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?

Day 1:

As with most events, entering Brick City Anime Festival for the time felt sensational. It took a little while to tell my brain that I’m finally inside an anime convention. It wasn’t through computer screens, or vlogs of anime cons experienced by other people, it was myself at an anime convention. At long last, the feeling was amazing, but at the same time, it also felt familiar for me as well, since I’ve attended Sarasota Anime Fest before, and the atmosphere already began to felt like home. No longer was I the socially anxious introvert that felt too overwhelmed. Now, I was still trying to get use to it, but, aside from that, it already felt like home for me. Just seeing cosplay, merchandise, and community groups everywhere felt amazing, and it gave me a feeling that I was dying to feel once again. The best part, it happened on the beginning of 2026. What a way to start the year, huh?

The World Equestrian Center is a venue I’ve basically become familiar with already. I’ve been to this place at least three times before: Day 1 and Day 2 of Ocala Comic Con 2023 (where I cosplayed as Tobi from Naruto, and it’s best remembered as the day that kickstarted my awakening to cosplay life as an otaku), and my return for Ocala Comic Con 2025 (when I cosplayed as my custom-made “Shoujo-Deku” from My Hero Academia). Coming back here in 2026 for Brick City Anime Festival felt amazing, especially since it’s an anime con and not a comic con. Because of this, I was already well familiar with the venue. So, what else happened?

To see the footage of my time at Brick City Anime Festival 2026, please check out my Instagram and Facebook!

Aside from exploring the anime con, a tradition I always do, I was able to witness a lot of awesome stuff that Brick City Anime Festival had to offer. Hardcore otaku merchandise, tons of games, cool panels, and cosplay peeps everywhere! Speaking of cosplay peeps, I was approached by some awesome fellow otakus, and unlike previous cons like Ocala Comic Con, I got to enjoy photo ops with a lot of fellow cosplayers like myself and even share socials on Instagram. Something I’d never done before, and it felt amazing!

I also continued my exploration at Brick City Anime Festival, and boy did I love everything about it. The amount of stuff to do at the con was so huge that at times, it kinda overwhelmed me a bit. Aside from that, I kept looking at awesome things, and obviously checked out a ton of merchandise—which in turn sent me into full goofball mode as I tried to fight the temptation to buy anything because of my 2026 cosplay and anime con plans. I did spot some interesting stuff that I’d love to get in the future! Similar to before, I was approached by some other awesome cosplay peeps for more photo ops.

Now, one of the biggest highlights was about to happen for me at this moment: the idolfest of Brick City Anime Festival. And would you like to know how LONG I waited to experience it? Two freaking years—and finally, I did. The idols were amazing, and the music, dance rhythm, and lip syncs they did were just AMAZING! I can’t upload the videos here due to space issues, but if you’d like to see all the action, check my Instagram highlights to see everything. Don’t mind the bad volume, though—my dumb phone kinda malfunctioned at the moment. I heard some familiar songs, like those from Love Live and Umamusume. I loved that Umamusume was mentioned, because since it’s all about horses and Ocala is known as the horse capital, it felt like the timing was perfect. Aside from that, it was a total blast. Truly, my wota-ota dream came true, and since I want to take my wota-ota path seriously, this was the perfect start. I did some wota-ota chanting, and I wished I had a glow stick, but others did—which was pretty cool. I hope to experience more of this throughout the year.

After that epic conclusion of the idolfest, I got to enjoy doing more awesome cosplay photo-ops with other fellow cosplay peeps. I also want to mention that I even met familiar moots who attended previous anime cons like Sarasota Anime Fest—it felt SO awesome and amazing! The cooler part? Some of these peeps I just met are heading to other anime cons that I’m attending this year, such as Anime Festival Orlando and Metrocon. Two highly anticipated cons that I cannot WAIT to attend!

Remember what happened at the idolfest? Well, the same awesome individual who was part of the idolfest was also at a vendor booth advertising Bold Matsuri. Another anime convention similar to Brick City Anime Festival, but located in Jacksonville. Bold Matsuri is another con that I plan to attend this year, and the fact that I was able to take a photo-op with an awesome big-name otaku at a local anime con felt like a true honor. I seriously can’t wait for Bold Matsuri this year, and I really hope to experience the magic!

As I continued my fun at the convention, I saw some other awesome stuff like cool Japanese rythem games that I plan to play in the future, and, of course, continued more awesome photo ops of other cosplayers. Doing awesome photo-ops with fellow cosplay peeps is something I’ve now officially become accustomed too.

Then came the apex event that every anime con loves: the cosplay contests. I was stunned, wowed, and amazed by the dedication, detail, and passion they put into making their cosplays. Not only that, but I also got to learn some cosplay terminology that I myself never knew, despite calling myself a die-hard otaku. This is why I’m so happy that my cosplay and event sections of my otaku culture portal are having their run. These people and their cosplays looked amazing, and I enjoyed the contest while being blown away by the details the cosplay judges were pointing out. One day, I would like to compete in a cosplay contest because that’s a passion goal I’d love to achieve.

