My experience at Anime Revolution 2024

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Last month, people from across the world came together for Anime Revolution, also known as AniRevo, at the Vancouver Convention Centre. 

Like many other conventions, there was plenty to do at this year’s event, such as attending panels, watching performances, and spending too much money on merchandise and art. Attendees could either attend one day of the convention or the whole weekend to see everything AniRevo had to offer.

A certain someone, who may or may not be writing this story, might have attended all three days of the event. This is the third consecutive AniRevo I’ve attended, and the second time I went for all three days, but I still felt as excited as ever to check out the event. 

After spending a long time waiting outside to pick up my event pass on the first day of AniRevo last year in the summer heat, I chose to pick up my pass earlier this time — a day before the event. I’m happy I didn’t repeat that experience this time around, however, I did still end up spending a lot of time in lines, but at least there was air conditioning at the venue. 

I mostly attended the panels and activities alone since most of the ones I wanted to attend didn’t seem like something my friends would be interested in. 

Oshi no Ko is my favourite anime series, and surprisingly, there were plenty of activities connected to the series this year. With three of the voice actors and the sound director of the show coming all the way from Japan, I knew I had to attend whichever events they had.

I will say, though, I missed the opening ceremonies because I accidentally slept in — which isn’t great — but it wasn’t high on my list of things I wanted to do anyway. 

I tried getting an autograph from Yurie Igoma, one of the voice actors I like from Oshi no Ko, and to my surprise, the lineup was already maxed out 30 minutes before she came out. While the series is popular, I didn’t think I had to be there two hours early since she’s a relatively new voice actor. 

Thankfully, I arrived early enough to get in line for an autograph from Igoma. She was really sweet and had something about her that made you want to see her do well in the animation industry. 

I was also able to get in line for the main Oshi no Ko panel, where they talked about how the voice actors got casted and what it was like working on the show. There was also a live recording panel I got to attend where the voice actors recorded their lines for a couple of parts. 

I spent plenty of time in the vendor alley looking around for merchandise, trying not to buy too much this year. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of new merchandise to buy, which made spending less on merchandise much easier. I bought some new posters for Oshi no Ko and also got merchandise for Spy x Family, Solo Leveling, and Final Fantasy VII. 

I was happy to run into plenty of friends at the event as well as attend the closing ceremonies. Although I planned to go alone, I appreciated being able to catch up with people I haven’t seen in a while. 

Tentative dates of Aug. 1 to 3 were announced for next year’s AniRevo. I’m not sure what will happen at the next convention, but I hope to be there to gain more experiences and make new memories.