San Japan returns for its second year back post-Covid lockdown with a horror themed convention. Just how spooky did things get? Let’s take a look 

Observations

 

More space- In previous years one of the main issues that many con goers have had with San Japan was with its use of space. Since moving into the HBGCC, San Japan has been adjusting itself trying to utilize as much space as they can, while slowly transitioning to the newer areas of the convention center. It seems that this year the con has fully made the transition as they took up three of the convention center halls for the weekend. Artist Alley, the dealer’s room and the Arcade each took up a hall, which is great for attendees as there is much more room to navigate around and in theory more vendors, right?

 

Seemed empty- Now with all this new available space, it would make sense to try to get as many vendors, artists and dealers as you can while trying to keep everything not cluttered and diverse. And San Japan did that for the most part. However for some odd reason the dealers’ room felt too spacious and empty. There were some booths that have been there in years past, such as the booth that sells manga and all sorts of books, and the many booths that sell prop weapons noticeably missing. This feeling of emptiness carried over to the Arcade/gaming as well, even though there were hundreds of arcade and console games to play on. 

 

Over 300+ panels/events- This year San Japan has posted up the most panels/events in the con’s history. With over 300 panels and events going across the three days, there was something for everyone literally. However with having that many events going on, there was the problem of events crossing over onto each other, forcing con-goers to prioritize what they want to see. I saw this happen mainly to the bigger events that ran parallel to each other. Some could say that there was too much to do and overwhelmed with the choices. Notable standout events were the VShoujou panel, EDM/rave, the cosplay contest and music concerts.

 

Expanded arcade- One of the highlights for me personally is the arcade area of San Japan. With each passing year the arcade has been expanding to add more arcade and console games for con-goers to enjoy. This year might have been one of the bigger arcades to the convention to date as there was over 100+ units to play on. My one complaint is that it would have been nice to see some Western arcade cabinets standing alongside the Japanese arcade games. 

 

Final thoughts

Overall this San Japan was pretty much a success with everything getting bigger and more room to grow. But it seems that even though it has been in the HBGCC for a couple of years already, San Japan is still trying to figure out how to manage the spacing of the convention. Getting from one part of the con to another part was very annoying as there should have been a much easier way to connect all of the halls together. Let’s hope that a return to somewhat new normal, San Japan continues to grow and get bigger.