Anime & Manga Events

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So-Cal Cosplay Shoot — Halloween Special

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33 Gathering

115 days away

So-Cal Cosplay Shoot — Halloween Special

Oct 25, 2026 Free Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101

So-Cal Cosplay Scene holds their Halloween edition community photoshoot at Balboa Park on October 25, 2026 — any fandom, any character, free to attend, in the most photogenic park in San Diego on the weekend before Halloween. Balboa Park in late October is a different experience than summer: the light is lower and warmer, the air has finally cooled, and the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture reads more atmospheric. A horror costume against the Museum of Man facade looks like a production still from something that cost millions. A villain build catches the afternoon light in the fountain plaza in ways genuinely difficult to replicate anywhere else. The park does the work. So-Cal Cosplay Scene runs this as an open call — no entry requirements, no costume quality threshold, no hierarchy. Halloween-themed costumes are expected but not required. Any fandom, any build. Photographers of all skill levels are encouraged to bring their gear. Morning hours give the best light before the park fills. Follow @socosplayscene on Instagram for the exact meet point and start time. Come in costume. Come with your camera. Come alone and you won't stay alone.

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26 Gathering

120 days away

LA Comic Con 2026

Oct 30 – Dec 6, 2026 TBA Los Angeles Convention Center, Los…

LA Comic Con closes out the convention year December 4th through 6th at the Los Angeles Convention Center — three days of comics, cosplay, celebrity guests, and gaming that bring the 2026 con calendar to its proper end in the building that handles this better than anywhere in the city. December LA Comic Con has its own energy: the year is ending, the holiday psychology is in play, and the guests are booked with the full picture of what 2026 looked like in film and television. The cosplay density builds through Saturday and peaks Sunday afternoon — the Convention Center floor in December light, full of people who built their looks across the fall, is a different visual experience than any summer convention. The gaming zone runs tournaments and demos in a dedicated section. The artist alley has creators who know this is the last major show of the year and show up for it accordingly. Three days is the right amount of time to cover what LA Comic Con actually is — one day is sprint mode, two days is the real experience. Badge details TBA at lacomiccon.com. Watch the site and lock yours when they open.

Comic Con Los Angeles 2026 — Stan Lee's LACC

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127 Gathering

120 days away

127

Comic Con Los Angeles 2026 — Stan Lee's LACC

Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2026 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Stan Lee's LACC was built on a single premise: the people who built modern mythology deserve a room. Three days at the LA Convention Center, October 30 through November 1 — celebrity signings, panels, exhibitor floors, and 50,000 people who grew up on the same stories. This is the West Coast convention for readers, collectors, and the crowd that turns a hall into a reunion. The show has specific character. LACC is not San Diego Comic-Con, and the people who go know the difference. It is Los Angeles' convention — the one the industry attends in costume because they want to, not because the press is watching. Comics, sci-fi, gaming, horror, anime, fantasy — three days of programming across every genre. Celebrity guests. Exclusive merchandise. The exhibitor floor runs independent publishers alongside major houses. A room where the mythology is still being made. Three days, full programming. The exhibitor floor opens October 30.

Coming Soon

121 days away

Gaslamp Halloween Bar Crawl 2026

Oct 31, 2026 Gaslamp Quarter, 614 5th Ave, San …

The Gaslamp on Halloween is the one night a year the neighborhood goes completely feral. The bar crawl spans the entire quarter — a wristband gets you into venues, specials at each stop, and a costume contest that rewards the obscure reference over the off-the-shelf category. The crowd is cosplay-dense and everyone came to participate. Get your wristband early at gaslamp.org. Costume required to take it seriously.

ANIME WRESTLE-VERSE: The Ultimate Cosplay Entrance Experience

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121 days away

ANIME WRESTLE-VERSE: The Ultimate Cosplay Entrance Experience

Oct 31, 2026 30 8548 Lankershim Blvd, Los Angeles,…

KnokX Pro Wrestling looked at two rooms -- anime cosplay contests and wrestling entrance theater -- and decided they belonged together. ANIME WRESTLE-VERSE is what happened when a real wrestling promotion asked: what if the cosplay walk-out was the competition? On Halloween night in North Hollywood, 275 people will watch competitors enter the ring in full anime cosplay -- theme music, character energy, crowd reaction -- competing for the Anime Wrestle-Verse Championship Belt and a 750 dollar prize pool. This is not a costume contest judged on accuracy. It is judged on the entrance. On presence. On the room reaction when you walk through that curtain. Between heats: KnokX Pro wrestling matches, a live K-pop and anime DJ, a vendor floor, food, and photo ops. The full card. This is for the person who watched wrestling and thought about doing it in cosplay. Or the cosplayer who was waiting for a stage where the walk-in matters as much as the fit. October 31, 2026. Doors 7 PM. North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Tickets: 30 dollars GA. Capacity: 275. Ages 18+.

