeit).

I will add again that I was press, so I spent some time in the Press Lounge to get away from the hustle and bustle and decompress.

Panels

I had planned to set myself up for success by planning out all the panels I wanted to go to, and while there were PLENTY of amazing panels a few really stood out to me. Although I didn’t personally attend, there were yoga classes at the con surrounding different anime. For instance, Sailor Moon Yin Yoga, a JJK session, and Avatar: The Last Airbender to name a few.

I learned very quickly that this was a 24-hour con. This is something that I was not privy to before, as I do not stay the entire day, but it does open up doors to a lot of amazing events that go on after the dealers hall and artist alley close up. One panel in particular that I found really interesting, but couldn’t attend was a Mythology in Anime panel. It was at 12:45 am. Was that inconveniently placed? I believe so, but I’m sure it had some amazing work done and researched, just without a lot of foot traffic.

The panels that I did attend were amazing and very informative! First of them being Keep Your Hands Off Eizoken! hosted by one of the animators of the show. Having never seen the show (or read the manga), I was interested because I knew it was always highly recommended in the community. What a better way to get more information about it than from someone who worked on it directly?

Around the same time as the JJK Yoga, there was a History of the man, myth, and the legend himself, Ryoma Sukuna. This was really interesting because it allows me to see the background and the work that really goes into creating these characters. The lore of Sukuna goes back so far with different variations of the story.

Lastly, there was the panel “Why Josei Deserve Better“, which was led by such an engaging host. The interactions from the crowd, throwing recommendations back and forth to each other, and even classifying which anime and manga we think are josei, which might not even be considered, or ones that we never thought that are. It was exciting all around.

Each of the panels I attended, were amazing in their own regard. There may even be a separate blog post (or video) talking about them more in depth. Will update accordingly!

Also, a special shout out to the Jojo’s Bizarre Bingo group! That was such a wonderful time, and a unique way to play!

Vendors

I’m going to start with food first. As we all know, the food at the con is always expensive, but some of the food there wasn’t edible. This was at NO FAULT to the con organizers but to the restaurants themselves. Charging crazy prices for under/over-cooked food is insane.

If you didn’t eat from the food trucks, you could have walked further into the convention center for the food hall, which apparently, had more options at a slightly lower price. Again, it’s con food, it’s not life-changing, just sustaining.

Artist alley and the dealer hall was huge and merged together. When you walked in, you were greeted by Itasha (the anime-wrapped cars). I always loved those, but they did immediately take up front and center. I, unfortunately, did not see the room entirety, so I can only speak on what I did see.

It was a great experience to have. Thank you again to AWA for the Press Pass and I look forward to wherever you end up next year!