Anime & Manga Events

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13 Gathering

22 days away

San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Friday

Jul 24, 2026 From $65 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

San Diego Convention Center, July 24th. From $65. Friday at SDCC — the day the convention hits full stride, when Hall H has fired its first reveals and the exhibit hall is running at capacity and the cosplay density on the convention floor is at its visible best. Friday is the day Comic-Con becomes what it actually is. The opening-day energy of Thursday has settled into the focused momentum of a convention that knows it has limited time. The panels running Friday morning and afternoon are the ones the studios scheduled for maximum audience — Friday's Hall H is the crowd that has been planning this since last year. The exhibit hall on Friday is the floor as designed. From $65 at comic-con.org. Friday badges are the most in-demand single-day tickets at SDCC — they sell fastest and for good reason. If you're attending with a specific Hall H target, Friday is the day you line up for it. If you're there for the floor and the artist alley and the Gaslamp energy that builds through the day, Friday is when all of that is operating simultaneously. The day doesn't stop until the lights go down.

San Diego Padres vs Miami Marlins at Petco Park — July

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22 days away

San Diego Padres vs Miami Marlins at Petco Park — July

Jul 24, 2026 100 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101

The Miami Marlins visit Petco Park on July 24 in a series that provides the backdrop for summer baseball at its most atmospheric. The Marlins are a franchise in ongoing evolution — young talent, a new financial commitment, and a club that has used every mechanism available to a small-market team to remain competitive. At Petco Park in late July, they visit a stadium and a fan base that is fully engaged in the pennant race. The NL West in late July separates real contenders from teams that were competing earlier in the year, and the Padres faithful show up for a July Friday knowing the next 50 games will define the season. Petco's upper deck on a July evening — the bay visible, the Coronado Bridge catching the last light, the ballpark at full attendance — is one of the most beautiful environments in American sports. The Marlins are the opponent. The setting is the reason.

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22 days away

Mosh Eisley: Best Party In The Galaxy

Jul 24 – Jul 25, 2026 ✨ New $62 1337 India Street, San Diego, CA 9…

Somebody looked at a galaxy far, far away and at a room full of people screaming the bridge of a song they cried to in high school, and decided those were the same people. They were right. This is the night the Star Wars obsessives and the emo kids stop pretending they're different crowds. The band plays the songs you'd never admit you have memorized. Strangers in Jedi robes and band tees scream every word back at each other like a pew of believers. Cosplay isn't a costume contest here — it's just what you wear to church. The floor is standing-room, the lights go galactic, and for one night the most uncool thing about you becomes the reason a roomful of people love you. Come in costume or come in the shirt you've owned for fifteen years. Both belong. Doors open at 8PM (Cantina Hour early access for the bundle crowd); the party runs Friday, July 24, 2026, 9PM–1:30AM at Music Box, 1337 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101. 21+. Tickets $62 advance.

2026 Los Angeles Jiu-Jitsu Open — NABJJF at Cerritos College

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23 days away

2026 Los Angeles Jiu-Jitsu Open — NABJJF at Cerritos College

Jul 25, 2026 11110 Alondra Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90…

NABJJF believes that competitive jiu-jitsu should be accessible enough that gym teammates travel together — not just solo competitors chasing rankings. The 2026 Los Angeles Jiu-Jitsu Open brings the North American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation format to Cerritos College for a one-day Gi and No-Gi competition across all divisions and experience levels. The NABJJF model differs from IBJJF in price point and in the community it draws: smaller entry fees, a regional rather than international registration pool, and a room where white belts compete in the same building as brown belts. Cerritos College provides a particular advantage: real bleacher seating and gymnasium space that lets spectators actually see multiple mats at once, rather than navigating the convention center floor plan and losing sight of the match you came to watch. If you are supporting a teammate, you will be able to find them and follow their bracket. All divisions: Gi and No-Gi. All belts. All ages and weight classes. Competitors register through NABJJF at nabjjf.com. Spectators welcome. Cerritos College, 11110 Alondra Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90650. Saturday July 25, 2026.

