I originally wasn’t sure if I was going to be attending this event this year, but a fun opportunity came up. In my case when it comes to Anime Impulse, if I find a chance to attend I take it. This is my second time attending this location for Impulse and last year I had a lot of fun, so I came into this event with my normal high hopes and I’m excited to share how thing went.

Starting off with the guests Anime Impulse has never disappointed and it continues to do well. The event featured guests from games like Final Fantasy, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero as well as other popular actors from Bleach, K Pop Demon Hunter, Rising of the Shield Hero and even CDawgVA. Then you have their Vtuber line up which included many well known creators from Nijisanji and popular indie talent such as Unnamed. Meeting all of the voice actors proved to be a very easy task as the lines were rarely ever long. I ended up walking by and starting conversations with many of the guests in attendance on several occasions. While their Vtuber lines were much longer I felt like they went pretty smoothly too with just one exception. When redeeming your tickets for any Vtuber specific event it was all done at one table and those lines were on the slow side. Rather than scan a QR code, your information was looked up on an excel spreadsheet and then you were given your respective pass. When getting the stuff I ordered it didn’t take an extremely long time. However, I do feel like it’s an area that can be improved.

The panels and events were equally impressive this year. I got to enjoy a wide array of free shows on their panel stage during various parts of the weekend. It did feel like there were fewer voice actor panels this year but the panel stage still had a lot going on. The way it’s set up the panel stage is right next to the vendors and you can walk up, stand around and enjoy what’s going on at anytime. As I’ve stated before, this is not my favorite set up as a lot of events don’t allow enough room for people to walk around but the stage was plenty far enough away that this never became an issue.

The special events were also amazing including a myriad of concerts from their Vtuber talent. I ended up attending my first Vtuber concert this year by seeing Unnamed perform live and it was an absolute highlight of the weekend. I’m really glad I splurged on the VIP pass to sit up close to the front and get incredible merch including an autograph and a shikishi board.

I also had a lot of fun shopping and this is where I can talk about one of the more unique aspects of Anime Impulse. It’s actually three events in one as it shares space with Collector’s Expo and K-Play! Fest. As I was looking for merch I took full advantage of the options available to buy as much as I could take home with me. Anime Impulse had a lot of video game, anime and Vtuber themed merch and even had vendors that you’ve seen me talk about before like Flamingo and MistiousStar. For Collector’s Expo it featured rows full of trading cards for sell. While there were all kinds of collectibles featured it was predominantly Pokemon merch which of course got my attention. The K Pop side of things was where I spent the least amount of time. I like K Pop but I’m not familiar enough with it to know what to buy yet. With that being said it was fun to listen to all of the music playing and attendees enjoying the space left for them to dance around. I especially appreciated how much room the entire venue had to shop as I rarely felt cramped so I was able to clearly find everything I wanted to see. I even did my first vendor stamp rally which was a lot of fun.

I only really have one negative to say and that was the registration process. It took me about an hour to get in and with how things are set up I can’t really understand why that happened. Tickets are not sold at the registration booth so from my perspective it should be as simple as scanning the code on your order, getting the wrist band and entering the venue. Instead my process started with a long line outside that did move very fast. Then I was in one of many lines in hall D that didn’t move for several minutes. Though once I got in I managed to get to everything I wanted to do very quickly so this wasn’t a big issue, just a noticeable one.

So overall when my favorite convention has one of my favorite voice actors, Alice Himora, as a guest that’s a recipe for me to attend. Like previous trips I had a wonderful time. While there are some areas where Impulse can run more effectively, I had no issues getting to do everything I wanted to do and seeing everything the convention had to offer. I even got to do a lot of fun stuff for the first time because of the unique content offered here and how easy it is the move around the venue. So thanks Anime Impulse for another fun year.