After that, Day 1 concluded for me, and it was truly a blast. The amount of fun stuff—like the panels, cosplay contest, seeing the epic merch, and doing photo-ops with fellow otakus—felt so grand and revolutionary. I enjoyed myself to the max and was left buzzing with excitement. I would also like to mention how my Len cosplay got so many shout-outs and enjoyed a good reception among many. It seems like Len has somewhat become my golden boy for cosplay fanfare. I can only imagine the other cosplays on their way to my wardrobe and the upcoming anime conventions. As Day 1 came to a close, Day 2 was next—and how was it?

Day 2:

Day 2 was notably more down-to-earth and calmer compared to Day 1. I’m new to anime conventions, but I assume most anime conventions on Sunday are like this, right? Either way, fun stuff still happened. As opposed to Day 1 with Len, I decided to go cosplaying as my custom Shoujo-Deku. Obviously, one of the things I did was continue exploring the con itself to meet new peeps. In the end the fun continued!

I did get to witness one final awesome panel event that happened: a lip sync battle that lasted for 1 hour and 30 minutes. BOY was I stunned by the amazing talent and dedication these people displayed. I was just shocked, and want to know what this panel event made me realize? It’s how us otakus are so talented. Normies love to pin us down as people with no talent and weirdos who are obsessed with what we love, but if you ever saw what these amazing performers did at this lip sync battle, then you would be stunned. It was just amazing, and I loved every bit of the action that happened. Heck, I’d love to do this one day.

After that happened, I then got to see the Mirai Maid Cafe once again! Sadly, I couldn’t go to the actual cafe because I didn’t purchase the tickets, but I was glad to see some of their merch, and I got an awesome photo-op once again! I hope to see them again!

For some strange reason, I went on a cold streak of not getting any photo ops. The truth was, I struggled to figure out what else to do. Today, I just felt so different as a cosplayer, and at times, I became lost. I didn’t have the courage or guts to ask for photo ops. The lack of fanfare for my Deku cosplay kinda demoralized me, and at times, I wondered if my cosplay was a fail. Compared to Len, poor Deku was on a cold streak… In the end, I changed course and decided to ask for some photo ops, follow new socials, and make some new moots. Indeed I did, and it was SO awesome. There was a problem though: time was running out…

In the end, the Sunday crunch came to bite me. I painfully had to leave Brick City Anime Festival early due to travel constraints, since I live an hour away from my home base in Tampa. If I had stayed until the very end and left much later, the return trip would have been way more complicated—and of course, worse. It was saddening, but I had to head back home ASAP! I did get to enjoy my last moments at Brick City Anime Festival, and that was the best part. This con was SO awesome, and just leaving early left me with such a sad feeling. I just wanted to stay more, but, hey, Sunday crunches are no fun… Either way, I LOVED Brick City Anime Festival, and I couldn’t help but leave with an emotional smile.

Well, my fellow otakus, there you have it. Finally, at long last, you got to witness Kurai enjoy his first anime convention. Brick City Anime Festival 2026 wasn’t just a revolutionary moment for my career as an otaku journalist enjoying the Florida otaku life, but it was also somewhat of Ocala’s last love letter to me. I’m well familiar with this place—it was once my home base for the otaku life—and while I didn’t get to enjoy the best of it (finding myself wanting a home base elsewhere), I do have some important memories from living there. I can’t deny that many revolutionary otaku moments happened for me during my time in the horse capital of the world. However, simply put, the lifestyle wasn’t compatible with me. Nonetheless, Brick City Anime Festival proved that even a calm, down-to-earth, mostly rural area with some city elements like Ocala holds a strong niche for otakus. While it may not rival bigger hubs like Tampa, Orlando, or Miami, it’s still a place where the otaku life continues to grow—and Brick City Anime Festival 2026 proved it.

Brick City Anime Festival 2026 wasn’t just some anime con—it was beyond my expectations and proved WAY more fun than I ever realized. Despite being in Ocala, it showed that location doesn’t matter. The amount of otaku fun this con had in store was beyond belief, ranging from incredible merchandise, stunning cosplay, idolfests, other awesome panels, and games everywhere—it was just too amazing. This will be remembered as an unforgettable experience, and the fact that the con has entered its 5th year is something that makes me proud. You know how I love symbolic moments, and this is another perfect example. For Florida’s first anime con of 2026, if it was this good, imagine what the rest of the year has in store? The fact that people came from other areas like Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville just goes to show how awesome Brick City Anime Festival 2026 truly was. If you’re an Ocala native and missed out on this anime con, don’t worry—next year it’ll be back, and you MUST attend this amazing convention. Thank you, Brick City Anime Festival, for this incredible time, and boy, are we off to an epic start for 2026!

Thank you for reading my article! Did you attend Brick City Anime Festival this year? Did you happen to encounter me by accident without knowing it? How was your time at the con? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, follow, and check out my socials!

“Florida’s #1 Akiba-Kei!”

Overall: S-rank