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12 Gathering

23 days away

San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Saturday

Jul 25, 2026 From $65 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

San Diego Convention Center, July 25th. From $65. Saturday at SDCC — the peak of the convention, the day the floor is at full density, the cosplay is at maximum intensity, and Hall H has the rooms that were worth camping for. This is San Diego Comic-Con at its most completely itself. Saturday is when Comic-Con hits the register it was designed for. The exhibit hall is the fullest it will be all week — every booth running, every exclusive available (or gone), every aisle moving at the speed of 130,000 people who have made plans. The cosplay density on Saturday afternoon is the specific reason photographers travel from other cities. The evening programming is where the Gaslamp reaches its fullest energy. From $65 at comic-con.org. Saturday badges are the hardest to secure and the most in-demand because Saturday is the day. If you have one, you know what to do: have a plan, get to the halls you care about early, and leave room for the things you couldn't have planned. The convention finds you on Saturday. Show up and let it.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero Community Night — July 2026

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23 days away

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero Community Night — July 2026

Jul 25, 2026 $10 GameSync San Diego, 2860 Main St, …

The Dragon Ball Sparking Zero Community Night at GameSync continues its monthly run into July, drawing the San Diego fighting game community that has been building around this title since its release. The format is community bracket: organized competition with enough structure to be meaningful but loose enough that the session is actually fun. GameSync on Main Street in San Diego is one of the most consistent venues for the local FGC — the staff knows the scene, the setups are reliable, and the crowd is built from people who come back month after month rather than one-time drop-ins. Dragon Ball FighterZ drew the most competitive scene of any anime fighter in recent memory; Sparking Zero is continuing that trajectory with a different mechanical approach that has divided and energized the community in equal measure. Whether you are grinding ranked or just want bracket experience against players at your level, the community night is the right format. Entry at $10 as part of GameSync's standard admission. San Diego, Logan Heights area.

Crunchyroll Anime FanFest 2026 — San Diego

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325 Gathering

23 days away

325

Crunchyroll Anime FanFest 2026 — San Diego

Jul 25 – Jul 27, 2026 222 Marina Park Way, San Diego, CA…

This is what it sounds like when 10,000 anime fans hear the opening notes of something they have been listening to alone for years. Crunchyroll Anime FanFest returns to San Diego Comic-Con, taking over the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park for a two-day music festival built entirely around the genres that anime made famous. The venue sits on San Diego Bay, directly behind the Convention Center, free and open to anyone — no badge, no wristband, no cost. The format: two days, multiple stages, a lineup mixing Japanese artists with Western producers shaped by anime culture. The inaugural 2025 edition featured SPYAIR, yama, ASH DA HERO, and Denzel Curry sharing the same stage — not as a novelty but as a coherent playlist. The 2026 lineup will be announced closer to the event. Gates open Saturday July 25 at 1 PM. Sunday July 26 continues the format. The convention badge crowd mixes with fans who came specifically for this and nothing else. Two days at one of San Diego's best outdoor amphitheaters, surrounded by the bay, and it costs nothing. The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina Park Way, San Diego. Free admission.

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23 days away

Crunchyroll Anime FanFest 2026 — San Diego

Jul 25 – Jul 27, 2026 222 Marina Park Way, San Diego, CA…

We Touch Grass: Anime Rave Convention After Party — San Diego

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23 days away

We Touch Grass: Anime Rave Convention After Party — San Diego

Jul 25 – Jul 26, 2026 Spin Night Club, 2028 Hancock St, …

We Touch Grass brings the anime rave to San Diego during Comic-Con weekend. Spin Night Club becomes the room where the convention crowd goes to let the cosplay breathe and the bass hit different. Touch Grass Entertainment has been running anime raves across the country, building a circuit where the soundtrack is J-pop remixes, anime OSTs turned club bangers, and the energy of a crowd that spent all day at panels and needs the night to match. This is the after-party the anime community shares in group chats before the official schedule drops. Saturday night of SDCC week. 9 PM until late. Spin Night Club, 2028 Hancock St, San Diego, CA 92110.

