Birds of a feather, we should stick together, I know
I skipped out on Fanime Con 2024 to save up for a London trip. I’ve been attending Fanime Con intermittently between the years since 2003. I recall the last Santa Clara days, the fountain at the San Jose Convention Center, and the era where all panels were held at the Signia (formerly, the Fairmont). I was selected to host two panels, appear in a Stage Zero Author Q&A, perform two shows for Cosplay Wrestling Federation (CWF), and perform with my idol group, Angel Hearts.
And that’s what Fanime Con is – by fans for fans. Elder millennials and Fanime Con veterans give back to this in programming, performance, and staffing. While Fanime doesn’t quite have the star power of anime industry guests such as Animazement or Anime North, this is the con where the community lifts up one another.
I landed in San Jose on Day 1 Friday. The four day anime convention typically gets things going later in the afternoon. I joined friends for a Disney GAL photoshoot where I was dolled up as the OG Disney Princess ™, Snow White. Downtown San Jose has picturesque spots for photos. The science museum has bold backgrounds, the park has greenery and fountains, and the area by the Signia Hotel has stylish downtown backgrounds. Most photographers, especially GWC’s (gooners with cameras), will use the grey walls outside the convention center. This area can get crowded and stinky real fast (even stinkier than the video game room), just note there are far more unique and better backgrounds for cosplay photos. Even the Signia Hotel and Westin lobby had choice locations wherein it wasn’t crowded or squatted by GWC’s.
I did attend a few cosplay meet ups throughout the weekend. One such highlight is the Old School Anime meet up where cosplayers represented anime and manga series created before 2000. This year, Ranma ½ cosplayers dominated the bunch. It helped that there was a Ranma ½ meet up earlier in the day. Other classic series present were Starblazers, Rose of Versailles, Patlabor, among others. I represented Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi. I was quite happy I had more people whom recognized the isekai romantasy than mistaking my cosplay from the Mihoyoverse.
It’s tough to comment on programming when you are running multiple panels and performing in a few shows. A few panels I wanted to check out where going on while I had other commitments. I did check out a few shows at Stage Zero. While it appeared crowded, I could always find a seat in the front row. I caught a few idol performances, especially the mega Fanimaid Cafe performance where they celebrated all 80 Fanime maids. They danced to J-pop and anisongs and ended it with a dance off to Atarashii Gakko. There were a few game shows such as “Who’s That Pokemon?” I think my favorite was Angel Hearts vs. FaniMaid Cafe vs. Black and White Ball when it came to Para Para and dressing up in Sweet Lolita fashion.
I did peak into a few J-fashion events at the Signia Hotel. The hotel was home to the J-fashion programming. There was a separate vendor hall for J-fashion styles including GAL, Lolita, Decora, Morigirl, and others. I did spent quite a bit on Morigirl and GAL clothing and accessories. Most of these were indie and local designers. Forest Girl Clothing is a brand from the Pacific Northwest that is very much into cottagecore. A Gato Designs is mixing up kawaii Lolita style and pastels for all sizes. I also attended a history of Para Para panel and went into the photo booth room where I got photos of my Snow White GAL coordinate / fit (or whatever the kids call it these days). There was even a Monday event where you can pose your dolls and plushes with tiny backgrounds. I took my Sailor Mars (idol version) crocheted doll gifted by my friend Miles with these backdrops.
The Oasis was the 18+ zone where you had to take a shuttle (or a ride share over). I did not have time to check out the Oasis, but I did have a friend who went in to play casino games such as Texas Hold ‘Em. He generally had a positive experience. The convention used to have a 24 hour vibe at the San Jose Convention Center, but the times have changed. People have taken the party to Park Con right across the street where you would have random DJ’s do their thing at different sections of the park right across the street. It was crowded and it can get messy. It’s not really my scene, but I did end up with friends over at Miniboss, a simple barcade that was playing Macross: Do You Remember Love on its screen.