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🌎 Nation's Best 124 days away

SEMA Show 2026 — Las Vegas, NV

Nov 3 – Nov 7, 2026 0 Las Vegas Convention Center, 3150 …

Two thousand brands, 160,000 automotive professionals, the most elaborate custom vehicles on earth — all in a Las Vegas convention center every November. SEMA is the industry's annual argument about what cars can become. What SEMA feels like is unlike any auto show in the world. This is not rows of production vehicles under fluorescent lights. This is a Dodge Challenger converted into a tribute to a deceased mechanic, a Bronco built for Baja racing with a 700-mile range, a Toyota Tacoma so extensively modified that the factory DNA is nearly invisible. The smell of fresh paint, engine oil, and ambition is everywhere. The Specialty Equipment Market Association show exists because the aftermarket parts industry — the people who make your car yours — needs one place to show what they built this year. Is SEMA worth attending? It depends on who you are. If you are in the automotive industry or enthusiast community at any level, SEMA Fest on Saturday (the public consumer day) is one of the most inspiring afternoons you can spend in Las Vegas. Full-coverage builds that would cost six figures sit 10 feet from you. The designers will talk to you. The fabricators will explain how they built the thing. If you are not an automotive person, SEMA Fest may still surprise you — some of these vehicles are genuinely art. The Battle of the Builders final is as dramatic as any competition you will watch this year. What to know before you go: SEMA Fest (Saturday, November 7) is the consumer day — this is what enthusiasts attend. The full trade show (Tuesday-Friday) requires industry credentials. Book hotel rooms well in advance; SEMA week in Las Vegas fills the Strip. Parking is manageable at the Convention Center. Wear comfortable shoes — the floor is enormous. The Battle of the Builders announcement happens mid-afternoon on Saturday and draws a crowd; position yourself early. Merchandise lines and meet-and-greets with builders and YouTubers run throughout the day. SEMA is on Falkor's Nation's Best list because it is the single annual moment when the aftermarket automotive world shows what it has been building for twelve months. The builders who compete for the Battle of the Builders work all year for Saturday afternoon. The brands that exhibit have been prototyping their showcase parts since the last show. Nothing else in automotive culture operates at this level of craft density in a single location. For anyone who has ever modified a vehicle, looked at a stock car and imagined what it could be, or simply been moved by the intersection of engineering and aesthetics — SEMA Fest is the pilgrimage. The Las Vegas SEMA week has become its own cultural moment. Knowing about it makes you a more interesting version of yourself in any car conversation.

NHRA Toyota Nationals — Auto Club Raceway at Pomona 2026

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127 days away

NHRA Toyota Nationals — Auto Club Raceway at Pomona 2026

Nov 6 – Nov 8, 2026 Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, 2780 …

The NHRA Toyota Nationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona is the penultimate event of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship season, held in November 2026 at one of drag racing's most iconic facilities. Pomona has been hosting NHRA events since 1961, and the fall nationals draw some of the strongest fields of the season as teams make final pushes in championship standings. Top Fuel dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stock cars, and Pro Stock Motorcycles make passes down the quarter-mile at speeds exceeding 330 mph and elapsed times under 3.7 seconds. Standing at the starting line as a Top Fueler fires up — the nitromethane fumes, the mechanical violence of the launch, the concussive sound wave — is an experience that no description adequately prepares a first-time visitor for. The Pomona Fairplex is located at 1101 W McKinley Ave in Pomona, easily accessible from the I-10 and I-210 freeways. Camping is available on the Fairplex grounds for the full race weekend. Grandstand and general admission tickets available via NHRA's website. The pits are open to fans — for the price of a pit pass, you can walk through the team areas and get within feet of the vehicles and crews. The championship battle makes the November Nationals particularly compelling — teams are fighting for every point and the race card often produces record passes as teams push their equipment.

