New year, new beginnings, and new otaku fun! 2026 is off to a roaring start with a new anime convention. A first-time as well!

2025 was a difficult year for me. I missed out on basically the entire calendar of anime conventions, along with several important social events I really wanted to attend but was unable to. It really sucked… I was devastated and genuinely mourned missing what felt like a huge year for anime conventions. To add insult to injury, it all happened in Florida—the state with one of the greatest landscapes of otaku life and the third-largest number of anime conventions in America. In the end, I only managed to attend a few tiny events, while still missing out on all the big ones.

So, for 2026, I didn’t want the same mistake to be repeated. Toward the end of 2025, as all the great anime cons were wrapping up, I only managed to attend Sarasota Anime Fest in December. With everything ending and the year coming to a close, I dove into some heavy planning for 2026. My first objective was to make sure that, in 2026, I would prioritize cosplay and anime conventions. I decided to put aside my constant focus on merchandise like anime figures, Gunpla, plushies, and J-pop/idol albums. I also toned down my consumerism when it came to anime, manga, and physical video game media, saving up only for cosplay and anime conventions. While the circumstances in 2025 hadn’t favored me at all, I also made some personal mistakes that year that contributed to those blunders. Eventually, Brick City Anime Festival became the first anime con already planned for 2026—and how did it turn out?

I was finally able to experience my first ever multi-day medium-sized anime convention: Brick City Anime Festival 2026, located in Ocala, Florida, and held at the World Equestrian Center. It was first inaugurated in 2022, and this year marked its 5th year—boy, was I glad to have experienced it. The overwhelming amount of fun stuff that happened at Brick City Anime Festival was amazing. It was an anime con full of great things, ranging from incredible cosplay, a welcoming community, idolfests, and so much more. So, how was it for me? How was my first ever anime convention of 2026?