This year, I was able to attend Anime Expo as press — what a huge deal and opportunity that was!

I have never been to the West Coast before this. I have grown used to the heat and humidity in Georgia, so California was literally a breath of fresh air.

Typically, I don’t do this, but here is a timeline of events leading up to our AX experience.

Finding Islamic spirituality in anime, manga, and pop culture

I just want to thank the team at Anime Expo for their quickness, but as always, thank Allah for each opportunity and the ease that we are able to go to these events, press or not. I know it’s easy to forget, but we Muslims ’round here.

Venue

I’m directionally challenged, but the LACC was so easy to maneuver. Each entry point was clearly marked, while I was informed that Anime Expo is “line con”, that was not my experience.

Day one registration was very clear. There was only one real way to enter the con to get your badges, and from there it was straight into the convention center. My primary entry point was South Hall, which was a hub for the Exhibit Hall and panel rooms (that I heavily frequented).

Upon looking at the map, I realized I never even saw the full upper level – including the VIZ room or the Maid Cafe.

West Hall was home to Entertainment Hall & Petree Hall. There were interactive exhibits where you could get your prime photo op!

Kentia Hall, unfortunately, saw me for all of 20 total minutes outside of interviews. Toyin was able to grab some photos as Jinshi at the Crunchyroll booths, which shockingly no one was at. Artist Alley also only saw me for 5 minutes before closing. I regret that immensely, as I did see amazing work during my time there.

The Beer Garden in front of the hotel & Peacock Theatre was home to an extra number of food and beverage vendors. There were little pockets of places in the venue that surprised me. Like the Love & Deepspace booth, which handed out free bags of merch – if you got a Sylus bag, just know you’re God’s favorite.

Panels

There was no lack of excitement in panels. I frequented the majority of the JAMS panels via inspiration from MomoCon. I’ll provide a summary of the panels I attended here.

I also had the pleasure of attending the panels for Global Industry Leaders, Mfinda, Leviathan, Black Girls Redefining Cosplay, and so much more. There were plenty of industry panels between Toyin, Jumai, and me. I, naturally, attended the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure panel. It was singlehandedly the reason I briefly lost my voice.

Just before leaving one night, we decided to attend the Panty & Stocking panel, thinking nothing of it, only to be sidelined with Studio Trigger updates – like CyberPunk! – being revealed at the end. Experiencing an entire theatre going into uproar over new releases and seasons of our favorite shows gives chills that will ring in my ears regardless of the con.

One thing is for certain: fandom and passion are still alive and well.

It was an amazing experience! The West Coast will see me again, and so will Anime Expo!

Thank you to the Anime Expo team!