Anime Los Angeles 2020 was held in Ontario, CA on January 9th-12th, being a 4 day event. This is the first anime convention to start off the year in the west coast. Everyone local would come out to Ontario to share in the love of anime with their fellow weebs and have a great time.
ALA is easily one of my favorite conventions that I’ve been to so far, and let me tell you why.
Here is what you can expect from this years event.
SPECIAL GUESTS
ALA 2020 had a lot of guests that were featured for different things: voice acting, cosplayering, judging for events, etc. Regardless, there were tons of people to see and possible meet up for autographs.
Here is the listing of the people who were featured:
- BRATS, special musical guest
- Ezra Weisz, guest of honor / toastmaster
- Les Claypool, guest of honor
- Mitsume, guest of honor
- FEMM, special musical guest
- Hiroshi Nagahama, guest of honor
- Mary Claypool, guest of honor
- Jason Charles Miller, guest of honor / battle of the bands judge
- Tomonori Kogawa, guest of honor
- Chris Tergliafera, guest of honor
- Skip Stellrecht, guest of honor
- Corps Dance Crew, fan guests of honor
- Robert Woodhead, featured guest
- Kaho Shibuya, featured guest
- Tony Oliver, featured guest
- Andrew Alandy, programming host
- Cavie Anvel, ALA’s next top star – judge
- Laura Stahl, featured guest
- Evil Ted, featured guest
- Pierre Bernard Jr, featured guest
- Dorah Fine, featured guest
- Steve Bennett, featured guest
- Spacepizza, ALA’s next top star – judge
- Taikomotion, featured guest
- Natsumi Ueki, featured guest
- Zack Davisson, featured guest
- Lauren Landa, featured guest
- Captain’s Savvy, featured musical guest
- Ally Vega, ALA’s next top star – judge
- Stephen Weese, featured guest
You were able to meet a bunch of these guests during their autograph schedules (meet & greet), musical performances, panels, booths, or any events that they were participating in.
PANELS | EVENTS
If you weren’t able to make it to some of the guests autograph times, you might be able to catch them at their panels or events. There were tons of panels going out throughout each day, so you had something to check out all day and in through the night.
You were able to check out some fun, entertaining events, such as the ALA Fashion Show, Fashion After Dark, the Masquerade, Battle of the Bands, and the AMV Contest, just to name a few. There were some industry panels as well held by Aniplex and Animeigo for you to find out about what’s the current anime series coming out or what they have in store for you. Besides those, you also have some educational ones where you get to learn about Basic Foam Cosplay, hear about the Voice Actor’s Roundtable, listen to the Woke Weebs Community Stage, or even learn about how to make your own kimono.
ALA never had a dull moment. If you are feeling tired and want to check out something new, you have to check out the schedule for some live programming and panels. It will definitely be worth it!
VENDOR HALL
When you have some break time in between those panels, you can head downstairs and head straight into the vendor hall. Let’s be real…this is probably one of the biggest reasons why you come to an anime convention. You want to be able to snag your favorite pieces from Kinfold or Toshiki Girl or you want to explore and found some new brands you haven’t heard of. Maybe, you’re looking for a new keychain or plush for your itabag. Regardless, the vendor hall is where it’s at.
This year, ALA combined both the vendor hall with the artist alley, which made the hall look a lot bigger and had plenty to see.
ARTIST HALL
There were all sorts of amazing artists out here this year. Artists are definitely an essential part of what keeps this anime community alive. With their creative work, they’re able to create fan art of all the anime series we have grown to love and give them their twist on it. In addition, a bunch of these artists create their original characters. How amazing is that!
This is a little taste of what you can find out in Artist Alley.
ACTIVITIES AROUND THE CON | RIBBON ADVENTURE
After you are done checking out the panels and the amazing halls, you wonder to yourself, “What else can I do? I’m out of money!” This is where you find out that ALA has a lot more stuff to check out!
After to check out the map, you realize there is a bunch of stuff to do. Here are some of the rooms you can check out:
- Ribbon Station: Trade your ribbons, play ribbon games, try the ribbonnado, and more!
- Entertainment Lounge: Watch performances, dance and drink your night away, enjoy some comedy, and more!
- Photo Studio: Get your photos taken by photographers with cosplay backdrops.
- Video Room: Watch some anime!
- Blue Rose Cafe: Participate and watch a cosplay themed cafe.
- Game Center: E-gaming and PC-gaming!
- Tabletop Gaming: Tons and tons of boardgames and card games.
- Manga Lounge: Grab a random manga, find a seat, and read in quiet.
- Karaoke: Sing to your hearts content!
After you’re done with that, might as well go outside. Enjoy the air, the smell of food, and all of the amazing cosplays outside!
COSPLAYERS
All sorts of cosplayers come out to this convention. You’ll see people wearing their cosplays from anime, video games, movies and other visual media. Regardless of the area, you will find an amazing cosplay. Just don’t forget to get their consent before taking a photo, okay? 😀
After you pass through that area, you will see all the food trucks.
FOOD AREA
If you are in a need for food, there is a bunch of food trucks. Sometimes they cycle them out each day, but expect to see some favorites, such as Okamoto Kitchen, Tokyo Style Food Truck, or Belly Bombz. Regardless, expect to find some food to snack on in-between your days.
ITASHA
After snacking on some food, might as well drop by the Itasha area. This is being hosted by Itasha Alliance and all different types of cars are decked out in anime characters. The artwork is amazing and the dedication to their waifu is top notch!
If you enjoyed and want to check out any of those I spoke about above, you definitely want to drop by next year! It will always be at the same location, around the same time in January, so hope to see you there!
For further details, follow them down in their social media below.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: animelosangeles.org
Twitter: @AnimeLosAngeles
Facebook: facebook.com/AnimeLosAngelesCon
