I go to Sakuracon every year and it's great. Used to go to AX every year as well, but between the expense and the fact that it's crowded to hell every year just doesn't make it worth the guests. Makes me sad.

Both of those are west coast though, which I see you're not as interested in.

ANYC, Anime Boston, Otakon are the big east coast ones. ANYC attendance this year is top 5 territory. AWA in Atlanta is bigger than all three of those but is not exactly on the east coast. ACen is in Illinois but is also bigger than all 3 of the exclusively east coast ones. Anime North / Otakuthon if you want to include Canada, and of course Anime Expo in LA is the largest by an order of magnitude.

https://animecons.com/news/post/1516/largest-north-american-anime-conventions-of-2017

My personal favorite con is Anime Los Angeles which is on the smaller side (about 10-15K attendance), it's a much more laid back con since it's smaller than the major cons. Most of the panels are fan run and there's not much of an industry presence; it's also a very social con as one of the big aspects of the con is trading and collecting ribbons that go on your badge. This upcoming con is the first year it's in Long Beach so I don't know what to expect, but the venue is right by the water and a short walk away from an aquarium in case you wanted a break from the con.

Otakon is my personal favorite! It’s in Washington D.C. and is one of the best cons on the East Coast!

Edited for spelling

IMO it's Colossalcon. There are three of them and combine the manic, fun energy of a con with a water park.

Went to anime nyc and it was excellent. Only concern is lines/overstaffing issues, but hoping they fix that for next year. The exhibitors and artist ally are really something else, panels are good, and NYC itself is fun to explore.

For scale, I was there 3 days and STILL felt like I had run out of time and there was more to explore, lol.

There is no "best" convention.

If you want the largest one, then that's Anime Expo, but unless you have a VIP "Premier Fan" pass you'll line up forever for events. It's also too large for people who prefer a smaller convention. If you are spending a lot to travel and just want the largest, grandest, convention, then AX is it.

From there, you've got AWA (Atlanta), Acen (Chicago), Anime Boston, Anime NYC, and A-Kon (Dallas). All of those are 25k+ attendance conventions. Out of those, Boston would have the largest fan panel lineup, and Anime NYC would attract the most industry presence, being the east-cost equivalent of Anime Expo.

Overseas business shows. You want to go to B2B, not fan events. This subredditt wouldn't know about TIFFCOM or AnimeJapan Business Days.

For vtuber it's Offkai and Twitchcon.

You probably want industry facing conventions more than fan conventions for your request. And this sub really isn't going to know much about industry events. Having your location (or what locations you're willing to travel to) might help a lot on narrowing down the search. i.e. if you're willing to travel to California, then OffKai expo is great for networking with vtubers. For anime, you might have to focus your search to Japan for industry events.

Those companies are there to promote, not to hire people.

Anime Expo is the best for networking.

Anime wise Smash Con.

Supernova and Oz Comic Con can be good depending on the celebrities attached to each tour. Outside of that they tend to be massive cosplay meetups.

And then there's all the city specific ones etc

I'd go for Otakon myself, because it's in your neck of the woods. Otherwise you might find this article interesting:

www.gamersdecide.com/articles/best-anime-conventions-usa Ten Best Anime Conventions in the USA

If you're a Final Fantasy fan, Kupocon is going to be holding one, titled "Pom Voyage", in Dorval just outside Montreal. https://kupocon.com/pmv/

They do some neat things like scavenger hunts to get trinkets. I have a pair of Bomb socks from their last convention in Toronto.

I'll be there in the artist alley!

Would also recommend checking out the Comics Arts Festivals that often feature original works from many local artists and storytellers. There's lots coming up:

• Vancouver, May 18-19, https://www.vancaf.org/
• Montreal, May 23-25, https://www.fbdm-mcaf.ca/en/
• Toronto, June 7-8, https://www.torontocomics.com/
• Mini-Comi, Vancouver, July 26, https://minicomivancouver.org/

There might even be a local comic/anime con, or just a local market in your area you don't even know of yet! Here's a few of the bigger ones I know of though to add to your list :)

• OtaFest, Calgary, May 16-18, https://otafest.com/
• Ai-Kon, Winnipeg, July 11-13, https://ai-kon.org/
• Edmonton Expo, September 19-21, https://fanexpohq.com/edmontonexpo/

I'm personally REALLY excited for TCAF!

