My first local anime con of 2026 was one of the smallest anime conventions and turned out to be the unexpected crowned winner so far!

Missing out on Swampcon, Freecon, and ACEcon day 2 was brutal. After all the much-anticipated hype for those three, I couldn’t attend them, and to make matters worse, April turned out to be a month with no anime conventions or events whatsoever. So, to sum it up, I was unable to duke it out in the otaku interactive fun activities that I’ve been doing since Sarasota Anime-Fest, which started in December 2025. Of course, it didn’t last too long, but nonetheless, boredom was strong, and I could tell that Animangemu’s content was growing a bit stale for my readers.

That’s when Anime Day Official, the group that I’ve been following for over a year, finally announced its scheduled date for Tampa locals, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Right at the start of May, I knew that my drought of attending anime cons was finally about to end.

If you’ve been following me for a while now, I’m sure you’ve read my articles about the anime cons I’ve attended previously, like Brick City Anime Festival and Sarasota Anime-Fest, for example. Similar to my previous anime con experiences, Tampa Anime Day is yet another example of a local anime convention done right. In fact, it’s arguably the best I’ve attended so far.

Located at the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel in Tampa, Tampa Anime Day was my first true local anime convention of the year. I know many of you probably thought it was ACEcon, and while that’s true for the broader Tampa metro area as a whole, ACEcon was held in Palm Harbor. If we’re talking about Tampa itself, then this was the first actual local anime con of the year. It also had the shortest travel distance for me (except for Brick City Anime Festival during my time at my former local base in Ocala). Anime Day Official is known for hosting events in several cities across the country, like Nashville in Tennessee and Huntsville in Alabama. Florida has had three so far: Jacksonville, Orlando, and most recently Tampa. I wanted to attend last year, but was unable to do so.

Now, I was finally able to attend in 2026, and how did my first true local anime con turn out? Well, a tiny bit of spoilers, but it went beyond my positive expectations. In fact, it was so darn good that I can’t wait to tell you about all the awesome stuff that happened for me at Tampa Anime Day. Buckle up and get ready for the show!

Costing me only $5, this made Tampa Anime Day the cheapest anime con I’ve ever attended (except for admission-free ones such as Toracon and ACEcon). Like most anime cons hosted in hotels, Tampa Anime Day was the second smallest I’ve ever attended, with Ocala Anime-Fest being the smallest. The marketplace and gaming area were filled with amazing vendors and tons of goodies that caught my attention, ranging from manga, figures, model kits, plushes, posters, fan-made art, and other types of merchandise typically popular among otakus. There were also a notable number of games available. The most notable consoles were the PS3, PS4, Switch, and Nintendo 64. In other words, only the good stuff was available. I also heard some J-pop music being blasted as well.

It’s become a tradition to stumble across awesome cosplayers at an anime con. Anime Day Tampa was yet another example of that. My first encounter was an awesome cosplayer by the name of sonicjoey7, aka the greatest music manager in the world for K-pop Demon Hunters. We had an awesome photo op, and his cosplay looked amazing! I knew the moment this happened that I was in for a HUGE blast.

That wasn’t all. I stumbled across another awesome fellow cosplayer by the name of owl_toe, also known as Mossy. He was cosplaying as Wolfwood from Trigun, and his cosplay was awesome! It was nice meeting another fellow Trigun fan at an anime con, as I’ve yet to meet any outside the internet. Again, I knew stuff was about to go down in history.

Our first panel of the day was a pretty interesting and exciting game that I’ve never experienced nor expected. It was a scavenger hunt for a specific set of merchandise requested by the panel. The game revolved around one person or a group needing to take a picture of themselves next to the selected merchandise and then present it to the panel. There was a total of five items to hunt, and those who found all five were awarded a prize. There was a 30-minute time limit, so the rush felt crazy, and I knew other people were competing to claim the win. So, my job was to hunt down these goodies so I could claim victory. How did it turn out?

Wait, hold on a second. You are probably asking, “Kurai, if you knew that this game had a time limit, then why did you go take a photo op with these two awesome cosplayers?” Well, here’s the plot twist. I know I said merchandise, but guess what? These two amazing cosplayers right here, shrimpcatdoodles and terror.misuu, were part of the scavenger hunt game! That’s right, I had to look for two cosplays from the same franchise, and I did! (Phoenix Wright, btw!) Also, one of the most amazing things about this moment was the fact that Animangemu was recognized by one of them! Can you believe it? I felt SO happy and honored, and I truly thank them for recognizing my blog. It feels amazing knowing how far Animangemu has come… I remember when I just started it three years ago…

Oh, speaking of fellow cosplayers, guess who else I bumped into? That’s right, my buddy tc_lifestyle_adventure! I hadn’t seen him face to face since Toracon back in January of this year. It felt so great seeing him again! Not only that, but he let me be part of his new intro for his videos, which makes me feel like a famous superstar!!! It was great meeting him again, and I can’t wait to see him at Anime Festival Orlando this year!

