Anime Impulse 2023 Los Angeles was held at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, CA this past weekend, January 14th-15th. Anime Impulse is a convention/media group that brings all of the otaku family together for a wonderful weekend to partake in panels showcasing amazing guests, vendors and artists within the community, car enthusiasts and more. On top of that, they bring in K-Play! Fest, which is geared to the kpop fans and then, there’s Sneaker Expo, which are for the sneaker and vintage heads.
Unfortunately for us, we were only able to drop by the Saturday and we had to experience it in the rain. Let me tell y’all about what to expect from this year and how it was for us when we attended.
Before we start, let’s talk about the special guests.
Special Guests
There were a lot of guests at this convention. They ranged from voice actors from specific anime series or video games to YouTube/Twitch content creators, talented cosplayers, and more. Here is the full list of special guests that you would be able to see and possibly meet with during the event:
- King Chris
- AleXa
- Johnny Yong Bosch
- Ray Chase
- Erica Lindbeck
- Cassandra Lee Morris
- Cherami Leigh
- Erica Mendez
- Alban Knox
- Fulgar Ovid
- Uki Violeta
- Sonny Brisko
- Nina Kosaka
- Enna Alouette
- Millie Parfait
- Reimu Endou
- Pomui Rainpuff
- Elira Pendora
- Finana Ryugu
- Zeno Ribonson
- Aleks Le
- Mark Whitten
- Allegra Clark
- Faye Mata
- Xanthe Huynh
- Griffin Burns
- Jonah Scott
- Suzie Yeung
- Alejandro Saab
- Chris Hackney
- Kira Buckland
- Casey Mongillo
- Howard Wang
- Tiana Camacho
- Yong Yea
- Stephen Fu
- Michelle Ruff
- Abby Trott
- Brittany Cox
- Griffin Puatu
- Risa Mei
- Ry McKeand
- Shara Kirby
- Ashely Biski
- Patrick Pedraza
- Pierre Stepz
- Numi R
- JuliaStunts
- Akirawinn
- KQueenTsun
- Larxene
- Akemikun
- animereneee
- 2d Mimi
- Tokkitan
- Idle San
- The Wicked Lady
- kikicheea
- Taiyo Lux
- SteakPresident
- Shelby
- Ruipandaa
- Roc Cosplay
- Red Rabbu
- Aly Brazil
- Queen Bean
- Ms Natalie Duong
- Unused Notebook
- Harumishiri
- Blooberrytrain
- Baninabear
- WholeWheatPete
- Anarkee
- Abbxster
- April Star
- Annjelife
- Caytie Cosplay
- Hamu Cotton
- Hermsaur
- Jimmy Sherfy
- Jwunders
- Lollipop Heidi
- MagicalBlackGirl Alia
- Meow Mythical
- Gabby Niko
- Michellemaka_
- Miso Tokki
- Rainy Day Sensei
- Petitekitti
- Sakkumi
- Tru Cici
- Katie Semrell
- Mitchdunkillmyvibe
- Call Her Sensei
- Crispy Shoujo
- Cyriichi
- Bean and Cheese Burrito
- Mayan Goddess
- Esteblook
- Jade Valkyrie
- Pixydi
- YourCosplayDad
- Joelynn
- Triforce of Procrastination
- mindeetran
- Captain Leftovers
Alright, now that you know about all the cool guests you could of met, let’s get into our actual experience.
First of all, it was raining. I never expected it to be raining and just based off of how it is every year, a lot of the food and cars were located outside. This might have made it a bit difficult for me, constantly opening and closing my jacket, but regardless, I still pushed forward. First when you walk into the main area after the tunnel, you get greeted with all the itashas laid outside of the buildings. They featured all different types of cars in their own unique styles, coming from across the state and beyond. My personal favorite was the Yui Hirasawa from K-ON! Mini-Cooper. I forgot to get the name of the owner of that vehicle, but it’s simple and cute.
Check them all out below! I made sure I got at least a photo of each one, so don’t worry!!
Itasha Showcase
K-Play! Fest
Once you go past all these cars, you will arrive to the K-Pop Fest!
K-Play! Fest is the first ever fan hosted K-Pop festival, for fans by fans. This portion of the convention features a bunch of booths with artists that create products involved with Korea or K-Pop music artists. There are areas where you can come trade, dance, and just vibe out with the rest of the community.
In the back of the hall, there was a stage where they held their programming. Here is the list of performances that were involved with this festival!
PROGRAMMING
K-Play! Fest Stage
[11:20 AM] BeY
[11:30 AM] MVP Elite
[11:40 AM] Vision
[12:20 PM] RPD
[1:45 PM] Starlight
[1:55 PM] Klique
[2:05 PM] Flairenette
[4:00 PM] D Amor
[4:10 PM] Rule Breaka
[4:30 PM] RPD
Main Stage
[6:00 PM] @alexa_zbofficial
After you are done checking out K-Play! Fest, you can walk on over to the next building for Sneaker Expo!