The vendor hall and Artist Alley always draws a crowd. One of my biggest gripes with Fanime is the crowding in the Artist Alley. Fanime is a medium sized convention. While I am unsure of the numbers, it’s definitely a huge draw. Yet, the Artist Alley can get very crowded where you’re very much sardined in I did appreciate seeing the artists present; an artist all the way from Europe was selling 90’s themed prints of modern anime and girlypop – think what if Sabrina Carpenter was in Creamy Mami.

I didn’t take many photos in the Artist Alley, but here’s someone at registration working on a Pokemon puzzle
The dealers hall had Japanese clothes and accessories, a lot of love for acrylic pins and accessories for Ita bag enthusiasts, card games, casual anime street fashion, anime pinup posters, and food. This time around, because of the economy, I was in no rush to buy anything from the vendor hall. Yet, because my head was suffering from wig itch, Epic Cosplay saved the day by getting me a new wig cap and a plastic wig headband to place underneath the wig. The results were night and day. I think I’ll go forward with this practice here on out.
Something new I checked out this year was the Itasha car show. I’m not deep into car culture. This was held at the large tented off area behind the convention center. Anime fans from across the west coast brought their anime themed cars to be put on display. Dreamscape provided some anime and k-pop tunes as people were browsing through this anime car show. I also liked that there were Summer Festival themed backdrops for photos for everyone. Of course I had to take my Miaka cosplay to a few of these.
The vibes at Fanime were pretty good. People were very friendly. Most of my interaction came from hanging out by stage zero. Most social zones were outside. Even at offsite venues like SOFA Market down the street, anime fans shared tables with other anime fans to enjoy a meal at the mom and pop owned food court. I tend to avoid areas where there’s a lot of GWC’s and I go where most fans are. Stage Zero was our official town center of Fanime. I am happy that Fanime has kept this tradition of having a central stage at the convention center.
As a presenter and performer, I had three performances and three panels. This was a huge endeavor for me. Like I said, Fanime is by the fans for the fans. As an elder in the community. I like to step up where I can to give back. I appreciate that Fanime values fan submitted content whether it’s performance, cosplay meet ups, game shows, or informational sessions. I had a great experience with Stage Zero and programming staff.
Rob Miles had invited me to do Fireside Chat author talk on Stage Zero. Earlier in the month, I had my first library author talk with the New York Public Library to talk about fandom. I enjoyed talking to Rob Miles about the era of anime fandom as it was transitioning into a niche thing for Gen X’ers to the latest fad for Millennials in the early 00’s. Rob also share a lot of insight from his days leading programming and being one of the top dogs at Anime Expo. “I walk into AX today and no one even remembers me,” the convention veteran expressed.
Performing with Cosplay Wrestling Federation and Angel Hearts is always a delight. This was my first time performing in front of a Fanime audience with either. Fanimania has the mosted hyped up wrestling crowd out of all the CWF main event shows I’ve ever done for the past year and a half. I made my idol debut at San Diego Anime Con last year, and this was the Stage Zero idol debut with Angel Hearts. We performed classic Para Para Paradise songs followed by songs inspired by Japanese summer festivals (with cute outfits to match!)
I also have to give a special shoutout to Con Ops for taking care of a creepy person situation. Without going into the details, there is a number on the back of the badge that you can call and report suspicious persons to. In the past, I was iffy about Con Ops because of questionable people on staff at the time. Skip to a few years later, Con Ops were able to listen to my issue with empathy, care, and diligence.
Before I wrap up the report, a special shoutout to Geki, Kitty Princess Kie, Rob Miles, and Azur Mage for your support and partnership with my panels. You are all amazing!
Fanime Con 2025 was a pretty darn good year. I had fun giving back to the convention that defined my university days in the Bay Area. I have very little gripes about the convention. I felt they improved in areas that I saw needed fixing (ie: Con Ops and safety reporting questionable attendees). Perhaps a good problem to have is that there was so much going on; I tried to double book watching a stage zero performance and a cosplay meet up steps away from the stage.
And let’s hope Fanime can invite this millennial fandom historian and scholar as a guest in 2026!

Written by Cosplay Ancestor Eri
IG: @cosplayancestoreri
TikTok: @cosplayancestoreri
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