+ Awesome animé convention experience. Well-organized, spacious, packed with activities and events throughout the day. - Sketchy ambience outside the front door. People aggressively handing out free CDs. + I admired fans' creative and passionate cosplays. Yu-Gi-Oh characters wielding life-size duel disks, Kingdom Hearts denizens brandishing life-size Keyblades, and Akatsuki ruffians. - Lotta other cosplays with enough flamboyance to make TonyLCsign say "Anyways!" lol + Free nearby street parking within 3-5 min walking distance. At other convention centers, the nearest free street parking can be a 15min walk. + The venue is kept clean and aesthetic. + Good price. Only $40 for an exciting, bustling all-day event. (I only went on Thur.) - Some of the segments were boring. In one room about GenV Pkmn, the speaker was talking about non-existent Pkmn badges or something about how dog Pkmn "just hit". Felt like an unproductive, meaningless waste of time to me. + Other segments were interesting. One artist was taking impromptu live requests. An audience member requested a stylized Pokemon, and within minutes the artist drew a Slowking with abs swirling a champagne glass. lol + I like how in the gameroom, consoles were laid out with tables and chairs as well as arcade machines for fans to take a break and play some retro, nostalgic video games. - Have to bring your own controllers though. + Also like the tabletop gameroom where you could check out board games and play with people. - Surprised there were several mahjong tables too. + Many restrooms spread throughotu the entire event building. + Giant hall near the back had numerous shops selling merchandise and souvenirs. Also had heavily decorated animé cars and meet-the-artist booths. - Confused why it's called ALA despite residing in Long Beach, not Los Angeles. https://animelosangeles.org/ read more

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Definitely a huge upgrade from last year's con. More convention space, events, things to do, and much more organized! It's definitely not a small con anymore and I still reminisce on not just the days when it was held at the Ontario Con Center (already getting pretty big), but at the Marriott Hotel in LAX, but if you want a bigger winter con, ALA is the place to go! They still do have the traditions that make this con unique, like the ALA ribbons. These can be acquired from attending certain gatherings, events, or panels, interacting with cosplayers or other attendees, answering trivia or quiz questions or doing a challenge, cosplaying from a certain series or character yourself, going through the ribbon station (I believe there's trading and a ribbon gacha as well), and even from certain artists and vendors. Just be MINDFUL and RESPECTFUL regarding ribbons since I've seen con goers turn their noses towards others for not having ribbons to give them? Like what in the world? Relax! There's a decent amount of vendors and artists, but I think it's honestly enough to see in 2 days (I was only there for 2 days after all). They do have some of the industry guests that I've seen at AX, so that's pretty cool. Really liked the Gamer/Anime Waifu themed energy drink mix that they were handing out different samples out every day. There's a small arcade area that's free to play as well, a singular maid café serving food and boba, an itasha alley inside, food trucks right outside, and there's a wing connecting the main con area to a separate side with the costume repair and other rooms and gathering areas. Just an FYI for cosplayers or photographers trying to get to some locations. It would be noted on the con map, but wouldn't indicate which floor it was on so there was some lateness and confusion since there are upper and lower outside layers. Would be cool if they mentioned this in future program guides. Sucks that the photo backdrop room is no longer a thing at ALA, but alas, I guess you can just go to the aquarium or pier instead for photos. My biggest qualm is the swap meet. Not only was it inaccessible to those with disabilities (being reachable only through a staircase), it's just ridiculous to even expect the sellers to carry SO MUCH merchandise down those stairs instead of having an elevator available to them. ALSO, Jesus Christ guys. Just implement an online queueing system or a virtual queue system. It's ridiculous that some attendees have to physically wait in line for 2+ hours just to have good pickings of the swap meet line. That wastes so much time that attendees could be shopping or having fun elsewhere. Yes this is no longer a small con and it's growing and will continue to grow, so here's hoping that those organizing it can grow as well! read more

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Love this convention so much! Super organized, less crowded, and overall a chill safe environment for cosplayers and attendees. Definitely recommend this convention read more