It may not be the most up to date, but I've been helping to maintain this list of fan conventions in Atlantic Canada (NB, NS, PEI, NL).

Most of them are pretty small (2,000 or less), except Hal-Con which is in the fall and has around 10,000 people. It's a lot of fun and they have a lot of awesome artists and vendors from around the country come in to sell their creations. They also have gaming tournaments, and a costume contest.

> Comic-Con, Montreal, Jul 4-6, https://www.montrealcomiccon.com/

Holy moley, Shatner is still doing conventions in his 90s?

Winnipeg has

Keycon: May 16-18

Ai-kon: July 11-13

Winnipeg Comiccon: October 24-26

I saw u as Ulquiorra for multiple of time lol

You actually lucked out on the weather. It was about 26°C when the normal July temps are around 32°C, something to look out for next time, especially for those coming from cooler parts of the world.

Speaking as a veteran of this con, I’m happy you had a great time. Now you know what to do to maximize your time in this amazing madhouse XD.

Im mainly for the industry guests, and you def felt those lacking the past two years. A. Nyc is going to be the slow nail in the coffin for Ota. There was barely anything worth interest for me this year and im questioning even going next year. 

Otakon has always attracted some very interesting industry guests – heck, Maruyama Masao used to be a regular. As someone who has for the last few years been interviewing and reporting on these guests, it's actually gotten to the point where there are so many that I barely have time to attend fan panels anymore. My situation is unusual, so I doubt we're seeing the beginning of the end for Otakon's fan panel culture or anything – after all, where else would we go? – but I do find myself perversely wishing I had less to do sometimes. Nonetheless, I'm all for these guests! Heck, someone should go ahead and spin up a guest request thread for '26.

According to Jim Vowles, the main reason as of 2023 for the reduced presence of licensees like CR and Viz is that a lot of the responsible teams at those companies scattered like ashes to the wind during the pandemic. Two years later, I wonder if the reason is now less that the companies aren't staffed to do both Otakon and ANYC – which in principle I imagine they have the money and incentive to do – but that Otakon might not actually want them. Otakon has assiduously avoided doing anything that might compromise their fan event culture – that could turn them into another AX or ANYC – and these companies are now so big and divorced from their origins that Otakon may no longer have the leverage to bring them onboard without making the sorts of concessions that an AX or ANYC might.

Or maybe the companies get what they need from ANYC and just don't want to pay the money to staff up – idk lol. Anyone from Otakorp lurking here can set us straight.

Anyway, I'm not one of those people who particularly misses the western licensees. It's fun sometimes when Japanese companies show up with displays – PA Works in 2016 was my absolute favorite, but the Big West Macross booth was fun in 2023 too – but licensees? Discotek can kinda get away with their advertising panel because Mike Toole is so damn good, and their roots are still so firmly in that fan mentality that demands nothing short of the best, but what can CR in Anno Domini 2025 offer except an apology?

I would say if you're really into Japanese music guests, I would say you're gonna have to fly to different events unless they're appearing at multiple events. You need to also weigh the cons like do they offer badge mailing or is their badge pickup a shitshow with lines? The answer for most events other than the biggest cons is yes, it will suck...

Otakon is a really good deal if you tend to like attending lots of anime industry panels and attend a fun concert along with strong community panels and most hobbies have some representation. They are weaker on official vtuber content, although their idol content track is very strong

I am surprised that you didn't include Kawaii Kon on your comparison list since they just get Japanese guests since they're a huge vacation destination...

Honestly, Otakon has always done well with Anime guests, they've had l'arc-en-ciel, Yoko Kanno and Nobuo Uematsu as previous guests. As for Industry panels, they just don't happen anymore. Would I like them back, sure but Otakon has changed and that's okay.

All said and done thanks for doing research!

Having gone to my first Anime Expo last year and my first Otakon this year, I'll also add that I think Otakon is an overall more pleasant experience. I got into the Trigger and Makeine panels no trouble but if there had been a queue or something, at least it would be inside. The panels at Expo were great but I had to wait in line outside for close to an hour for some of them.

https://www.upcomingcons.com/anime-cons

https://animecons.com/events/

Where are you located?