Coming Soon

57 Gathering

127 days away

Anime Pasadena 2026

Nov 6 – Nov 8, 2026 TBA Pasadena Convention Center, Pasade…

Eight years in and Anime Pasadena still feels like something you found before everyone else did. The convention returns to the Pasadena Convention Center November 6-8, 2026 — three days, free parking, and programming that consistently outperforms its own footprint. The vendor hall is the argument. Artists who do not table at the larger shows. Japanese importers carrying inventory you are not finding on domestic sites. Figure collectors running serious stock. Small publishers with niche titles. The cosplay is strong and gets stronger every year — Pasadena attracts the builders, the people who spent six months on a prop and want somewhere to bring it that is not swallowed by a 100,000-person crowd. You can actually stop and look. You can actually talk to the artist. Programming covers panels, screenings, and guest appearances across all three days. Friday evening hours mean the weekend has room to breathe instead of compressing everything into two days. Who goes: anyone who has been to Anime Expo and wanted a version with more space and less distance between you and what you came to see. AX is the convention. Anime Pasadena is the one where you have the conversation. Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E Green St. November 6-8, 2026. Weekend passes typically under $50. Tickets at animepasadena.com. 20 minutes from downtown LA. Gold Line stop nearby.

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18 Gathering

127 days away

Pacific Media Expo 2026 (PMX)

Nov 6 – Nov 8, 2026 Los Angeles Airport Marriott, 5855…

Los Angeles Airport Marriott, 5855 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles. November 6th. Pacific Media Expo 2026 — the long-running anime and Japanese pop culture convention built around the creative community: voice actors, anime producers, manga artists, and the Southern California fan community that has supported it since its founding. PMX is the convention that rewards the audience that wants access, not just attendance. The panel programming brings the talent close — intimate Q&As with voice actors, creator conversations, industry insight from the people who make the content the community loves. The dealer room covers the range from mainstream to deep-cut. The AMV contest, the cosplay events, the fan gatherings that happen between the official programming — PMX has maintained its character as a community convention through two decades. pacificmediaexpo.com for ticket details and the full event schedule. November 6th at the LA Airport Marriott. PMX draws from all of Southern California and from the convention community nationwide that prioritizes programming over scale. If you want to be in the room where the people who made the shows talk about how they made them — this is the convention.

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22 Gathering

133 days away

San Diego Anime Convention 2026

Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2026 DoubleTree by Hilton San Diego Mis…

San Diego Anime Convention 2026 is the third annual gathering organized by Silk Road Productions, a Southern California indie con operator with 12 years of experience running Scream Diego, Fangaea, and AniPop. Taking place November 13-15, 2026 at the DoubleTree by Hilton San Diego Mission Valley, SDAC is one of the most community-rooted anime conventions in the county. The weekend features a full artist alley with 50+ vendors and 50+ artists, a cosplay contest with prizes across multiple categories, fan panels, a maid cafe, anime screenings, and programming designed by fans for fans. This is not a corporate production -- the volunteer network behind SDAC has built it from the ground up, and it shows in the energy on the floor. The DoubleTree San Diego Mission Valley is located at 7450 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108, minutes from the 8 freeway and easily accessible from Mission Valley. Self-parking is available at the hotel. Early bird 3-day passes start at $40; single-day and VIP passes available. Cosplay is welcomed and celebrated at every level of elaborateness. If you have been to SDAC before, you know what to expect: a community that shows up for each other, a vendor hall worth spending a full afternoon in, and panels that run the full range from technical cosplay workshops to deep dives into classic and current series. If this is your first time, welcome to the San Diego anime community's home weekend.

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15 Gathering

134 days away

San Diego Anime Con 2026

Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2026 From $40 DoubleTree by Hilton San Diego Mis…

A hotel con has a different texture than a convention center — the hallways are part of the event, the elevators are part of the event, and at 11pm when the programming ends the lobby becomes its own gathering. San Diego Anime Con fills the DoubleTree Mission Valley November 13-15 with anime, cosplay, gaming, and a community that came specifically to be around people who understand the references. Home by midnight. Worth every minute of it.

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🌎 Nation's Best 134 days away

TwitchCon North America 2026

Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2026 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

TwitchCon North America 2026 returns to San Diego September 25-27 — the convention built for live streaming culture. The expo hall is a live streaming studio crossed with a gaming lounge — streamers broadcasting from the floor, sub-notification sounds everywhere, and meet-and-greets with people you've watched for 3,000 hours. Variety Arcades, developer showcases, cosplay competitions for game characters, and the inevitable TwitchCon Pool Incident follow-up safety improvements. Why go: Your favorite streamer is probably here and you can actually talk to them. Tickets at twitchcon.com.