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23 days away

Comic Tron - Comic Con After Party

Jul 25 – Jul 26, 2026 ✨ New 1337 India Street, San Diego, CA 9…

The convention center goes dark at six, but the people inside it don't power down — they just need somewhere to put the charge. That's the whole reason a tribute act spent years building replica chromed helmets, a full-scale pyramid stage, and electro-luminescent suits that glow like the inside of a game grid. They believe the best hours of Comic-Con week aren't on the floor at all — they're after, when the badge comes off and the costume stays on and a room full of strangers turns out to be exactly your people. Little Italy's Music Box becomes a Tron sequence for one night: futuristic beats, glowing everything, an "Alive 2007"-style spectacle that treats Daft Punk like scripture. Cosplayers, ravers, and the SDCC crowd who refuse to call it a night all end up under the same lights. You do not need a Comic-Con badge to walk in. Doors at 8PM, the night ignites at 9PM, Saturday, July 25, 2026, at Music Box, 1337 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101. Tickets through Belly Up.

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23 days away

San Diego Anime Rave (WeTouchGrass)

Jul 25 – Jul 26, 2026 ✨ New 2028 Hancock Street, San Diego, CA…

Somebody decided that the songs you only ever felt alone — the openings, the OSTs, the themes that hit a nerve no one around you understood — deserved a thousand people and a wall of sound. So they built a dance floor for them. This is the night your most private obsession becomes the loudest thing in the room. The DJ drops an opening you'd know in two notes and the whole floor loses it at once, because everyone here loves the same thing you do at the same embarrassing volume. Cosplay or street clothes, it doesn't matter — the only dress code is "you already know why you're here." It lands on the Saturday of the biggest fandom week of the year, when the city is full of people who came a long way to be among their own. For one night the thing you usually keep to yourself is the reason a roomful of strangers feel like home. Saturday, July 25, 2026, doors 9PM at Spin Nightclub, 2028 Hancock Street, San Diego, CA 92110. 21+.

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25 Gathering

24 days away

San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Sunday

Jul 26, 2026 From $50 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

San Diego Convention Center, July 26th. Sunday at Comic-Con International — from $50 for a badge on the final day, the day when the floor has been walked and the big Hall H panels have fired and the convention finds the version of itself that keeps people coming back year after year. Sunday at SDCC is the day the cosplay is at full intensity because it's the last chance. The Exhibit Hall has deals that didn't exist Thursday — publishers moving stock, creators selling what's left of their limited prints. The energy is exhausted and alive at the same time: four days of maximum input produces a loose, generous, overstimulated crowd that is genuinely fun to be inside. The announcements have already happened; what's left is the experience. The Convention Center floor in late July with the harbor visible through the glass and fifty thousand people who flew in from everywhere — nothing replicates it. Badges at this level don't linger. If Sunday is your entry point into SDCC, take it. It is a real day.

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25 Gathering

27 days away

Padres vs. SF Giants

Jul 29 – Aug 2, 2026 From $20 Petco Park, 100 Park Blvd, San Die…

The San Francisco Giants visit Petco Park on July 30 in the mid-summer edition of the oldest rivalry in the NL West. Giants-Padres at Petco in late July carries the accumulated weight of thirty-plus years of division competition — two California clubs competing for the same playoff real estate, playing against each other more than any out-of-division opponent. The Giants travel with one of the most geographically concentrated and loyal away fan bases in baseball — the Bay Area transplant community in San Diego is substantial, and the right-field bleachers at Petco take on a particular character during a Giants series. Late July at Petco Park is the stadium in full summer mode: sold out on weeknight games, the NL West standings close enough that three games directly affect the pennant picture. This series matters. Show up for it.

