This year’s Anime USA was held closer to Halloween again and hosted more attendees than the year prior, most likely due to better weather and fewer simultaneous conventions. 2023 was held in September and had torrential downpours.
This year there were a lot of people cosplaying characters from Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
One of the more unique parts of AUSA is the rooftop Yakuza style dinner hosting, where volunteers serve food and drinks dressed like game characters. The event also hosts a formal ball, burlesque show, rave, arcade, 21+ panels, and more. The arcade here is a fun-size and holds a diverse set of games ranging from Rock Band to Japanese games to racing games and Mario Kart.
Another nice part of AUSA is being able to meet the guests, many of whom offer merchandise from anime they have taken part of. Voice actors can often be found sitting in the Dealer’s Room on the 2nd subfloor next to other vendors and are happy to talk with attendees, such as Jill Harris in the video above.