Coming Soon

134 days away

MTG Star Trek Prerelease — TCS Rockets

Nov 13, 2026 7626 Miramar Rd Suite 3900, San Di…

Star Trek: The Next Generation arrives in Magic: The Gathering's card frame in November 2026, and TCS Rockets in Miramar is running the Prerelease weekend in the sealed format that puts every player on equal footing. Six packs per player, no pre-built deck advantage, every game a puzzle assembled from what you opened. Prerelease is the format where experience matters less than instinct. You're building with cards you've never played before against opponents doing the same. The Star Trek IP adds a second layer to every card — you're reading the mechanical text and recognizing the characters, the ships, the moments from the shows simultaneously. Picard on a creature card hits different. The Borg as a mechanic lands exactly how you'd expect it to. All experience levels welcome. TCS Rockets is at 7626 Miramar Rd, Suite 3900, San Diego. tcsrockets.com for registration and event details. Sealed kit, six packs, Prerelease promo included with entry. Show up knowing your Star Trek. The Magic rules you can learn between packs.

MTG Star Trek Prerelease — GameStar Hobbies

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13 Gathering

134 days away

MTG Star Trek Prerelease — GameStar Hobbies

Nov 13, 2026 27380 Jefferson Ave Ste 101, Temec…

GameStar Hobbies, 27380 Jefferson Ave, Temecula. November 13th. The Magic: The Gathering Star Trek Prerelease at GameStar — the first day the new set is legal, the format is open, and the Star Trek IP meets Magic's mechanical design in a set that both communities have been waiting to see since the announcement. Star Trek and Magic share an audience — the overlap between sci-fi fans and trading card game players is substantial enough that this set was always going to land differently than a typical set release. The Prerelease format puts everyone on equal footing: six packs, forty-five minutes to build a sealed deck, then play against people who opened the same uncertainty you did. GameStar Hobbies runs prereleases with real infrastructure. magic.wizards.com for the full spoiler and set details before November 13th. The Temecula location is accessible from across the Inland Empire and from San Diego and Riverside equally. Show up knowing your Star Trek — the card design rewards the reference points. The format rewards the play decisions. Both matter on Prerelease day.

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16 Gathering

134 days away

San Diego Anime Con 2026

Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2026 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Die…

San Diego Anime Con is the hotel-con format done right — an anime and pop culture convention that uses the intimate scale of a hotel venue to create the kind of fandom community that stadium-scale events can not replicate. Running November 13-15 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in San Diego, SDAC brings together anime fans, cosplayers, and pop culture enthusiasts in a setting where the hallway conversations are as good as the panel programming. The hotel-con format means you are sharing space with everyone who loves the same things you do, from the lobby to the elevator to the dealer room. Voice actor guests do not feel a hundred feet away behind a rope. Artist Alley is close enough that you can actually talk to the creators. The cosplay in the hotel atrium at 11pm is some of the best you will see anywhere. For San Diego's anime community, SDAC is the end-of-year gathering — the event that closes the convention season with the right people. Tickets and badge information available at sandiegoanimecon.com. Hotel room block available for out-of-town attendees.

Coming Soon

38 Gathering

134 days away

San Diego Anime Convention 2026

Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2026 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Die…

San Diego Anime Con returns for its fourth year November 13-15, 2026 at the DoubleTree Mission Valley — three days of anime culture built at human scale, 50-plus vendors, 50-plus artists, and an atmosphere that feels more like a community gathering than a production. The conventions that endure are rarely the biggest ones. They're the ones where the regulars know each other, where the artists in Artist Alley remember your face from last year, where the panels are small enough to actually ask a question. San Diego Anime Con has built that culture quietly over four years. The DoubleTree keeps it contained in a way that works: the hotel layout creates natural gathering spots, the bar fills up with cosplayers after panel hours, and the whole thing has the energy of a convention that hasn't forgotten why people go to conventions. Tickets at sandiegoanimecon.com. Three-day badges are the move — Saturday is the peak, Sunday is the farewell circuit. Free parking at the DoubleTree. Mission Valley is accessible from anywhere in San Diego. Come in costume or don't. Both are welcome here.

