[Con Report] Los Angeles Idol Matsuri ’24

Who uses typewriters anyway?

Los Angeles Idol Matsuri 2024 (LAIM) took place on September 7, 2024 at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center (Torrance, CA). This one day event celebrated all things “idol.” The event’s focus was on “kaigai,” or overseas idols. The Greater Los Angeles has plenty of talent. For transparency, I was the Co-Chair of the team that put this event all together. As a fandom archivist, I’m posting this report for historical and fandom lore documentation that we had an event showcasing 23 idols, 2 stages, and 1 full day of idols.

To set the stage, most Los Angeles based events have an “invite only” to kaigai idols for their events. In other words, you have to be already well known and established to even have an opportunity to perform. For this event, I appreciated that we had 20+ idols from different levels of experience, some even making their main stage debut at LA Idol Matsuri. We wanted to bring in and showcase what talent we have here in Southern California. In fact, we had talent from Mexico and Texas take part in our show. I also appreciated that we accepted idols of all types – bodies, abilities, color, gender, and more. We really did have a diverse line up.

LA Idol Matsuri took place during a heatwave that was scorching Southern California. Most people flocked to our indoor stage to stay cool. Wotagei, or idol fans donning the merch and penlights, were energized and hyped to see their favorites perform on stage.

Ashten Passion opened up our outdoor stage with singing tunes from Love Live and Newsies. Their set list was focused on songs that had a message for change. They also brought awareness to the recent voice actor strike against AI. Because I loved the fact they were singing a Setsuna Yuki tune, I visited their booth in the indoor stage area. They had the cutest Card Captor Sakura Clow card earrings.

We had  few community tables and vendors at LA Idol Matsuri. We had a room of artists, some whom were selling for the first time. While most of the artists sold idol themed art and goods, attendees also bought non-idol themed products. My colleague in registration bought a white rabbit candy themed stick book and a Resident Evil acrylic charm. We didn’t have a maid cafe, but we did have Dreamland stop by to talk about upcoming appearances.

Nekopuf, the catgirl schoolgirl idol, belted out some amazing citypop and anisongs.

LA Idol Matsuri also introduced me to new talent. SuperNovA brought some school idol realness with their idol group.

And we also had Stolen Kiss from Tiajuana cover a few Love Live songs. Did you know they made their outfits? A few idols and myself went up to them after their set to talk about how they made the scallops on their costumes.

Veteran idol group, Angel Hearts performed a series of Para Para Paradise tunes. You might recognize these Super Eurobeat songs from Initial D. More and more people flocked to the outdoor stage when they heard the meme-worthy, “Running in the 90’s”.

BGIE brought in their bubble guns to perform a mix of original music and covers. They made school themed outfits for their school idol themed performance. They were taking us to BGIE University and made sure we were all schooled in the ways of idol culture. This also included a session in detention.

The overall vibes of LA Idol Matsuri can be described as “hype.” There was a lot of positivity in the air – with so many idols, how can you not have a good time? I loved seeing idols supporting other idols on stage. While going between two stages can be noisy and sometimes you might want to take a mental break, we had a Japanese garden at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center (and we weren’t afraid to use it). It was nice seeing cosplayers take photos at this public garden, or idols just taking a break or de-stimming. But overall, it was good vibes all around.

A colleague who used to be on the board for SPJA had told me that once the doors open, the convention belongs to the attendees. I loved that people were also making their brand of fun at LA Idol Matsuri. In between music sets, this group here was playing mah-jong.

We also had Irodori Idols perform in their cheerleader themed outfits performing μ’s songs from Love Live.

And in the evening, we had our three headliner performers – Amanda Tanadinata, Hamu Cotton, and Phoebe Chan. Sadly, most of my photos from the indoor stage didn’t turn out well. I missed Hamu Cotton’s performance. However, Amanda, coming in from the Pacific Northwest, performed songs from Gundam Seed and performed with Russian fans showing off her “flow” work with the LA Idol Matsuri crowd.

The night concluded with a performance by Phoebe Chan, the fairy tale idol. She sang original songs and covers from Macross. Her meet and greet ran after closing time. So many people wanted to meet the well known VTuber. (and I did too!)

Finally, the night came to a end. All remaining performers were invited to the stage to dance to “Idol” by Yoasobi. We still had a lot of energy into the evening hours. This event started at 12PM and ended close to 10PM. Two stages, over 20 idol performances, and non-stop idol goodness.

As Co-Chair, I want to thank my staff for their hard work in getting this event off the ground. I also wanted to thank our volunteers for answering the call.  I also wanted to give Cosplay Wrestling Federation a shoutout for giving us Luluko and Daniel on loan. This truly felt like a built by fans for fans event.

Additionally, a huge shoutout to the vendors, artists, performers, and attendees. This event is yours now. I am happy to have seen so much talent between two stages. I loved talking to everyone at the show. Everyone was very friendly and I was happy to hear people being excited for LA Idol Matsuri. Let’s continue to support idol and anisong themed events in Southern California, especially new talent.

A special shout out goes to Jim (Otakon), Isaac (Sakura Con), Kris (Anime Expo), Darius (Anime Weekend Atlanta), Will (Anime Central), Ranma (Univision), Leon (Anime Central), Masoud (Anime Los Angeles), Wendell (Fanime), and Robert Miles Jr (Anime America) for their mentorship and veteran Gen X convention running wisdom to this childless cat lady millennial. Gotta thank the ancestors for supporting this cosplay ancestor. Respect.