While Robert L. pretty much nailed it, there are a few things worth pointing out about ALA. For one thing, the vast majority of cosplayers tend to hang out on the pool deck, which is an area that does not require being a con attendee. In fact, most of the photographers I saw grabbing cosplayers for some private shots weren't wearing badges of any sort. The only places you need to have a badge are in entering panel and video rooms, the dealer room, and artists alley. ALA is small, mostly only encompassing an airport-adjacent hotel basement as its main area. Now, there are some pleasures that can come with a smaller con. For one thing, less hype. In the midst of Comic-Con and Anime Expo's play-by-play coverage in blogs and sometimes even nightly news broadcasts on network television, ALA rarely gets much press, and therefore far fewer outsiders coming in to crowd the place out of speculation. With this in mind, ALA has a small town-sort of community feel to it. It almost seems like everyone knows everyone else, and at the same time you aren't forced to be herded about in a sea of humanity. Also, it's one of the few cons I've ever attended that has official signage regarding cosplay meet-ups, listing the days and times of specific fandoms. With other cons, it's expected that photographers and cosplayers alike look up the meet-ups themselves beforehand. It's rather refreshing (and greatly appreciated) having it posted on the pool deck. ALA also provides attendees with a hospitality suite almost 'round the clock, with the staff garbed in maid and butler attire sometimes, serving up snacks and drinks to badge-holders. While other cons are sprouting up quickly in the Southland, growing like weeds and looking to take over larger convention centers, I somehow doubt ALA will get any bigger than it is now. This can be a mixed blessing; however, if you ARE fond of crowds feel free to seek out the well-known mega conventions. read more

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So, this is easily my favorite anime convention and the most recent event just enforced that opinion. Unlike the mega anime conventions like AX, ALA still maintains that down to earth community feeling with its fan friendly atmosphere (and its significantly smaller size helps as well). ALA is specifically more of a 'chill' con that's more about socializing and interacting with other attendees through the unique practice of badge ribbons which is a great social part of the con as some people spend most if not their whole con collecting them. Don't get me wrong, while the social aspect of the con is an important part, the programming is also great and there's a great variety of panels and special events; and thanks to its smaller size in comparison to bigger cons, there's never a rush to get from one thing to the next or get into a line, because there usually isn't one. I'm happy to call ALA my favorite con and one I will go to every year as long as I'm able to! read more

I've gone to Anime LA for a few years and it's getting better, but there are still some pitfalls. Though it's outside of the conventions control, the convention has gotten two distinguishable reputations in the anime community. 1. The newbie con - This is normally the con where most of the participants are under 18. For an older person like myself, this is a deterrent since with alot of youths, it also correlates with tons of squealing and other childish misbehaviors consistent with wee-a-boos. 2. Drunk Con - The programming is a bit lackluster, so this is normally a con where people debut their cosplays during the day and get plastered at night. Unfortunately add the two mindsets together and you have a plethora of underage drinking. As for photography, Anime LA has a nice studio for anyone to use which includes lights. So if you are a bit camera savy, make sure your camera has a PC connection or you'll lose out on all that strobing glory. There's pretty much 4 places to shoot and they get crowded really quickly. 1. the pool deck - if you want to shoot here, try shooting before 10am when people have not woken up from their hangover yet. 2. the piano room - make it quick, but you're not suppose to be on the piano. That rule is often broken 3. The front grass area - it's nice and sports a rock, but at noon, it's harsh sunlight. 4. a few standing tables here and there. The con though is really good to meet people since nobody is rushing off to check out the programming. The one major gripe is that the pool deck closes at 10pm so don't think you'll be taking a midnight hot tub run. All in all, anime LA is okay as a chill con where you can hang out with tons of people. It's okay for photography if you can get your cosplayers to wake up, but it's really there for the night life. Do a little walking and you're bound to find a room party. read more

What a turnaround! *Almost* stopped going and I am sooooooooooo glad I slugged it out. While 2012 and 2013 were slight improvements over 2011, 2014 pretty much blasted everything out of the water. Let's start with the most marked improvements: programming. ALA is widely known as "Chill Con" to most attendees, but this was the first year that I noticed multiple conflicts with things I wanted to attend. Highlights of this year definitely included the Free! Iwatobi origami session, Your Anime Sucks 2.1, Ask the Scouting Legion fan panel, AMVs and AMV Hell. I spent my first few years at ALA just wandering around, bored out of my mind, so this was definitely a welcome change. Second massive improvement: Con Suite. I really liked how organized they were, with staffers/volunteers at each food station, wearing hygenic gloves and serving your food. No risk of cross-contamination from grubby hands for sure! Very well done, ALA, very well done. Having Con Suite really came in handy, when I nearly passed out from hunger on Day 1 - definitely a welcome improvement. Third massive improvement: Cosplay gatherings. Not officially run by the con, but ALA really went out of their way to accomodate almost every anime/manga/webcomic/game out there. Brilliant! Kudos to everyone involved in ALA. Already pre-registered for 2015 and glad I'm coming back! read more