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2026 (AWA) — Atlanta, GA

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🌎 Nation's Best 140 days away

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2026 (AWA) — Atlanta, GA

Nov 19 – Nov 22, 2026 Georgia World Congress Center Buil…

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2026 (AWA) is one of the American South's most beloved anime conventions, running November 19–22 at the Georgia World Congress Center Building C in Atlanta. Founded in 1994, AWA draws over 25,000 attendees annually to one of the longest-running anime conventions in North America — a four-day event that has served as the Southeast's entry point to anime culture for over thirty years. Four full days of programming — panels, screenings, gaming, cosplay, dances, and the Anime Music Video competition that AWA is particularly known for. The convention runs multiple simultaneous programming tracks, meaning there is always a reason to be in the building regardless of your specific anime preferences. The Masquerade competition draws elaborate cosplay entries from across the Southeast and beyond. The AMV contest is nationally competitive — winning an AWA AMV award carries real weight in that community. The dealer floor and artist alley together span tens of thousands of square feet of licensed merchandise, independent art, and convention exclusives. AWA is the Southeast's definitive anime convention. For out-of-region attendees, it competes directly with Anime Expo, Anime Boston, and Katsucon as one of the events worth cross-country travel. The four-day structure gives it depth that weekend-only cons cannot match: you have time to see everything, run into people multiple times, and build the social fabric that makes anime conventions more than a market. Multi-day memberships can be purchased at awa-con.com and mailed to you ahead of time. Wednesday evening offers multi-day badge pickup from 4 to 8 PM, worth doing to skip Thursday morning lines. On-site membership purchases are cash only. Thursday programming begins the full convention schedule. The Georgia World Congress Center is expansive — wear comfortable shoes and plan for significant walking between halls. Atlanta hotel prices spike during AWA weekend; book accommodations early, ideally at the adjacent Marriott Marquis or Hilton Atlanta. AWA in 2026 will be its 32nd consecutive year — making it older than most of the mainstream media properties that now dominate convention floor merchandise. The convention predates streaming anime in the US, the American manga boom, and the global explosion of interest that followed Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. It was here, building community, long before any of that was mainstream. That tenure is the event's identity: not a trend convention, but the convention that built the trend.

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2026 — Atlanta, GA

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🌎 Nation's Best 140 days away

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2026 — Atlanta, GA

Nov 19 – Nov 22, 2026 Georgia World Congress Center, Bui…

The American South's longest-running anime convention has been meeting in Atlanta every September since 1997. Anime Weekend Atlanta is where the Southeast's anime fandom comes to recognize itself. Walk the AWA floor on a Thursday night and the energy hits immediately: cosplayers in elaborate handmade builds line the escalators, artist alley tables overflow with original prints and fan art, and the programming halls pulse with AMVs, panel debates, and late-night gaming tournaments that run until 3 AM. The dealers room is legitimately staggering — vintage merchandise, imports, rare figures, and indie creators all packed into a space where you could spend a full day and still miss things. The masquerade on Saturday night is one of the most theatrical cosplay competitions in the country, drawing contestants who have spent months on a single build. AWA moves differently than the mega-cons: it feels less like a trade show and more like a reunion — because for thousands of attendees, it genuinely is. If you grew up watching anime in the South and never found your people, AWA is the answer. This is not for casual fans who think anime is just Naruto and Dragon Ball. It is for people who obsess over seasonal charts, debate subculture lore, and have a hard drive full of unfinished cosplay plans. First-timers frequently describe AWA as the con that finally felt like home. If you are that person — the one who learned Japanese from subtitles and named a pet after a character — this is worth every flight mile. Book your hotel at the World Congress Center Marriott before August or it will sell out — AWA attendees treat the hotel block as sacred and it fills months in advance. Badge pickup lines on Thursday afternoon are brutal; opt for pre-registration and arrive before noon. The dealers room has no ATMs inside — bring cash, bring more than you think you need, and budget for at least one impulse figure you did not plan for. The programming schedule releases about six weeks before the event and fills fast; panel rooms cap out, so plan your must-see events 30 minutes early. The loading dock area outside Building C is where the best spontaneous cosplay photo shoots happen after dark. Anime Weekend Atlanta earns its place on Falkor Nation's Best list because it represents something the large coastal cons cannot replicate: a community that built itself from the ground up, in a region where anime culture had no institutional support, through three decades of showing up. It is the convention that proved the South has always had its own vibrant fan culture — it just needed a room big enough to hold it. AWA 2026 runs November 19-22 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Building C, Atlanta. Tickets available at eventeny.com.

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