Sneaker Expo
Sneaker Expo is a sneaker event that incorporates sneakers and vintage into one. There were tons of booths reselling popular sneakers, such as Nike Jordans, Nike Dunks, Adidas Yeezys, to reselling vintage clothing and accessories. I remember seeing a bunch of nice vintage jackets and a booth that even had a display case of older, lightly used designer bags and wallets, and let me tell you…they were nice! In the back area, there was even a stage where they had giveaways held, and they had some nice sneakers up!
Anyways, just to give you an example of what we saw, here are some pics of the hall.
Asian American Expo
Asian American Expo is a event where a bunch of companies showcase new products or have their promotional items. You would find all different types of products: food, home goods, toiletries, and more. I know there were even samples available to try, and then afterwards, you are able to buy them. There some products there that we saw were discounted, which was nice! On the outside of the halls, there were food booths selling some delicious food and some companies passing out promotional items. Of course, I had to go for the fried chicken (you’ll see the pictures of it).
Here are the photos of what you were able to check out! (And of course, friend chicken just like I previously mentioned).
Alright, now that you are done with all of the other activities, we end up here. At Anime Impulse’s Artist Alley Hall.
Anime Impulse’s Artist Alley / Meet & Greets
This year, they took up the whole building with all the artist booths and also combined it with the meet and greets. There were tons of artists to find in here, and in addition, you can meet all the voice actors, cosplayers, and more in here. It was definitely worth it if you were a fan of their work!
Check out some of the pictures from the hall:
Alright, now that we gone through most of it, now… here is the vendor hall!
Anime Impulse’s Vendor Halls / Main Stage
In the main hall, it contains it all: anime clothing, anime stickers, plushies, bags, weapons, cosplay stuff, whatever you can think of. It was crazy! If you were looking for something anime related, you are in the right place! So, these main halls were split into 2 buildings. Some of the vendors were in one building and sharing it with the maid cafe. There’s another building where some vendors were and it was shared with the Main Stage and arcade. It was so full and great! Definitely worth taking your time in and spending money, one booth at a time.
To make things easier, I combined all the photos of both buildings into one here. Please enjoy!
As mentioned before, there is a main stage to the building. I know originally, they had stages outside, but for this convention, it was positioned inside. I think this was great! Super spacious, the lighting was fantastic, and it felt like we were at a concert!
Here is the full listing of how they ended up organizing the performances:
Programming
[SATURDAY 1/14]
[10:30 AM] @doubleshotchuhai
[11:10 AM] @isekaistage
[11:50 AM] @tomo.cheez
[12:30 PM] @shiragin_
[1:00 PM] @imkingchristian
[2:00 PM] JoJo Part 6 Panel
[2:50 PM] @hamu_cotton
[3:30 PM] @m00n.wav
[4:10 PM] @damnboymusic
[4:45 PM] @fykemusic
[6:00 PM] @alexa_zbofficial
[7:00 PM] Noctyx Q&Abyss Panel
[SUNDAY 1/15]
[10:30 AM] @ev_133
[11:15 AM] @almighty.arceus
[12:00 PM] @deco.pro_
[12:40 PM] @nerdknightmusic
[1:15 PM] @imkingchristian
[2:00 PM] Genshin Impact Panel
[2:50 PM] @aquariusca.alt
[3:30 PM] Cosplay Contest Sponsored by @kotobukiya_official
[3:45 PM] @asayorucafe
[4:15 PM] @kairosthedj
[4:45 PM] @unclekylesimps
[5:15 PM] @frankjavcee
[6:00 PM] HOPConcert with LazuLight & Ethyria
Overall, Anime Impulse LA was definitely one to remember! It was always for me one of the conventions that I had my first memories within this anime community and I’m forever grateful for it! Even though it was raining and I’ve never really experienced that, it was not too bad. I mean, the rain was pretty strong, but it didn’t stop us from having fun! I just want to say, thank you to the Anime Impulse family for having us, and can’t wait for the next one!
If you are interested in checking out a future Anime Impulse event, there are a few more coming up!
- Anime Impulse San Diego on March 18th-19th
- Anime Impulse Bay Area on July 29th-30th
- Anime Impulse Orange County on September 2nd-3rd
Here is their social media down below!
SOCIAL MEDIA
ANIME IMPULSE
Website: animeimpulse.com
YouTube: youtube.com/animeimpulse
Facebook: facebook.com/ANIMEimpulse
Instagram: @animeimpulse
Twitter: @animepulse
TikTok: @animeimpulse
K-PLAY! FEST
Website: https://www.kplayfest.com/
YouTube: @kplayfest
Facebook: facebook.com/kplayfest
Instagram: @kplayfest
Twitter: @kplayfest
TikTok: @kplayfest
SNEAKER EXPO
Website: sneakerexpo.com
Facebook: facebook.com/sneakerexpousa
Instagram: @sneakerexpousa
Twitter: @sneakerexpo
