[Sakura Con 2026] Come On Over

I’m goin’ out tonight, I’m feelin’ alright

This was my fourth Sakura Con. I attended for the first time in 2009 and then returned in 2023 for Cosplay Wrestling Federation. While Sakura Con has valid criticism by the local Seattle otaku community, I do enjoy going to this show. The local otaku community was nudged to attend the older running NorWesCon also going on during the same time, but my friends and I were unsure if they would be open to idols and wrestling given the target audience leans older (think Boomer). However, Sakura Con was a busy con for me! It was non-stop madness!

We mighta took the long way. We knew we’d get there someday.

I took a side trip to Sakura Con’s namesake. Seattle has a ton of cherry blossom trees and grooves scattered around. The most popular being at the University of Washington. I was fortunate to drop by twice – once as soon as I landed in town and on early Saturday morning to help my cousin get photos for her maid cafe application. The University of Washington can be rideshare’d from downtown, but I would recommend sharing the fare with a friend as it can get pricey.

Now, don’t get me wrong, yeah, I think you’re alright

Picking up my badge wasn’t a problem, but it was hard trying to find the signage for “presenter.” I didn’t go with a press badge this year since I was focused on contributing the show’s programming. Thankfully, I was able to flag a staff to locate where to find the line for “presenter.” Signs were far away from the entrance in the massive showroom. Lines fared much better than last year’s disaster. I was able to get in and out with no problem on Thursday evening.

I give my hand to you with all my heart

Sakura Con has a wealth of programming, but sadly, the programming guide and app need so much more work. I miss having a physical program guide that has a grid of all the panels running. Programming ran between two buildings in downtown Seattle. Most panels were in the newer Summit building. My Y2K panel was very well attended with people wanting to learn or soak in teenage nostalgia. This time, my friend, Cha, joined me to discuss anime and cosplay back in the day.

I also attended a few other panels in between my busy schedule. I was able to catch a chamber ensemble playing anime and video game tunes. These were arranged by fans – tunes from Freiren and Pokemon were selected. I also went to the spot that bootleg panel that discussed what were some of the common anime bootleg merch out there. Sakura Con seemed to have a robust panel schedule, but again, I wished there was a better layout to find programming. I had to play panel roulette at the con.

We beat the odds together

You could spend a day going through the dealers hall and artist alley. The dealers hall had a plethora of anime snacks, j-fashion, plushes, and hair accessories. What separates this vendor hall from most is the amount of anime physical media available. There was an entire section dedicated to selling manga. We even had a few manga publishers present to sell the latest manga volumes. I also appreciated the amount of vintage anime vendors. One such vendor had Magic Knight Rayearth and Card Captor Sakura merch from the 90s. Another booth had Gundam laser discs.

The artist alley is the biggest one I’ve been in of all the annual fandom cons I’ve attended. I had to power walk through the aisles to see what was there. I loved that there were a ton of booths selling pins. There were a few j-fashion accessory booths. I even sang along with a vendor who was playing “Simple and Clean” on their booth’s speakers. A few artists had stamp rallies going on, I didn’t participate in any mainly because I was pinching my pennies at this con. I also wanted to note that with the popularity of Uma Musume, I did see a few artists sell horse ears for cosplayer needs.

That don’t impress me much!

One of my motivating factors to attend Sakura Con is performing in Cosplay Wrestling Federation. CWF is broken down into two events – Friday and Saturday. Friday focused on CWF’s next top host in a lead up to the CWF tag team championship. Neko World Order versus Issac and Miria of Baccano! Of course, Neko World Order won the match. However, Saturday had bigger stakes at hand. First of all, CWF was back in the Sakura Dome. This was our first time back in that space in years. The room was decorated with pink light up cherry blossom trees. It was a theatre in the round set up. However, they didn’t play our usual hype music before the start of the show. We were getting music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. We started dancing to “Linus and Lucy” before we got on stage.

Everyone had to go up against Homura from Madoka. I went up as Sailor Mars and made it into the semi-finals. However, all the love went to Soldier from Team Fortress to go up against Homura. Solider won the title of the Cherry Tempest Champion. Of course, all wrestling storylines need a moment. Litten evolved to Torracat. Neko World Order may not ever be the same…

We don’t need romance, we only wanna dance

I’m new to the gyaru community and I admit only sticking with kogal inspired styles centered around building something cute around Taylor Swfit’s cardigan collection. Cha invited me to coordinate with her as Disney princess kogals. She went as Cinderella. I went as Snow White. While my coord was simple, I admired how the PNW gyaru scene went all out. We shared styling ideas and spent the rest of the night dancing to para para.

I felt bummed that I missed out on a few para para panels at Sakura Con due to time conflicts, but I am glad that para para is still alive and kicking in 2026.

Let’s go girls!

Sunday was our big Seattle debut day for Angel Hearts. Prior to the convention, Sakura Con was going to have an all idol showcase, but it meant having to sacrifice all idol panels set for the con. This also included the approved Angel Hearts panel that was part performance, an About Us, and how we’ve been in the idol game before the word “kaigai idol” was coined. However, having feedback from the idol community, the idol festival showcase was canceled and idol panels were back.

Our debut consisted of two red letter achievements – Diana’s re-debut with Angel Hearts after a hiatus due to health complications and us singing! We performed “Power of Love” from Sailor Moon followed by “Deluxe” from Para Para Paradise and “Thank You” from The Idolm@ster. We were a later Sunday panel, and we appreciated everyone who came out to our panel.

We emphasized that one could play “Deluxe” at the arcade. Before the panel, I decided to check out the free to play 24 hour arcade at the con. While DDR looked tempting, I didn’t think it would be feasible in white go go boots. I ended up having a few rounds of para para before the crowd came in. The arcade was massive – they had almost everything crammed in the upstairs of the arch building. This was definitely a highlight of Sakura Con!

My dreams came true because of you

Overall, Sakura Con continues to be one of my favorite conventions to attend. I love the mix of American and Japanese guests. While I didn’t get a chance to check out any guest panels this year, I do appreciate Sakura Con employing the anime convention of model of mix of industry programming and fan centered programming. I do appreciate another year of Cosplay Wrestling Federation – I love that we’re back at the Sakura Dome! I always appreciate doing history panels at Sakura Con. I’m always grateful for my audience and meeting my readers in this space. It’s always heavenly performing with Angel Hearts.

Sakura Con isn’t perfect. I wish there was more that I could comment about. I would love a printed pocket program similar to what Fanime Con does. I do appreciate registration running smooth. I love the location; I don’t mind going back and forth buildings within reason. This is a convention I don’t mind traveling back to. Given that Wonder Con and Sakura Con are the same weekend in 2027, I’ve already made my choice to make it to Sakura Con instead.

I love the PNW and I look forward to calling this my home soon!