So my scavenger hunt continued, and I found items back to back. The second one I found was something from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It was a figure, but I still haven’t caught up with it or read the manga. For now, that’s all I found, so there was still more to go!

After that, I found another specific item that was listed for the game. The hint was a mage video game character, and that turned out to be none other than Vivi from Final Fantasy! He looked so adorable. Whoever made that did an amazing job.

Then I found another selected item from the game, and it was a figure from a, uh… Well, I actually forgot, but it seemed to be from a gacha game. Either way, the figure looked amazing and she looked beautiful.

This was when the coolest part happened. The final one was written in Japanese, but the problem was that I didn’t know what it translated to. I’ve learned Japanese, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what the title said. Finally, after I kept repeating the phrase over and over again, I realized that it said “となりのととろ,” meaning Tonari no Totoro, which is My Neighbor Totoro in English. So, I had to search for Totoro, and there! I found the adorable little furball! That moment was an example of my Japanese practice being put to good use!

So, I was awarded my goodie bag, and guess what? It contained awesome goodies: a cute kawaii cat plush, delicious Pocky, and a Spy x Family Anya keychain! It felt great, and I couldn’t help but feel such joy knowing that another fine piece of merchandise had been added to my collection. My reaction? Well, check out this adorable goofy cringe dance.

My second panel was an awesome one specifically about Final Fantasy. Sadly, my knowledge of Final Fantasy is basically bare-bones, but I do plan to play it soon. Either way, it was fun, and I got to enjoy a lot of it while learning something new about the series. I also had the honor of taking a photo op with the mastermind behind this amazing panel, chisai.kyuti! Shoutout to him for his awesome panel!

So then, my next panel was witnessing a fun RDP event. It was put on by some very talented individuals. In fact, it was so much fun that I found myself part of the rhythm. Although I didn’t dance specifically, I did enjoy myself feeling the groove and unleashing some hardcore cringe, which you will see in my video. Aside from that, the music specialized strongly in J-pop, Vocaloid, and K-pop. A lot of anime openings from both television and movies were played in the RDP as well. Notable ones included the Chainsaw Man: The Reze Arc opening theme, YOASOBI’s “Yousabi” from Oshi no Ko, and Love Live! music. Overall, it was a blast, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Then came, arguably, the highlight of the con for me. Before I begin, I also wanted to let you know that before the scavenger hunt panel began, the first panel was the RC cars opening. Since then, the RC cars played a huge role throughout Tampa Anime Day, and around the area where the panel rooms were located in the hotel, that’s where the real fun happened for me. I got to witness a very adorable Toyota AE86 straight from Initial D. Seeing the car in action brought back a ton of memories. I remember the important role Initial D played in bringing my anime and manga passion back to life. The stories, characters, epic races, car culture in Japan, and the cars themselves were the spotlight of my car enthusiast era when it reached its peak. It made me remember the beautiful and simple days of being a car enthusiast back in the early to mid 2010s. Cars were cheap, there were no stupid regulations, and car fans were everywhere. Those days feel so long ago… I seriously need to watch MF Ghost as soon as possible.

Finally, this moment was truly the highlight of Tampa Anime Day for me. In the same area where the RC AE86 was, I got to chat with a lot of awesome people. It wasn’t just casual chatting—we dove into deep conversations with icy.itegumo, spookymorningstar19, jamesfassl, pmet2010, and phantasmal_phony. We talked about random topics involving anime, manga, and gaming. I also got to see my fellow mutuals whom I had met at the marketplace. Additionally, I met a fellow gamer on Steam whom I had encountered during the Final Fantasy panel. We discussed topics like Vocaloid, cars, Mobile Suit Gundam, cosplay, anime cons in Florida, and you name it. It was truly an abundance of fun and joy. I had never felt so much excitement and enthusiasm talking to fellow otakus about the subjects I’ve always wanted to discuss. Not only that, but while I was there, I could tell that this part of Tampa Anime Day was 100% everything I like and am familiar with—all topics that I enjoy talking about.

