A Brief History of Kotodama

Coming off the heels of a successful comedy panel at FanimeCon 2022, performance artist Vanessa Moonrot is elated to return with her weird brand of comedy performance art at FanimeCon 2023! The jokes will be great, I promise.

An Uncensored Hentai Review!

Join Glitch, the Digital Demon from Planet Fanboy, as he reviews a hentai episode (but uncensored and with all the juicy bits left in!) There will also be skits, naughty games with prizes, epic battles, and a Q&A session where you can ask him any ridiculous or nonsensical questions you have. You'd be crazy not to go (but not as crazy as the host)!

Based on The Taken Out of Context Show.

Anime and Black Culture

Anime is amazing, and it has affected black culture in a big way. Come wild out with us at a fun comedic experience explaining how deeply anime and black culture intertwine. Join us as we entertain and educate!

Anime Survivor

Anime Survivor takes your favorite anime characters and strands them on an island where they have to compete until only one is left. We utilize a web-based simulator to find out, once and for all, which anime character has what it takes to be the sole survivor. Audience input and narratives are encouraged!

Anime to See Before You Die

Prepare to be introduced to a slew of unique, thought provoking, or wild and crazy anime that tackle all kinds of adult subjects. From population control and genocide in From the New World to the solemn, artistic exploration of belief and identity in Angel's Egg, these are anime you will regret never having seen! Love, relationships, sex, addiction, illness, war… anime tackles it all. Join us and start your own anime bucket list today!

Anime's Biggest A**holes

Anime has a lot of colorful characters and some aren't so likable. Some are unsavory. Others are downright rude or just plain evil. These are the characters we love to hate. There's a plethora of ways characters can tick us off and disgust us, but we'd be lying if we didn't admit they have a distinct appeal. Come meet the best-of-the-best. These aren't your average run-of-the-mill jerks. These are Anime's. Biggest. A**holes!

Ash Can't Catchum

Ash Ketchum has been a Pokémon trainer for longer than most of you have been alive, but for some reason he has the same in-game sense I did before I understood what the save button does. Together, we'll try to figure out how many battles he won due to OSHA-required indoor sprinkler systems, and try to quantify exactly how much money Jessie and James have spent trying to capture something that has a 25% encounter rate at the Power Plant.

Bad Fanfiction

Confusing stories? We got them. Plot holes? Got that too. Perversions? We've got enough to make your parents even more disappointed in you. Back by unpopular demand, we ride again to bring you the worst stories on the web and ruin your childhood. Come and see if you can make it through two hours of what we can only describe as "literary atrocities."

Bad Hentai

Year seven! Bad animation, terrible voice acting, hamsters as a unit of measurement, and things that should not be seen! This panel shouldn't be this popular.

There are worse ways to spend two hours.

Berserk: Discussing Destiny

Guts. Griffith. Casca. The Band of the Hawk. Over three decades ago, the gold-standard of medieval fantasy manga began and things have never been the same. Berserk is one of the most thoughtful, bloody, and captivating stories ever brought from the pages of manga to the small-screen. Come ready to discuss 30+ years of ongoing history created by Kentaro Miura: the characters, themes, philosophy, and more. This FanimeCon come gather with your own band: the fans of Berserk.

Console Wars

Thanks to video games, we all know exactly how to disappoint our parents and avoid interpersonal contact. But what about the history of video games? From the Magnavox Odyssey to the Nintendo Switch, we'll be going over the history of video game consoles and the reasons why companies sprouted up and disappeared from the console market.

Cosplay Wrestling Federation: Fanimania VIII

CWF has expanded Fanimania across two nights! Watch as several of our wrestlers go head to head in order to settle personal rivalries and feuds.

Crazy Funny Asians - Comedy Special

The Bay's hottest weekly standup comedy show featuring all-Asian lineups is making its way to FanimeCon. We perform in San Francisco at Chi Lounge on Fridays (7:00 pm and 9:00 pm) and Neck of the Woods on Saturdays (7:00 pm), but this FanimeCon weekend we're bringing the laughs to you! Let's close out AAPI Heritage Month with comedians who have been on NBC's Stand-Up for Diversity, SF Sketchfest, SF Punchline, Cobb's Comedy Club, San Jose Improv, and more!

Cthulhu for President!

Cthulhu for President! Why choose the lesser evil? The longest running campaign in anime convention history continues! This will be our 15th year at FanimeCon! Come see why it's all your fault that Cthulhu still hasn't won the Presidency!

DIO Did Nothing Wrong

You expected the Joestars to be the protagonists, but it was I, DIO! The Speedwagon Foundation's vile, oil-money-funded propaganda campaign has sullied my great name for too long. Join us for an hour of memes, because if Robert Pattinson's Batman proves anything, it's that vampires can be redeemed. WRYYYY!