This was my 1st time attending ALA and I had a really great time. This would've been my 2nd time but last year, some things came up and I didn't get the chance to use my Industry badge like I did this year. After having all the fun I did at ALA this year, it really made regret not being able to go last year. All my friends have told me that ALA was a great anime convention to attend if I wanted something lowkey compared to other the big anime conventions (AX, Fanime, etc.) They were right! The crowd size there was just right, not too small and not too big. There were TONS of great cosplays (as well as eyesore cosplays,but I'm trying to unsee those...) and ALA went out of their way to organize cosplay meetups in a DESIGNATED cosplay gathering location that were all spelled out in their pretty thick program guide. They had cosplay gatherings for just about every anime fandom you could think of! The variety of the booths inside their Dealer's Hall was amazing, but not overwhelming which I really, really appreciated. By the time I left Dealer's Hall, I had a sense that I had seen everything there was to see and wasn't nagged by a feeling that told me I probably missed more than several booths. Now since this was my 1st time at ALA and I was sort of pressed for time while I was there, I had COMPLETELY missed their Artist Alley! I had also missed all their programs/panels they had, but this I had already accepted was going to happen before I even stepped inside the con knowing my time was going to be short there. Now why I had missed their Artist Alley was due to the fact that I had just attended Anime Impulse (AI) 2 weeks prior and since AI is still a relatively small anime con, they had both the equivalent of a Dealer's Hall and Artist Alley under one roof rather than two separate halls/rooms like most other anime cons. So in my haste to see everything and meet everyone I had promised to meet, I had believed that I had visited Artist Alley already when I left Dealer's Hall. What helped encourage this mistake on my part was that I did in fact see several artists boothing inside Dealer's Hall, one of them being my favorite, Yuumei. In my head, seeing those several art booths scattered throughout Dealer's Hall made me think that ALA was doing what AI had done: combining exhibitors and artists booths into one room. This was a big disappointment on my part so I hope next year I won't be such a derp and will definitely check out their Artist Alley. The unique thing about ALA that I had discovered was this ribbon collecting tradition. I'm friends with some of the clothing brands that boothed there, and when they told me they had ribbons to give out, I didn't fully understand the concept behind it. I mere thought that this was their way of giving something back to their supporters. Walking to convention from where I parked, I had noticed several attendees wearing badges with varying lengths of ribbon trains on their badges. It wasn't until I had got inside Dealer's Hall to meet up with one of the brands that I fully grasped the concept. My friend gave me a ribbon and then explained to me that ribbon collecting was exclusive to ALA as an anime convention tradition. Afterwards, I noticed that there were ribbon trading stations, ribbon games, and ribbon machines that offered attendees the chance to expand their ribbon train. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone walk around with their ribbons on display and it offered EVERYONE who attended at least one common middle ground they shared. The cosplays I saw there were on all side of the spectrum, from eye candy to eye sore, but this was to be expected. The food trucks available there were the same ones I had seen at other conventions, both anime and comic ones, so it was nice to see something familiar at this new convention I was attending. Overall, ALA was a great time and I know if I had more time to spend there, I would have had an even greater time. I will definitely be returning next year! read more

This was my first time at ALA and it'll definitely be my last. To begin, there wasn't much to do. Nothing at PMX really caught my eye at first either but we eventually found stuff to do after looking around. But at ALA, I was so bored. This is the main reason why I won't go back and why I'm extremely upset. The staff was SO rude. They volunteered for the job so I don't understand why they ALL have attitudes. After an unnecessary confrontation with one badge checker who was clearly on a power trip, they called security who eventually tried to physically remove our badges which were around our necks. The security guards didn't even know what they were doing, they blamed their actions on a man named "Anime"... Okay... We went to the Con Ops room and tried to have their assistance and they laughed in my face and told me they did not care. I'm a 4'11" girl who was sobbing hysterically; it was overkill after almost being assaulted by three 250 pound men. Bottom line is that the staff thinks that they are superior because they hold some kind of position in this con. I've been going to cons all over SoCal for 2 years now and this is the only bad experience that's happened but I am so scarred for life. Luckily, the next con I'm going to is a small con hosted by my friend so this will not happen again. read more

Worst Anime Convention ever, rude staff, unorganized badge system, didn't promote it wnough, everything was all in different areas made it hard to find things and had no good endors just people sellinf the same fake merch you see at most anime cons horrible going downhill used to be an alright show read more

This is my favorite convention of the year. That's compared with Anime Expo, PMX, Anime Conji and SDCC (well its not just comics anymore). Someone said it was small. Well, in comparison to Anime Expo yes its much smaller. But I actually prefer that! It has a very warm/friendly feel to it because of that. You're not just wandering through a sea of people you don't recognize. If you go more than once, its even better because you'll often recognize friends you made last year. Parking isn't anywhere near as painful as it is at AX and other cons. Also the registration line is SO much faster. At AX, I waited 2 hours in the blazing sun to get my badge. The staff is great. Remember, they're volunteers ! As for badges..don't be a freeloader and show up without one. If you're going to take pictures of cosplayers, the least you can do is buy a badge and show some support. If it wasn't for the convention, you wouldn't have this great opportunity to shoot pictures of amazing cosplayers. Do you think they just show up and let you shoot pictures all in one spot on their own? If you can afford a nice camera to take pictures, I'm sure you can afford the badge. Which, is quite reasonably priced. The other thing thats fun to watch is cosplayer chess. Everyone really gets into it and its just a lot of fun. Anyway I could go on, but have to go back to work. read more

We love the Anime expo in Downtown LA. Go visit IHOP on Flower and 8th. It's open 24 hours and offer a 10% discount. Very excited !!!