Ah, yes! Then came the tradition that I always enjoy when attending anime cons: cosplay contests. I love participating in cosplay contests and watching cosplayers duke it out with their amazing creations. So much talent, creativity, and inspiration. Like the previous cosplay contests I’ve attended at anime cons such as Brick City Anime Festival and Ocala Anime-Fest, Tampa Anime Day’s cosplay contest featured a large lineup of participants. Eventually, two cosplayers won and were awarded. Fun fact: before the cosplay contest commenced, someone called my phone at the wrong time and everyone could hear my adorable Hatsune Miku ringtone. It felt so awkward but funny at the same time. I was also utterly embarrassed as the phone call slightly interrupted the cosplay contest, but everyone was fine with it. Déjà vu, just like at ACEcon’s anime trivia quiz. Either way, the cosplay contest continued, and I had a lot of fun watching. Also, one of the winners was jamesfassl. He had an epic Halo cosplay.

After the cosplay contest concluded, I met another awesome cosplayer by the name of shizuchan_cosplay. She had an amazing Garfield cosplay, and we took a photo op together. It was truly a splendid sight to see such a unique cosplay. I do hope we meet again at Metrocon for that awesome planned Durarara cosplay meetup!!!

The success of Tampa Anime Day was so overwhelming that it officially surpassed my expectations and claimed the S-rank crown as the best anime convention I’ve attended so far. I felt so honored to have attended such an amazing anime con, and the quality of how it was hosted was almost perfect. The gentleman I had previously met—who was part of the scavenger hunt game and the cosplay contest—I took a photo op with because he did an amazing job handling the panels! I felt so honored and amazed!

Then came another awesome moment for me. Remember the cosplay contest winners? Well, those amazing cosplay winners were none other than phantombytes, who cosplayed as Ryuko, and beastiefangs, who cosplayed as Satsuki, both from Kill la Kill. It was an absolute honor to have a photo op with both of them. Not only did it feel amazing, but I am glad that I was able to humbly demonstrate the importance of kindness, respect, and encouraging community support for the cosplay community as a whole. We all know that, unfortunately, the cosplay community—while amazing and full of kind, talented individuals—is sadly plagued with a toxic side that ruins the fun. That’s why at that moment I wanted to make a difference, and precisely because of that, I’m glad that my positive actions were acknowledged and will continue to do so.

Before the final moment happened, I went back to the marketplace to complete one last mission before it ended, echoing what I did at Ocala Anime-Fest. I stumbled across some interesting video games that I surprisingly had never heard of, specifically on the PlayStation 3. Even more surprising since I consider myself a hardcore video game otaku. Nonetheless, I definitely would like to play them as soon as possible, especially since they’re anime-themed.

So, remember my time at Ocala Anime-Fest when I pledged myself to enjoy the consumerism of merchandise at anime cons? Don’t worry about that, because that philosophy never left me. Of course, the available merchandise truly depends on the event. At the final hour of Tampa Anime Day, I was able to spot two goodies that caught my interest. The question is, however, which ones were they? Was it another repeat of that epic moment when I found an Ayu Tsukimiya figure from 15 years ago?

I stumbled across two amazing, humble vendors who were selling a Kaito figure from Project Sekai. In other words, I was buying it for myself, LOL! I saw how the figure looked and couldn’t help but tell myself, “It’s time for Kaito to buy a Kaito figure for himself!” As an avid collector of figurines, adding him was a fine addition to my collection! (Grievous reference lol). I had never owned any piece of Vocaloid merchandise until recently, with my three Fuwa Miku plushies that I bought at Ocala Anime-Fest. I also had an unofficial Hatsune Miku card as well. I guess Project Diva Mega Mix+ on Steam would count too? Either way, owning a Kaito figure felt great—especially since he’s my favorite Vocaloid, and I now own more figures.

Wait, there’s more! (Billy Mays reference.) Yep, it wasn’t just Kaito that I bought. I was only planning on getting him, but I also stumbled across Len. As you all know, he is one of my favorites as well, and his figure was also from Project Sekai. I couldn’t miss out on collecting more Vocaloid and anime figures, so I decided to buy him too. This purchase marked the first time in three years that I bought more than one figure. It truly felt SO amazing—first Kaito, and now Len. The best part about this moment was that the vendors themselves gave me a nice discount. The price was just $10 plus tax. On Amazon and eBay, those figures would have cost me $50–$60. It was truly a kind act by them, and I am utterly grateful and thankful for this amazing offer.

After that, my time at Tampa Anime Day officially concluded. I was done, and a whopping seven hours of an amazing experience at Tampa Anime Day came to an end. Like most cons, I gave a humble thank you message and expressed my gratitude, joy, and positive feedback. On a trivial note, this was only the second time after Toracon that my time at an anime convention concluded while the sky was cloudy. It was also the first time ever that it concluded while it was raining. I can only imagine the summer (oh boy…).

