Anime Expo 2026: Bigger Than Ever
Once again, The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation marked this past 4th of July weekend with their annual celebration of Japanese pop culture, Anime Expo, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
2026 marked Anime Expo’s 35th anniversary, which brought sold-out crowds of over 422,000 fans from around the world to enjoy world premiere screenings, cosplay, panels of voice talent and creatives from Japan, food, performances, and more.
Out on the exhibit floor, companies offered up elaborate booths that allowed guests to interact and personalize their relationships with their favorite shows and stories.
Over at the Toho International booth, fans could take photos, buy merchandise, and enjoy giveaways from some of TOHO’s wildly popular anime:
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the long-running series My Hero Academia gave fans the chance to enjoy a photo booth where they could take pictures with their favorite characters.
Those wanting to test their strength could do so at a themed California Smash punching machine.
The My Hero Academia 10th Anniversary Art Wall featured anime production art, and a special message from Yoshihiko Umakoshi, the character designer.
Jujutsu Kaisen, celebrating its own 5th year anniversary, provided viewers the chance to take photos with both the shikigami Judgeman, and the vengeful spirit Rika.
Production art from “The Culling Game Part 1” arc was also on display.
Guests could take photos with Maomao and Shisui from The Apothecary Diaries along with the fox masks seen in season 2’s Fox Mask Festival.
Here, fans could have a photo-op with Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’s magic-nullifying crystals and their cave.
A brand-new series, Though I Am an Inept Villainess had a display of elaborate costume recreations of the protagonist/antagonist Reirin and Keigetsu’s outfits.
A popular giveaway this year, the TOHO booth distributed AX-exclusive blind eco-bags, featuring one of the four featured returning shows, in a mini clip-on tote.
Over at the Hulu Animayhem booth, they expertly executed their yokocho concept we shared earlier with photo opportunities from some of their most popular and upcoming shows: Bleach, Naruto, Tokyo Revengers, Rooster Fighter, Mission: Yozokura Family, Thought I Am an Inept Villainess, and Undead Unluck.
From the larger to the smaller booths, every company brought something unique and interesting as they all clamored for attention–something the attendees were more than willing to give.
Over in the West Hall, CODE27 presented its new CODE27 3D Companion Hub. Using characters, some of which are submitted by creators through its “CodieHub” platform, users can enjoy an agenic assistant with a human-crafted personality and VA. While it’s a very new product, and the scope of its capabilities seems variable, the concept of having a companion in a canister is certainly a fascinating one. They are now on sale at Code27.com.
iBUYPOWER once again brought a booth packed full of decorative computer cases and peripherals to appeal to anyone wanting something more customized to look at while living their digital life.
One of their big roll-outs was an all-new line of products themed after Ninomae Ina’nis, an illustrator and VTuber that is part of HoloLive Production. On display was the Official HYTE Y70 Touch Infinite Ninomae Ina’nis Case, with an exclusive Royal Purple colorway and custom glass illustrations. The integrated touchscreen can feature a digital Ninomae Ina’nis with some interactive and animated abilities.
For more information about HYTE’s latest collaboration with hololive: hyte.co/ina-pr/
HYTE also had out some beautiful items from their 30th anniversary Persona collection, including deskpads and keycaps, available for preorder on their website.
ANA had a large airplane-shaped booth where guests could watch videos of ANA employees and learn about their different roles, or try out a virtual flight simulator.
Cybird had their usual booth walled in with a plethora of standees of characters from their many Ikemen video game series, and held a variety of talks on the topic of otome.
Silver Palace, an upcoming ARPG, had a sizeable booth in the West Hall, along with a large display in the lobby. Pre-registration is open at their website now.
Crunchyroll had its usual enormous booth, full of photo backdrops and packed with guests waiting for swag giveaways. From Daemons of the Shadow Realm, fans could stand between the Left and Right Guardians and activate a clip from the show. Their “Dubbing Dojo” was also a huge hit as folks lined up to experience the feel of dubbing anime.
A figurine of Teoritta from Sentenced to be a Hero moved and spoke, demanding head pats in a surprising fashion.
The phenomenally popular international mobile game Love and Deepspace had what must have been one of the most spectated booth, as they brought professional cosplayers out to have in-character interactions with those who reserved them.
After exploring everything the Exhibit Halls had to offer, con-goers could spill out onto the closed-off Figeroa Street in front of the Convention Center to enjoy dozens of Japanese-themed food trucks lining AX Crossing before continuing on to all the remaining panels and concerts AX had going on into the night.