Always one of my favorite conventions of the year. Although ALA is getting bigger, it's still a great convention for first-timers of all ages. It's easy to navigate, the photography setups are awesome, and the atmosphere it's just plain fun. Be sure to hit up a few cosplay gatherings; you're bound to leave with a new friend! read more

I have attended Anime Los Angeles (ALA) for four years (2007-2010) and I find that this convention does not improve year to year. More often than not it just stagnates or gets worse. I was a panelist at the 2009 and 2010 conventions and it was one of the worst panel experiences of my career. In 2009 I had a room that was still locked and it was also unmarked. Upon entering the room it was too small to fit my panel. The staff was not helpful in getting things set up and we almost ran the panel in the hallway. In 2010 the first room we were in was running late and we had to wait 30 minutes to get ready and struggled to keep our audience who kept asking us why we were not running the panel. The second panel room we got had limited equipment when we asked for an A/V setup and we were kicked out of the room at the 3/4 hour mark rather than the usual five till the hour mark. Do not run a panel at this convention. In addition to the problems with panels, there are also main event issues. It is not uncommon for main events to be delayed due to technical issues. One year the AMV contest was all but cancelled because the staff could not get the equipment to work. This is compounded by the sloppy work of the cosplay chess staff. They have been known to play drinking games while selecting players, they often only accept applications from those they like, and everything is put together last minute. Finally, I would like to bring up the ever so lackluster guest line up at this convention. While, it is nice to see some local voice talent at the convention this is an anime convention that lacks any Japanese guests. Even those who live in the US like Yoshiki and Mari Ijima have never been to this event. More often than not you will look at a guest list and just say "who" because the majority of the guests are not well known and often have nothing to do with anime production or the anime industry. The panel staff failure, the main event problems and lack of guests ruin this event. Add to that the sheer amount of uncontrolled hijinx that occurs at night and you have an event that is not worth the money. It may not be an inexpensive con to visit, but you get what you pay for. Save your money and go to a convention that is fan friendly and fun to attend. There is no valid reason to ever attend this convention. read more

It's 2016 and ALA is now at the Ontario Convention Center. While there were plenty of cosplayers outside (they had an anime idol contest started this year), I thought the big things were on the inside. So I paid the $70 to get myself and two children inside. I've been to several comic cons, and to Anime Expo. The plus is the hospitality at ALA. Plenty of free bottled water, poster and signs saying where everything was, unlike the big cons where you get basically a bus map with a schedule and you have to figure everything out. The downside is nobody wears any kind of staff or volunteer shirts or uniforms. It was difficult to find anyone to ask questions. Granted, at registration they give you a booklet (not a flyer) of what is happening. I finally found my way in to the main room. Um, for a convention in LA that has been going on for twelve years, I was assuming it was going to be big; it wasn't. It was about the size of a high school gymnasium. I guess that is what ALA is really about. Lots of cosplayers hanging out side for free, and tons of panels. Seriously, it was like anime / cosplay college. Over a dozen rooms holding panels every hour of every day. So, I would return, but I would pay to go inside. Here are my pictures. https://www.facebook.com/Edward.of.Wales/media_set?set=a.930043053739883.1073742021.100002025911808&type=1 read more

Waste of money. If you want to get in the event. Don't prepay. We waited for four hours in line because we pre-registered on the web, while people who paid at the door got in before we did. I luckily got an email from the event organizers that stated " we will not accept any refunds or cancelation notices after 6/24/14." That worked well for me since I ordered the day of the event online 7/3/14. I got to the LA convention center at 11:00 hoping to quickly get through registration and look at the booths. After the four hour wait, the $160.00 got me a great view of Pico Ave and the outside of the convention center. I had to ditch the line to go home and pick up my kid. Perhaps it was my bad planning for not considering a 4 hour wait in line for preregistration. After ditching the line I spent 30 minutes trying to find the parking lot, which none of the staff could tell me where it was. It was a shame to see so many people who were exited to go all dressed up in their cosplay with prepaid tickets. After 4 hours in the hot sun many of them had to change in their regular clothes, because we were still waiting to get in, at 3pm, with only 1 hour away from the free public entry time. What a gimmick. read more