Also, here is a glimpse of my prize and the goodies that I got for winning the scavenger hunt game. Welcome to my database!

And that, my fellow otakus, was my time at Tampa Anime Day. To think that Tampa Anime Day would end up being the best anime convention I’ve attended so far is possibly the biggest shock of the year so far. You already know me very well. When I talk about hype, anticipation, and expectations for an anime con, it’s always positive. I knew that Tampa Anime Day was going to rock, but for it to become my favorite con so far and claim the S-rank crown is something so unbelievable that if I had been told about this back in January as I began my con journey with Brick City Anime Festival, I wouldn’t have believed it at all. Again, not because I had low expectations or doubted it, but because every time I attend anime cons, my expectations are always exceeded. The only difference is that this one was simply beyond that, and overall, I enjoyed it a lot more.

Tampa Anime Day demonstrates the brilliance of just how important small local anime conventions can be for the con-goer. Attending this anime con was such a revolutionary moment for me that I honestly can’t describe it properly. It was so darn freaking good that, at the moment when my time at Tampa Anime Day concluded, I felt like I had just experienced a revolutionary social change in my life. What am I talking about exactly?

First of all, Tampa Anime Day was revolutionary in the sense of just how important community is for otakus living in a specific location. The programming was fantastic. Anime Day Official cons have taken place in other parts of Florida, specifically in Jacksonville and Orlando, which are ironically two cities that I am 100% already familiar with. I’m sure they had an awesome time in their respective areas and regions for their otaku lives. I can say the same thing about my time at Tampa Anime Day. It felt so community-oriented that no wonder it was so easy to meet new people, make new friends, and participate in games that I really enjoyed. The marketplace was another nice place to be, filled with amazing-looking merchandise and tons of video games to play. I saw both familiar ones and new ones that I had never played before.

Meeting tons of other cosplayers, engaging with them, and talking about random topics in the otaku hemisphere was something I hadn’t done in almost a decade. Yes, I enjoyed my fun otaku social activities at the previous anime cons I’ve attended, and that was already changing, of course, but Tampa Anime Day took it to the next level. Having so many fun conversations and making new friends is a lifelong dream of mine that I’ve been dying to fulfill for a while now. Not just normal friends, but those who share the same passion and universe as you do. That was something I truly noticed and felt during my time at Tampa Anime Day. I saw tons of creative talent from passionate individuals—like the RC cars, the cosplay contests, the maid cafes, the video games, and so much more. I worked hard on my Kaito cosplay, and seeing that I earned positive reactions from fellow cosplayers made the feeling even greater. Tons of photo-ops, new buddies, some goodies that I bought, and another awesome part was that it was my first true local anime con, which was just 27 minutes away

Ever since I moved to Tampa, I have realized how much my otaku life has changed significantly. In this city, I am able to engage in otaku activities that I wasn’t able to do in Ocala. So many fans, a powerful and vibrant otaku community, so many shops, a highly engaged cosplay community, and so many anime conventions to attend. The fact that I have more upcoming anime cons, like Metrocon and St. Pete Anime, for example, is just another reason why my otaku life has experienced an unprecedented revolution like no other. Not even my time in Las Vegas comes close to what I’ve done in Tampa. My time at Tampa Anime Day is yet another example of this, just like my time at ACEcon, and to an extent, Sarasota Anime-Fest and Toracon.

The keyword of my time at Tampa Anime Day is the importance of social engagement with fellow otakus and making new friends. The truth is, that’s what mattered the most to me. Sure, I enjoyed the games and getting some goodies for my collection, but if I had to declare the biggest highlight of the con, it was definitely the social engagement. It was such a revolutionary moment that I still smile to this day knowing how amazing it felt when I remember my moments at Tampa Anime Day. In other words, this con gave me the vibe of feeling as if I was in the process of going through a rebirth…

So, my message to Anime Day Official is: I would like to give you a gigantic thank you! A “thank you” SO BIG that it makes Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann look like a midget. I am so grateful and incredibly happy for attending such an amazing anime convention. I already missed Jacksonville’s and Orlando’s, which really sucked, but if there is another Anime Day Official event being hosted in a different city in Florida—like West Palm Beach or Ocala, for example—then please sign me up! I hope to return next year!

Thank you for reading my article! Did you attend Tampa Anime Day 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!

Overall: S-rank (Officially #1)

“Florida’s #1 Akiba-Kei!”