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13 Gathering

🌎 Nation's Best 29 days away

Otakon 2026 — Washington, DC

Jul 31 – Aug 2, 2026 Walter E. Washington Convention Ce…

It started as 300 fans in a Baltimore hotel in 1994. The 30th anniversary in 2024 drew 46,000 to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Otakon has been running the whole time without interruption — which is why it feels less like a convention and more like a reunion. What it feels like to be there: Otakon has a specific character that separates it from other major anime conventions. The DC location draws a concentrated East Coast fan base — people who follow seasonal anime, collect physical media, and can place any character in their franchise context. The programming depth reflects this: panels get into the craft of animation, voice acting, and manga creation at a level that assumes genuine expertise from the audience. The Friday night concert is typically a highlight that attendees plan their entire weekend around. The cosplay photography in the convention center's modern glass architecture, with DC landmarks nearby, creates a specific aesthetic that does not exist anywhere else on the convention circuit. Is it worth it? Otakon is for anime fans who want more than a dealers hall and autograph lines — who want to understand how the work they love gets made and to be in a room with tens of thousands of people who love it as specifically as they do. The programming depth rewards multiple days of attendance. Single-day attendance is worthwhile if you are targeting a specific guest or concert, but the experience compounds over the full weekend. What to know before you go: Washington DC hotels near the convention center fill quickly after the convention is announced. Book early, or look at Metro-accessible neighborhoods like Shaw or Mount Vernon Triangle. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is enormous — the map is essential. Many attendees arrive in cosplay; the building photographs extremely well. Badge pickup lines move fastest early Friday morning. Otakon earns its Nation's Best designation because it represents the East Coast's measure of what anime fandom has built over 30 years in America. A convention that started with 300 people and now draws 30,000 is measuring something real — a community that self-organized, refused to be dismissed as niche, and built institutions that outlasted the people who started them. This is what cultural longevity looks like from the inside. 2026 specifics: The theme this year is Swords and Sorcery -- programming skews toward fantasy genre anime and epic storytelling, timed well with current mainstream anime momentum (Dungeon Meshi, Frieren, Witch Hat Atelier). Otakon is operated by Otakorp Inc., a registered non-profit -- By Fans, For Fans is legally true, not marketing copy. Weekend badges run approximately 110 dollars and include concerts (Anime Expo upcharges these separately). This is one of the most substantive values in the convention circuit.

Metrocon 2026 — Florida Anime Convention, Tampa

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🌎 Nation's Best 29 days away

Metrocon 2026 — Florida Anime Convention, Tampa

Jul 31 – Aug 2, 2026 Tampa Convention Center, 333 S Fra…

Florida's anime community has been meeting at Metrocon every summer since 2002. Three days at the Tampa Convention Center — the event that built anime fandom in this state. What it feels like: Metrocon runs hot on cosplay. Florida's anime community has produced some of the country's most technically impressive costume builds, and the convention center floor is a working gallery of that craft. The programming is community-forward — panels run by fans who actually know the material, not PR-approved talking points. The Artist Alley features Southeast creators who rarely appear at national conventions, making Metrocon a genuine discovery venue for independent anime art and merchandise. Worth it? Who it is for: Metrocon is for the Florida anime fan who has been told that the real conventions are all in California. They are not. Metrocon draws 20,000 attendees to Tampa every summer and has been doing so for over 20 years. It is also worth the flight for East Coast fans looking for a convention that combines quality programming with the natural draw of Tampa in late July — the city has invested heavily in its Riverwalk and Ybor City nightlife, making the convention weekend an actual trip. What to know before you go: Badge pickup moves quickly for pre-registered attendees. The Artist Alley opens a half-hour before the main floor — use this window if you want first access to independent vendors. The cosplay contest runs Saturday evening and draws the highest-production builds; arrive early for seating. Tampa in late July is genuinely hot — plan accordingly if you are wearing anything elaborate. The cultural moment: Metrocon has been running for over two decades, which means it has watched the anime fandom transform from a niche community to the mainstream cultural force it is today. It carries that history without being precious about it — the convention feels alive in a way that older events sometimes lose. Florida has an anime community that rivals California's at the neighborhood level. Metrocon is the annual proof.

EVO 2026 — Fighting Game World Championship

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32 Gathering

29 days away

EVO 2026 — Fighting Game World Championship

Jul 31 – Aug 2, 2026 Mandalay Bay Convention Center, La…

The Mandalay Bay Convention Center turns into the most electric building in Las Vegas for three days every summer when EVO comes to town. This is the Fighting Game World Championship — the oldest and largest competitive fighting game tournament on earth, where thousands of players from over sixty countries compete across the genre's biggest titles for world titles, prize money, and bragging rights that last a year. EVO 2026 runs July 31 through August 2 at Mandalay Bay. The main stage lineup typically includes Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1, Guilty Gear Strive, and Dragon Ball FighterZ — though the final game list is announced in spring. Players compete in open brackets that anyone can enter. You do not need to qualify to register. Show up, pay the entry fee, and play against the best in the world. What to expect as a spectator: the main stage is standing room and free with convention access. Top 8 finals each night pull thousands into the arena. The crowd has seen it all and loses its mind at comebacks that should be impossible. Side events, vendors, and community tournaments fill the convention hall all day. Tickets for convention entry go on sale in spring. Players register separately through start.gg. If you play fighting games at any level — casually or competitively — EVO is the pilgrimage.

