For me, the Fourth of July has usually meant one thing: Anime Expo. With the exception of the pandemic years, I’ve attended every year since 2007. Some years were fantastic, some made me question why I kept coming back, yet somehow I always found myself buying another badge the following year.
It was tradition, after all, but this year is different.
Instead of braving the crowds at the Los Angeles Convention Center, I’m sitting at home attempting, and mostly failing, to make a dent in my never-ending anime backlog.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I decided to skip Anime Expo this year and finally end my streak in favor of two major bucket list adventures: Dragon Con and my long-awaited trip to Japan.
I’m not going to lie, there were definitely moments where I considered buying a one-day badge just to keep the streak alive and avoid the inevitable FOMO. Those thoughts disappeared pretty quickly once I added up the cost of the badge, gas, parking, and everything else. Let’s not kid ourselves, Anime Expo is not a cheap convention, even for a single day.
More importantly, I realized that I’d be attending out of obligation rather than excitement. That’s never a good reason to go to a convention because at that point it starts feeling more like work than fun.
As I write this, it’s the Fourth of July, Day 3 of Anime Expo is wrapping up, and the convention comes to a close tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed seeing friends’ photos from cosplay gatherings, hallway shots, and everything else that’s been happening around the convention. Have there been moments where I wish I was there? Of course, you don’t spend close to two decades going to an event every year and avoid that feeling completely.
The funny thing is that the feeling hasn’t been anywhere near as strong as I expected. For years, Anime Expo was the main event of my convention calendar, it was the weekend I built my year around. The cosplay, the people watching, catching up with friends, and simply being surrounded by thousands of people who shared the same hobbies made it something I looked forward to every summer. This year feels different because I’m not really giving something up. I’m trading one amazing experience for two others.
To borrow a wrestling analogy, Anime Expo usually occupied the main event slot on my calendar. This year, it’s been relegated to the undercard by the absolute chaos that is Dragon Con and a dream trip to Japan that has been years in the making. Those opportunities just happened to line up at exactly the right time.
Seeing everything coming out of Anime Expo has also reminded me why I was comfortable taking this year off. After a surprisingly smooth last couple of years, this year has brought back some of the crowded, confusing lines that Anime Expo has become known for. To be fair, that’s not entirely the convention’s fault as the Los Angeles Convention Center is in the middle of much-needed construction and renovations. Naturally this means less available space and more logistical challenges and knowing this year’s convention would probably have some growing pains made my decision even easier.
With all that said, this isn’t me declaring that Anime Expo has lost its magic or that I’m done attending forever; far from it. Despite its flaws, Anime Expo has given me some incredible memories over the years, and it’ll always have a special place in my convention calendar. If anything, taking a year off might be exactly what I needed. If I do return next year, I have a feeling I’ll appreciate it even more.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have approximately 47,000 Dragon Con panels to look through, a cosplay lineup that will probably change another dozen times before September, and an anime backlog that somehow keeps getting longer no matter how much I watch. Some traditions end, but apparently replacing one obsession with three new ones is just how I operate.
