The first inaugural Anime Bouken took place in Fullerton, CA at a local community center on March 1, 2026. This one day event was free for all who attended. I was invited to be a guest panelist at Anime Bouken discussing old school anime fandom from the POV of the Toonami generation (hi elder millennials!).
Questions? We got you covered!
It was easy to find parking at the Fullerton community center. We got in as the local church service was getting out. It wasn’t too hard to spot the event. You could spot the collection of itasha outside the Boys and Girls Club.
Most of the action of Anime Bouken took place in the main gymnasium. This had a ton of local artists selling all kinds of things. You had your usual prints, charms, stickers, and stationary artists. I was very happy to find an artist that sold Dear Brother and Gundam Wing stickers! You also had people selling rare Pokemon trading cards. I saw a few authors and indie comics too!
You could even buy lunch and snacks at the con center. Pizza was going for $5 a slice!
The audience for Anime Bouken was very family friendly. I did see a lot of teens and their parents attend the free event. A few local anime nerds and the president of the USC anime club were in attendance. A daughter of an attendee was also handing out trinkets to people – my friend and I ended up getting a mini bubble wand, squishy stim toy (the best!), and candy. I was also giving away bookmarks to promote my book, The Fangirl Diaries.
Programming wise consisted of half hour panels. I did check out the the video game development panel. The panelist provided resources and was willing to have one on one conversations for anyone interested in the industry.
Attendees get read for the paper plane throwing contest
I also performed my panel. This was different than what I usually do at anime cons. I’m no stranger to standing up and giving lectures, but I kinda joked that this was the stand up comedy version of my “In My Y2K Era” panel.
I talked about cosplay and conventions back in the day here!
I stuck around for the cosplay contest. For a small con, we had some solid judges including a few from Anime Expo’s cosplay senpai squad. In between the contest, you could even check out their booths to see their body of work and videos of their past cosplay performances.
Courtyard area – good place to relax!
Photos from the cosplay contest. I do appreciate the cosplay contest allowed for brief performances. A Chun Li cosplayer showed off her martial arts moves and we had a few idol performances.
And we had a halftime show from local idol, Dusk Imai, singing a medley of Uma Musume tunes.
And the judges and the winners!
The vibes of Anime Bouken were laid back, but still a lot of fun. Video games were in the back of the gymnasium if you went like playing console or rhythm games. The courtyard was a nice, ambient place to de-stim and have lunch. I loved that this con really sources its programming and contributors from the local community. I feel more local conventions need to invest more in locals because Southern California has a strong presence of talent and voices!
Thank you, Anime Bouken for the invitation. I look forward to the next one! This event has a ton of potential!
Should have taken more photos of the anime RC squad. Scott McNeil would have been proud.
Written by Cosplay Ancestor Eri IG: @cosplayancestoreri TikTok: @cosplayancestoreri BluSky: scarlet-rhapsody.com