Anime streaming site Crunchyroll has just gone into their third year of holding their own convention, Crunchyroll Expo. And I of course was there to cover. The convention has gotten bigger and improved in many ways, and were gonna go over what’s gone down. Onto Crunchy City we go.
First and foremost, the one thing to notice is the city theme the convention has adopted this year. And it is everywhere. They really committed to this theme. The registration area was made to look like an airport terminal. Greeting attendees as if they were flying into an actual city(there were even airplane sounds being played over the speakers). The booths even had the name of a fictional airport called IsekAir (a wordplay on the anime genre of isekai). Badges were given inside airport ticket envelops, and the physical version of the program came in the form of a newspaper.
Now onto the guests. A major difference this year was the upping of guests from Japan. A lot of voice actors from anime being promoted by crunchyroll made their way. Which included such series as Zombieland Saga, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Mob Psycho 100. The most Notable being horror manga author Junji Ito. Not only did he have panels, there was also exclusive merchandise, and a gallery with his artwork. Junji Ito was a major center focus of the convention.
When it comes to merch,there were a lot more exclusives this year. So much that there was a long line at the exclusives booth. Things definitely sold out fast. The rest of the booths were roughly the same as last year. Maybe even less vendors. Overall not a huge improvement on that front.
When it comes to the negatives, lack of fan events is really apparent. Even as an industry focused convention, fan run panels and other such events would have rounded out the programming better and had a bit more sense of community.
A long with some rooms not having their names or schedule next to them. Which caused some confusion with fans wanting to see Junji Ito on Sunday of the convention.
On the positive side, this year was a big improvement from last. A step up in guest, announcements on new anime seasons, more cosplay gatherings, and in overall efficiency on how the convention ran. And again, the theme of being a city. This really gave the event personality, among the sea of endless conventions.
Overall, this year has been good one for this convention. I look forward to the next steps Crunchyroll takes in 2020.
About the author: Glitch is a digital demon from planet Fanboy, and is here to teach us humans a thing or two. You can find more of his reviews(and nonsense) over at
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