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35 Gathering

29 days away

Otakon 2026

Jul 31 – Aug 2, 2026 Walter E. Washington Convention Ct…

Otakon returns to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center July 31 through August 2, 2026 — more than three decades as one of the East Coast's defining anime conventions and one of the oldest fan-run cons in the United States. Since 1994, Otakon has been the summer gathering for the anime community's most devoted: the fans who plan year-round, cosplay with detail that rivals museum exhibits, and travel from every state for exclusive English-language premieres, Japanese musical performances, and direct conversations with the voice actors and directors behind the series they love. Three days of programming spans the full convention center: panels, screenings, an artist's alley, dealer's hall, gaming tournaments, and evening concerts featuring Japanese musicians who often perform exclusively at Otakon and nowhere else on the American tour. Between 25,000 and 30,000 attendees make the pilgrimage each year — large enough to feel monumental, small enough that the community still recognizes itself. The fans attending their first con and the ones who have made the trip since the Clinton administration move through the same halls. That continuity is what no streaming service replicates.

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🌎 Nation's Best 30 days away

Otakon 2026 — Washington, DC

Aug 1 – Aug 3, 2026 Walter E. Washington Convention Ce…

Otakon is one of the largest anime and manga conventions in the United States — 30,000 or more attendees converging on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital each August for three days of Japanese pop culture, live music concerts, industry panels, and the kind of collective fandom energy that makes major conventions worth traveling for. Founded in 1994, Otakon is not a newcomer: it is one of the conventions that helped build American anime fandom from a scattered subculture into a mainstream cultural force. The convention center is enormous, and Otakon fills it completely. Dealer hall, artist alley, panel rooms running simultaneously from morning to late night, masquerade competition with production-level cosplay, and Japanese music concerts that would be standalone events anywhere else. Washington DC adds a dimension most conventions cannot offer: the Smithsonian museums are within walking distance, the National Mall is ten minutes away, and the city's restaurant scene is world-class. People regularly extend trips by a day on each side to take advantage of where Otakon is, not just what it is. The convention crowd is multigenerational — fans who have been attending since the 1990s alongside teenagers experiencing their first major con, all in the same dealer hall, all looking for the same things. Otakon is worth it if anime and manga fandom is a meaningful part of your life and you want to experience that community at full scale. The programming depth is exceptional — Japanese guests, American voice actors, industry representatives, and screenings of films not yet in US release. If you have only attended smaller regional conventions, Otakon is the upgrade that shows you what the community looks like when it is fully assembled. The energy on the convention floor during peak hours has to be experienced to be understood. Book your hotel before registration even opens — DC hotels near the convention center fill months in advance for Otakon weekend. Registration opens well in advance at otakon.com — early registration rates are significantly cheaper than at-door pricing. Badges are mailed to pre-registered attendees. Washington DC in early August is humid and warm; the convention center is well air-conditioned, but outdoor transit between hotels and the center requires planning for summer heat. Metro access is excellent — the Gallery Place-Chinatown stop puts you steps from the convention center entrance. Download the Otakon app before the event: the full panel schedule drops the week before, and popular panels fill their rooms early. There are conventions that cater to anime fans, and then there is Otakon — a convention that has been central to how American anime fandom organized and sustained itself across three decades. The community at Otakon is not performing enthusiasm. It is the real thing, built by people who kept showing up year after year. Attending is not just seeing panels and buying merchandise. It is joining one of the most durable fan communities in American pop culture. Tickets and badge registration at otakon.com — August 1 through 3, 2026, Washington DC. Early registration closes long before the event; buy as soon as it opens.

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