Tekko 2023: Celebrating Anime in Style

   Tekko is definitely one of our go-to cons each year, as many of our readers know, and each year they do a great job! This year’s theme was Kawaii – Apocalypse. The con chairs had decided on this theme after covid with how apocalyptic it felt, another team member had then mentioned how dreary that theme would be and offered up something perhaps cuter, to help the convention goers get past the traumatizing events of covid, finally someone else came up with the idea of a mash-up version of both themes, thus Kawaii – Apocalypse was born. 

With this theme in mind, they hosted a lot more Kawaii-themed events and panels, such as the Lolita & J-Fashion Tea Party, Wonderland escape room, as well as adding the adorable designs of the badges, which were also designed by some of the local artists, each badge type featured some form of Kawaii zombie on them.   

Tekko definitely had a bigger feel to it, as they added a few new aspects to their event, they had the vendor hall set up in a way it felt they utilized the space more efficiently, with vendors to the left or right, artists in the middle, guests separated the merch from the food, they also included visiting anime themed cars towards the back right or left as well. They added a whole section to the gaming hall, specifically for VR. Many congoers felt it was easier to navigate and appreciate all aspects of the vendor’s hall.  

This year we had the chance to visit their Masquerade, Fashion show, and a few panels which included Witchcraft in Anime, Lolita on a Budget, and Classical Literature in Anime/Manga to name a few. Each panel had a lot of thought and time put into it.  At the end of Tekko, they announced they had just shy of 10,000 attendees this year, falling just shy by 22 badges. This number puts them back on track fully to pre-covid. Last year only had 8,000 attendees and in 2021 they had close to 5,000. Some of this was due to covid regulations and them being unable to allow more than the regulated amount. 

We are most certainly excited to be going back again next year to see all the amazing cosplays, games, fashion, panels, and more, with the dates being July 18^th – 21^st 2024 it would be a good idea to get your swimsuits ready as next years theme is going to be the Beach Episode! We look forward to seeing everyone there.