Anime Matsuri is an annual four-day

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

traditionally held during spring at the George R. Brown Convention Center in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. The convention's name comes from the Japanese word '

matsuri Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance ...

' meaning festival.

Programming

The convention's programming includes an artists' alley, a carshow, the attendance of celebrities and special guests,

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture ...

chess, cosplay contests, fashion shows, gaming events, karaoke,

LARP A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique feature ...

, live concerts, maid cafe, panels, a vendors' and exhibitors' area, and workshops. The Charity Auction benefited Child's Play in 2009 and raised over $3,000.

History

The convention was held at George R. Brown Convention Center and Hilton Americas in 2007. Anime Matsuris 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012 were held at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, and Anime Matsuri 2011 was held at the Crowne Plaza Houston Hotel near Reliant Park/Medical Center. Anime Matsuri 2013 was held at

Hyatt Regency Houston Hyatt Regency Houston is a 30-story high-rise hotel located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The hotel, part of the Hyatt hotel chain, was designed by architectural firm JV III ( a joint venture between firms Caudill Rowlett Scott, Neuha ...

. The

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. La ...

reality series ''

Heroes of Cosplay ''Heroes of Cosplay'' is a 2013 Syfy channel reality television show co-produced by Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan of 51 Minds Entertainment. The show's first season's six episodes follows nine cast members as they compete in cosplay e ...

'' filmed the masquerade at Anime Matsuri and was featured in an episode. The convention in 2014 moved to the George R. Brown Convention Center. Complaints about the 2014 convention included long lines and delays. The convention in 2015 remained at the George R. Brown Convention Center and used the first and most of the second floors. In May 2016, Anime Matsuri announced that the former CEO of

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

, Marc Perez would join the convention as COO. Anime Matsuri 2020 was moved from July to August due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, and was later canceled after Houston announced the city would be holding no more events in 2020.

Controversies

The owners of Anime Matsuri have a history of not paying their partners, like Houston native Mike Udompongsuk, who lent tens of thousand of dollars to Anime Matsuri over the years but never saw reimbursement, and financially burning its guests, like the record label

PS Company is a Japanese independent record label founded in 1986 by Color vocalist Hiroshi "Dynamite Tommy" Tomioka, with branches predominantly in Japan and the United States, as well as previously in Europe. It also continues to co-manage many of i ...

, which represented the Japanese rock star

Miyavi , better known by his stage name Miyavi (雅, stylized as MIYAVI), is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor known for his finger- slapping style of playing a guitar. He has been active since 1999, first as guitaris ...

in 2009. Significant financial improprieties have also been alleged against the convention organizers. Voice actress

Caitlin Glass Caitlin Tiffany Glass (born November 16, 1981) is an American voice actress, ADR director, and script writer at Funimation, New Generation Pictures and Bang Zoom! Entertainment who provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series ...

attended Anime Matsuri 2014 as one of the guests, but refuses to have anything to do with the convention after due to poor organisation and treatment of the guests. Voice actor

Matthew Mercer Matthew Christopher Miller (born June 29, 1982), better known as Matthew Mercer, is an American voice actor. He is best known for his work with Studiopolis, Funimation, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Viz Media, and NYAV Post in anime, cartoons, and v ...

attended as a guest in 2008, and was told without warning to emcee for the opening ceremony. He left Anime Matsuri before the closing ceremony, which he was also presumed to emcee for, despite not being asked. After Anime Matsuri 2015, John Leigh, the convention's founder was accused of sexual harassment by several members of the

Lolita fashion is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian fashion, Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of Kawaii, cuteness. This clothing subculture can ...

community. These include accusations of unwanted touching, slapping buttocks, sexual jokes, requesting nude photos, lifting up clothing and asking a woman when she last had an orgasm. The convention sent Tyler Willis, owner of YouTube channel Last Week Lolita News a cease and desist letter in early 2018 after reporting about John Leigh's sexual harassment. Boycott Anime Matsuri was formed in 2018 to inform about the conventions past actions, with guests such as

Johnny Yong Bosch Johnny Yong Bosch (born January 6, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer, and martial artist. His first major role was the portrayal of Adam Park, the second Black Power Ranger and later, the Green Zeo Ranger and first Green Turbo Ranger i ...

, ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe ( Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral ...

'' voice actors, and Femm later canceling. Leigh apologized for his past actions. Anime Matsuri 2018 saw one con attendant walk around the convention wearing a full nazi costume and attending the Terrible Fanfiction Panel, where he read fanfiction about Anne Frank and made jokes about the Holocaust. In 2019, Houston mayor

Sylvester Turner Sylvester Turner (born September 27, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who is serving as the 62nd mayor of Houston, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, Turner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until 201 ...

was part of the opening ceremony of Anime Matsuri where he said he expected there to be more than 40,000 attendants that year. Anime Matsuri reported an attendance number of 43,000 for that year, but these numbers have been disputed. Anime Matsuri has been accused of inflating the number of attendants in its yearly reports. Patrick Delahanty of ''AnimeCons.com'' has cited Anime Matsuri as the reason why they did not publish a list of the largest anime cons in the United States in 2019, as they did not want to reward Anime Matsuri for lying. Anime Matsuri has been retroactively removed from all of ''AnimeCons.coms previous reports on the largest anime cons of North America, citing the "significant discrepancies" between the numbers reported by the con, and the number of tickets sold according to the venue. Mayor Turner returned to open the 2021 convention, but his appearance and support of the convention triggered controversy.

Event history

Anime Matsuri Hawaii

Anime Matsuri Hawaii (AMHI) was a three-day anime convention held during November at the

Hawaii Convention Center The Hawai‘i Convention Center is a convention and exhibition center in Hawaii, located in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The Hawaii Convention Center is the largest exhibition center of its type in the state. It is located directly to the ...

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. The convention's programming included a concert, cosplay showcase, J-Fashion show, screenings, and panels. Yuegene Fay, a Thai cosplayer, was unable to make a guest appearance due to immigration issues. Upon arrival in Honolulu she was detained and put in a

holding cell A prison cell (also known as a jail cell) is a small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held. Cells greatly vary by their furnishings, hygienic services, and cleanliness, both across countries and based on the level of punishm ...

for three days. Anime Matsuri Hawaii did not return in 2016.

Event history

Anime licensor

In July 2022, