[San Diego Anime Con ’25] The Errors Tour

I’ve been following San Diego Anime Con for three years. It’s interesting to see how this convention is growing and making a name for itself in San Diego. The California city has been craving for more events. In recent months, San Diego now has San Diego Anime Con (September 2026) and the very sus, Anime 619 that was happening during SDAC. San Diego Anime Con runs like your typical weekend convention. This is also one of the few hotel conventions in California, but while this may be a good thing for conventioneers, there is a lot of growth.

It’s no surprise that San Diego Anime Con outdid themselves attendee-wise. Compared to the first year at the Handerly Hotel, Saturday’s attendance was bursting at the seams. The main hallway was crowded and you could feel the body heat. I had to step outside to the pool deck of gazebo area to get a breather. More artists and vendors were present. We also had a hearty showcase of voice actors. There were more programming rooms consisting of panels, table top gaming, electronic gaming, idol entertainment, a maid cafe, and an anime themed flight simulator.

San Diego Anime Con is a con like being a contributor for. I helped out with Cosplay Wrestling Federation, performed in Angel Hearts, and hosted my fandom history panel. Most of my time was dedicated to preparing for these events, hence I didn’t take as much photos as I normally do.

Artist Alley took up a majority of the convention. I liked seeing artists that I normally don’t get to see in the Los Angeles area. I mainly saw prints, acrylic keychains, etc. I liked the variety of fandoms, it didn’t feel like Mihoyo titles were the majority.

The vendor hall was split into two ballrooms. There was a photo booth where you can take a convention selfie and DIY checki where you can decorate your photo with stickers at an additional cost. I saw some familiar dealers like anime figures, old anime books (my friend was into the gyaru fashion magazines and Shinning Hearts artbooks). I saw some gunpla dealers and plenty of anime thematic clothing dealers, including a second hand clothing booth. I picked up a Kuromi plush for a white elephant event coming up since we’re close to the December holidays.

I peaked into the 18+ room to see if they had King of Fighters like they did last year. They had one artist and one adult content cosplayer. For some reason, they had a navy movie playing on the TV when I dropped in.

Entertainment was all around! Saturday had late night karaoke via KaraFun instead of YouTube. Cosplay Wrestling Federation, while having a few behind the scenes hiccups, managed to still get a full house on Saturday afternoon with a new Waffle King crowned. Parfait Party hosted the maid cafe. I wished I could have made a reservation, but I had little time to spare, but the maid crew seemed like a fun group!

I did attend the masquerade / cosplay contest. This is the second cosplay contest I watched this year. Not gonna lie, there was a huge line for this event. The cosplay contest was in a very tiny room upstairs. Like Cosplay Wrestling Federation, the room was bursting at the seams. People were sitting the aisles and standing in the back to get a glimpse of the cosplay show. We were entertained with plenty of cosplay idol entries from Sekai Project, iDolm@ster: Side M, Vocaloid, and more. The show had about 16 or so entries and for a small con, it was a solid show!

Halftime was brought to you by Parfait Party. They performed songs from anime openings. They had a “name that tune!” activity where if you guessed the anime they were dancing from, you’d get free hot cocoa the next day.

As of note, I felt bad for the judges because like our host for Cosplay Wrestling Federation, they were caught in traffic on the I-5 freeway. Earlier on Saturday, there was a shoot out on the I-5 that shut down a major section into San Diego which had some attendees coming in from LA drive for several hours to San Diego.

Idol Hour was a delight! I got to perform with Angel Hearts. We were down one angel because of an injury. This time around, we performed new Para Para songs, a mix of Hinoi Ai, and a tribute to our roots, “Thank You!” from The iDolm@ster Million Love. We shared our Idol Hour with Zuri who sang his heart out to classic Visual Kei songs such as “Au Revoir” from Malice Mizer. Also, a special shoutout to Soren, the bunny butler idol, who let me borrow their fan when my Amazon fan fell apart. Soren did several anime covers including “Angel Angel” from Love Live. Shortly after the show, Angel Hearts took a few photos with the Itasha outside of the convention hotel.

Overall, yes the vibes of San Diego Anime Con are younger, but I love working with this convention and its partner events. While Anime 619 was running their voice actor petting zoo down the street at the famous San Diego Convention Center, San Diego Anime Con offered so much more. While I would love to see more programming happen after 6PM (ie: longer video game room hours, anime music video contest, anime parody videos, etc), San Diego Anime Con continues the ‘by fans for fans” vibes that are the very foundation of fandom third spaces. In an era where anime is so easily capitalized, SDAC stands out as one of the few in the state that does not forget its roots.

Special thanks to San Diego Anime Con for always being so kind to Cosplay Wrestling Federation and Angel Hearts. I appreciate that this convention values the community and continues to source programming from fans who want to give back. I appreciate all the effort and generosity from Silk Road Productions for always welcoming us back with open arms.

With that said, here’s hoping that next year’s SDAC will be at a bigger venue with a better parking situation!