Anime Expo 2023: Main Hall Start

 By Jonathan Bilski

Anime Expo 2023 was a gigantic event this year. Four days of huge numbers of fans from all over the country and the world visited LA to once again celebrate anime and Japanese culture. Let's take a look at what it was like by exploring the main hall, the epicenter of AX.

Before the main hall opened

It was so cluttered with people some times, not a surprise with all four days being sold out, that you had to slow down as fans tried to get freebies from the big booths in the front of the main hall.

Before even making it into the main hall you had plenty of places to snap shots of new animes coming out or get enticed for photos from booth related to video games.

Once inside, you were dumbstruck by the massive monuments to anime legends. They could have put in the damn Hokage Rock parodying Mt.Rushmore if they wanted to.

There was so much One Piece and Nauruto love it made me misty-eyed for Dragonball. The Naruto booth was giving out the goodies like posters and a Ninja Scroll poster holder backpack for them.

Can't say no to the crazy for One piece though.

It's sad to not see Funimation anymore, but Crunchyroll had such a massive booth, one wonders how the two brands would have divided the show floor anymore.

Viz still coming off strong, selling special items you won't find anywhere else. Here's hoping that one of my favorite they've putting out Dandadan gets turned into an anime and the get rights for North America.

Zom 100, looking delightfully creepy with zombies giving a shark mobility on land.

Funny to see JETRO a Japanese trade organization just blatantly saying grab food and items from Japan through Amazon. I think they just want to remind people that their our official channels to just get Japanese snacks or anything without looking on eBay or 3rd part companies.

Always nice to see Inti Creates promoting their latest Gal Gun. This time Gal Gun Returns. I wonder how much longer they'll be in the main hall and if all gaming booths go to entertainment hall.

And, how could you not stop at the Gundam Base? Hard to find figures and super cheap models all in one place. It always amazes me to see people carrying huge bags of these babies in them.