Dragon Age Otome

Play everyone's favorite fantasy dating sim in real life! Dragon Age Otome is a blind dating game panel. Audience members will have a chance to interview a panel of randomly chosen cast members and choose their favorite to win a "date" with their favorite Dragon Age character, among other fantastic prizes.

Fifth Gen Isn't Pokémon

Generation Five of Pokémon introduced a lot of new concepts to the series such as ripping off their previous aesthetic designs, min-maxing stats to optimize the removal of actual Pokémon from competitive play, and whatever Garbador is. When it comes down to it, the abominations that were introduced in Pokémon Black and White are nowhere near as majestic as classic Pokémon like Muk, Mr. Mime, and Electrode.

Frontchill: Stories & Games

Become a part of the Frontchill Fam! Join a community of storytelling enthusiasts by attending this intro panel to a Twitch and YouTube channel that celebrates TTRPG's, board games, video games, and overall meta. We will discuss the impact games have from a storytelling perspective and attempt to further instill the passion of play as a means of communication and growth.

Game Translation Gone Wrong

Since the beginning of translating and importing video games, gamers have seen no shortage of infamous translation gaffes and amusing flubs over the years from the iconic "A Winner Is You" to the infamous "All Your Base Are Belong to Us"! This panel aims to explore more than four decades of notable and funny mistranslations, and provide some context and insight into the delicate art form of localizing video games.

Let's Talk About Harems

Anime always promotes unrealistic expectations in our lives: randomly getting super powers, giant mech battles, having friends. The biggest letdown from anime is, of course, the promise of harem anime: that not one, but five girls could fall in love with you at once. We're here to dispel the myth that so many girls could be interested in you, and why you wouldn't want any of these 2D waifus in your life anyway.

Make Anime Great Again

When anime was first invented by Carl Barks, it was good, wholesome, and pure. In the '90s, we saw the introduction of love triangles, tournaments, and magical girls. Now, anime is mostly just three moe blobs fighting for the affection of the same author-insert sword-boy. What happened?

Modern Relationships in Anime

Relationship dynamics in anime have changed. Where once the hero would rescue the princess (or even multiple princesses at the same time), recent titles have focused less on reinforcing gender norms and more on establishing proper, healthy relationships. From The Way of the Househusband, to Horimiya, to even My Dress-Up Darling, modern anime teaches us that "getting the girl" is just the start, and the work that comes after is its own reward. Presented by the Nakama Podcast.

Nothing But JAV

The world of JAV (Japanese Adult Video) goes far beyond just adult content. Join A-to-J Connections as we examine the genres, the big names, what makes it unique compared to adult content overseas, and why it's all censored! It isn't all fun and games, as we're also going to cover some of the "infamous" titles that can't be unseen, AV releases that catfish customers, and the wild world of the AV fandom. This panel will have something for everyone, everyone 18+ of course!

Skill Check! First Rap RPG!

Skill Check is THE hip-hop tabletop role-playing game where, instead of rolling dice, you must freestyle to survive! If you enjoy D&D, improv comedy, or hip-hop, this is the adventure for you! We are bringing our best freestyle rappers to entertain and invite audience suggestions and participation!

Sonic: An Unfortunate History

Sonic the Hedgehog is a staple holding together the childhood of any proper '90s kid, but just like Soap shoes, he's tragically out of fashion. We'll be going over the history of Sonic The Hedgehog games, Sega Consoles, and—reluctantly—the fandom around them both, as we figure out what happened to a once-promising video game mascot.

The Isekai Renaissance

"Another World" stories—called "isekai"—were once purely focused on escapism and adventure, featuring a protagonist thrust into a fantasy world as a great hero, but modern isekai now tend to focus on displaying real-life skills to its audiences. What once were power fantasies are now often intent on elevating the mundane. From shows like Handyman Saitō to Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, the Nakama Podcast is here to discuss the trend and why the genre is better for it.

Waluigi Time!

Waluigi's debut game was Mario Tennis, but outside of being the primary antagonist in Mario DDR, he has been criminally underused by Nintendo. We're going to fix that. After rigging a game of Mario Tennis against Miyamoto, we've won the rights to the character and are ready to breathe life into countless new potential Waluigi game formats: from Waluigi's Mansion to Waluigi's Medical Bills, we'll be sure to throw enough games at the wall to ensure one will stick.

Weebs Are Growing Up - Comedy Special

Rey Cabato, Anime Expo 2022 Late Night Comedy Showdown Champion and cosplay photographer, brings his comedy special Weebs Are Growing Up to FanimeCon! Get a deep dive into growing up as an anime nerd, anime convention mishaps, cosplay photography stories, and the unintended consequences of weebs growing up.