So this might come as a surprise but I went to Anime Impulse, twice in the same year. This marks the first time I’ve done that for any convention and I’m happy it was with my personal favorite. I’ve been wanting to go to one of the other Anime Impulse events since they first announced they were doing multiple conventions a year and finally got the chance to do so. Now some of you might be wondering why this review is so late. Well I had some travel issues on the way home and they were a lot to deal with, but that full story will have to come another time. Going back to Anime Impulse OC I naturally had two big questions going into this. How will it compare to Anime Impulse LA and what would the weather be?

So thankfully this time around no floods or rough weather to deal with, but I couldn’t resist the joke. Anime Impulse OC took place at the Anaheim Convention Center a venue I’ve never been to before. So first of all I have to say I like this venue a lot better than the one at Anime Impulse LA. Both are good but this one has some significant advantages for the fan like the fact that it’s entirely indoors in one building so even if it did flood I wouldn’t get wet walking from one part of the convention to the other. I also like how it puts everything closer together so while there was just as much to do it felt like everything I wanted was easier to access while having more space to do it in. I don’t know the actual square footage but it felt more spacious from my perspective.

I also like the options for hotels a lot better because for LA there was one hotel and while it was easy walking distance on the way out I found it tricky to get from the hotel to the entrance of the venue. For OC there are several hotels all within an easy walking distance and I wasn’t even at the closest one. For me I love it when I can quickly go from the room to the convention especially for events I plan to devote a lot of time to like this one.

As for the guest list it’s still the same impressive guest list that Anime Impulse is known for. This is the event I go to in order to meet people from Fire Emblem that I know I have very little chance of meeting otherwise and I was not disappointed. This event had Edward Bosco who voices Lif in Fire Emblem: Heroes and my personal favorite character introduced to the game. So naturally he was someone I was hoping to meet for some time. I got to meet several actors from the game some that were guests and others that were just hanging out, it was impressive. The guest list also has well known names from Genshin Impact, Persona 5, My Hero Academia and so many more. It is definitely an event to consider for a collector like myself who wants to meet as many actors from a franchise as possible. Plus the lines were so nice. Plenty of space for the lines and honestly I rarely had to wait for anyone and the longest waits were not that bad. Now my friend who I went with was unable to get Max Mittleman because his line stayed capped but I also think that was due to the fact he was only there for a day as his line seemed to be the only one that stayed capped for an extended period of time and he was the only Saturday only guest. So naturally everyone would try to get to him as soon as possible to meet him.

The vendors were also spectacular. I made sure to bring spending money because well I was sure I’d spend it. I found all kinds of beautiful art that I wanted from the artist alley and like the guests the crowd was easy to move around and so I was able to really take my time and find what I wanted. The merch all around the convention was a wide variety of anime and video game based merch and had something for everyone. Plus there were a lot of them, but what I liked most was it had the selection of a big convention but it felt like walking around a smaller event due to how easy it was. I didn’t get one this time but my goal is to now get an Anime Impulse T-shirt I just got distracted with so many things it slipped my mind to get one. Anime Impulse also partners with two other events and there you can find a wide variety of K-Pop and sneakers but since neither of those really is my thing I paid little attention to them but I did like how they were equally easy to look around and shop at.

The panels were fun to with Genshin Impact panels, performances like the band New New Girlfriend and a panel about an upcoming video game, karaoke with actors and more. The way the panels were done is in an area near the vendors but in the same room. Normally I don’t care for this but there was plenty of space. I did wish they had some chairs as panels make for a nice way to sit back and chill after a long day on your feet but there were plenty of spaces to do that outside of panels so this wasn’t a big deal to me. After all the panels were easy to get to and it wasn’t hard to attend any of them.

I also want to talk about the cars. Now normally I don’t talk about cars at conventions. You get a nice set of vehicles decorated in anime and video game decals and they look amazing but Anime Impulse really has a way of taking that up a few levels with far more of these vehicles than events I normally go to. There were tons of them and they were an incredible spectacle. I spent awhile just walking around taking photos.

Now for the one and only negative which was the beginning of the day Saturday. The convention was scheduled to start at 11am. However staff informed us that due to some vendors not being ready in time it was forced to start almost an hour late. Now that kind of late start time can be a big hinderance and it certainty wasn’t fun to wait without knowing what when we would get inside. I’m sympathetic to the issue and honestly while it was frustrating their were no panels scheduled during the first hour and the crowd was so manageable it didn’t stop me from doing everything I wanted to do and more. I just hope that this is something that’s resolved for future years.

Finally I want to bring up the food. Now at LA I loved all the food options but because this isn’t part of the Asian American Expo in OC the food options changed. They had food vendors indoors but personally I found the food to be too expensive and the lines were pretty long. They did have food trucks outside with nice menus but by the time I found this out I already ate lunch from an indoor vendor. It’s not anything worth taking too much time with as the food options are nice just right outside the venue I just wouldn’t recommend eating inside. Plus outside has a great fountain, tons of places to sit and a lot of space for a great social gathering spot. I greatly enjoyed just hanging out and taking photos of cosplayers as hanging out outside felt like it’s own mini festival of sorts.

So I guess the next thing to do is compare Anime Impulse OC to Anime Impulse LA. Both conventions for the most part provide the same experience though differ in execution. For example, space is managed much better at OC as you have a lot more room to work with and it made everything a lot easier. LA has better food options and browsing for new things to eat is an experience you can spend a lot of time on versus the options available at OC. Both events are equally entertaining though and you really can’t go wrong with either or.

Overall Anime Impulse once again proves why it stands at the top of my list. As always this is a great way to meet actors that I really don’t stand any chance of meeting otherwise and in a way that is very low stress in getting to them. I had plenty of time to meet and even have extended conversations with almost everyone. The vendors were amazing and full of stuff I wanted. I honestly made sure to bring money and even checked a bag just in preparation of my spending. As always I’m eyeing this event for 2024, but I can wait as I’m still recovering from the horrible events during the trip back and can use a break from flying.