Peace and blessings! This is Tobi again, and I’ll be recapping my last day at Anime Milwaukee. I decided to cosplay at the last minute, and I’m glad I did! I cosplayed Mao Mao from one of my current favorite animes, The Apothecary Diaries. I received a lot of compliments, which made me very happy 🙂

I first went to a fun panel called Cells at Work: Working for You! I’m a huge fan of the anime Cells at Work because of the character designs and for the medicine that’s in it, of course. We played several games which involved finding body organs throughout the room, creating a craft that will keep blood cells in a clot and not bleed out (I failed miserably), and impeding immune cells from catching germs! There were also cosplayers at the event! I cosplayed as an eosinophil before and didn’t think to cosplay her at this event, but oh well. I wish for there to be more Cells at Work panels at future cons!

Even though I had interviewed most of the panelists, I decided to attend the panel, “Frieren: Beyond Journeys End,” with the cast. The cast was so fun to work with, so I couldn’t resist lol. The panelists, who consisted of Mallorie Rodak (voice of Frieren), Jill Harris (voice of Fern), Jordan Dash Crux (voice of Stark), and Chris Guerrero (voice of Eisen), shared their experiences working on the anime, how they reacted when they got their roles, and their favorite moments. I enjoyed hearing some of the stories they have shared with me again.

Next, I went to the exhibitors’ hall one last time and finalized what I wanted to purchase. I visited it earlier on Friday, but wanted to see every vendor and artist first before making my final decision. I also did this so that I don’t spend too much money and only buy my top items, I am still a broke girlie lol. The Artist Alley was my favorite section, and I saw so much great merch! I ended up getting these items in the end:

I also got a smoothie from my favorite Anime Milwaukee vendor, Maui Wowi. They have the best smoothies and wish they had a store near me!

Next, I went to my favorite panel of the con: BEASTARS Final Season – Series Finale Celebration! Beastars is one of my favorite anime to date, and I have been following it from the beginning. I love it because even though the anime consists of anthropomorphic animal characters, it touches on societal issues that exist today. The panel consisted of Nanami Higuchi (the sole screenwriter of Beastars), Griffin Puatu (English voice actor of Louis), and Yoshihiro Watanabe (associate producer of Beastars). It was Nanami Higuchi’s first-ever panel! Nanami shared how much she liked the theme of Beastars, especially the main character Legoshi, who has the potential for violence because of his physical attributes, but is not violent on the inside.  She also loves the character Haru because she was not the stereotypical submissive girl, which is often displayed in mainstream Japanese media. She also explained that adapting a manga to an anime is not just a 1-to-1 copy, but you also have to make sure you transfer the same character’s emotion and the messages of the manga to the anime.

The panelists also all shared goodbye messages to the audience, which were all heartfelt. You can check it out here:

Next, I attended the Asexual Anime Characters Panel! I consider myself to be on the asexual spectrum and love to see ace representation in the media I watch. The panel provided a list of confirmed asexual characters, characters that the panelists assume are asexual, and a list of characters that the panelists think are ace because they “feel it deep in [their] souls”. Members of the audience also share characters that they believe are asexual. I mentioned the character Mao Mao, and they responded that they forgot to add her lol. Here’s the categorical lists if you’re interested!

Confirmed Asexual anime Characters:

• Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece
• Saiki K. from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
• Izaya Orihara from Durarara

Assumed to be Asexual

• Gowther from The Seven Deadly Sins
• Decim from Death Parade
• Sakamoto from Haven’t you Heard I’m Sakamoto
• Mash from Mashle
• Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club
• Senku from Dr. Stone
• Laios Touden from Delicious in Dungeon

They’re Ace cause we Feel it Deep in our Souls

• Bakugo Katsuki from My Hero Academia
• Violet Evergarden from Violet Evergarden
• Ranpo Edogawa from Bongou Stray Dogs
• FF (Foo Fighters) from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
• Makima from Chainsaw Man

Characters from the Audience that I can remember

• Mao Mao from The Apothecary Diaries
• Frieren from Frieren Beyond Journey’s End

Next, I ended the Day by attending the closing ceremonies where the director of the con shared highlights and their achievements. Highlight included that the charity ball raised $5600 for the mkelbgt community center, and the total AMKE 2026 attendance was 16,832!

Overall, Anime Milwaukee 2026 was a blast! I have attended it since I moved to Milwaukee for medical school, and have seen it grow and improve every year. I may not be able to attend every year in the future since I’ll be starting residency back in Boston, but I do hope I get to go again and continue to see it grow!