Anime Expo 2025: A Japanese Cultural Extravaganza
The Fourth of July weekend means many different things to many different people. For the anime enthusiast however, it means the onset of one of the biggest annual Japanese pop culture festivals, Anime Expo.
Anime Expo, or AX, is North America's largest anime and manga convention. Organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), AX has offered a unique blend of anime screenings, industry panels, artist alley exhibitions, cosplay competitions, and much more since 1992. This year, over 410,000 fans from more than 65 countries gathered at AX to enjoy and gain inspiration from Japanese animation and culture.
Every year, Anime Expo offers attendees a plethora of panel discussions, screenings, cosplay, gaming, and merchandise, and this year was no exception. From world premieres to booths offering merchandise and talent largely unavailable in the US, it was four days of nonstop activity.
On the exhibitor’s floor, there were all manner of booths on display. The Funko/Loungefly/Mondo conglomerate had their usual elaborate cluster of booths offering up new releases of Yu-Gi-Oh, Godzilla, Chainsaw Man and Solo Leveling and more.
Meanwhile, Rokimoto, former Funko “Fun Maker" and founder Mike Becker’s new company was also in attendance with their new Peanuts collaboration.
In recent years, Hulu has made a strong foray into anime as evidenced in their expansive booth of photo-ops and prize drops.
While it seems unlikely that we’ll ever see a return of the fantastic Expo Crunchyroll used to hold up in San Jose, they didn’t skimp out on their presence here, with an attractive booth promoting their many hit series.
In a year when several companies seemed to have scaled back their offerings, Netflix went big with a large booth complete with interior funhouse (exit through a Squid Game inflatable slide) and Sakamoto Days merchandise store.
Aniplex of America celebrated its 20th anniversary by hosting several panels and an enormous booth with a mini-stage and a tunnel exhibiting some of their many shows throughout the years.
On the gaming side, many of the traditional attendees were back–Cybird brought their usual army of standees for their Ikemen game series as they celebrated their 10th anniversary in the English market.
Over in the Entertainment Hall, Hoyoverse had a large showcase centering around their popular mobile games Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero.
At the booths, players could fulfill various tasks for free swag and take advantage of the usual imposing photo opportunities.
In conjunction with Hoyoverse, as well as ASUS and HYTE, iBUYPOWER was back at AX presenting some of their new customizable cases and peripherals, along with chances to win prizes and even get makeovers.
New to the convention center (last year saw their first appearance as an ice cream truck collaboration across the street) was the wildly profitable mobile game Love and Deepspace which held exhibition space outside with photo setups and swag distribution.
Interactive experiences were prevalent as well, with multiple booths offering up gaming experiences, including gacha and claw games of every size.
After all the activities, if one was looking for a chance to rest with some food, there was a plethora of offerings, from the expanded AX Crossing food booth area, to the separate Beer Garden. The close proximity was convenient for the weary looking to quickly refuel and then get home to sleep before the next big day of screenings and presentations.
