Join Tom, co-host of 1 Hour 1 Decision, as he shares the ani-mazing experience he had at San Japan!
Once a small volunteer-run event with less than a thousand attendees, San Japan has grown into the largest anime convention in south Texas with over 28,000 fans in attendance this year. As you might expect from an anime convention, the show sported an impressive artist alley and a robust dealer room, allowing fans to acquire art and other merch from even fairly obscure shows. The show also had a number of events and panels aimed at celebrating the multitude of fandoms that comprise the genre. My personal favorites of these were the AMV contest, where attendees voted on their favorite fan-made music videos, and a panel where artists from Studio Trigger were on-hand to create art on the fly while answering questions from the audience.
What truly surprised me about San Japan, however, was the impressive amount of gaming content on display. In addition to the "obvious" crossover content like arcade cabinets loaded with imported arcade games, the convention had allocated about half of its total time and space to assorted gaming content. On the show floor, this content included rhythm games, pachinko, pinball machines, VR demos, indie games, consoles and tabletop gaming as well. While I was there, I managed to take the Meta Quest 3 for a spin, learned how to play a CCG, and got my butt kicked in some head-to-head fighting games of yesteryear. Speaking of the classics, the show had a dedicated space in one of the quieter upstairs rooms that they transformed into a museum of retro gaming. I've been around a long time and played a lot of stuff, but even I was able to see and interact with consoles that were just inaccessible to me in my youth and that was a really great experience.
In the unlikely event that you are reading this and somehow not terribly interested in anime or video games, the convention also sported America’s first itasha-centric car show, hosted by the Texas-based itasha car group, ItaPara. I'm not a "car guy" but even I was impressed by the variety of vehicles on display. I didn't get to interact with it this year, but True Dungeon also had a setup at the show, and I'd encourage anyone who enjoys tabletop gaming and wants to crank it up a level to look them up and give them a try because that's certainly an experience worth having. Oh, I almost forgot, the convention also partnered with South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, so I gave my blood to help out some folks in need and learned my blood type in the process! All in all, I have to say that I was really impressed with the diverse offerings of what I misconstrued as "just an anime convention" and I am really glad that I attended the event.
If you are going to be in the San Antonio area next year or want to start planning a future trip, I learned that the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center will continue to be San Japan’s permanent location, with conventions contracted to take place every Labor Day weekend through 2030. I encourage you to check it out!
Tom has been playing video games for a very long time. He loves them so much, in fact, that he created the 1 Hour 1 Decision podcast with his buddy Chris to randomly play and review Xbox Game Pass titles!
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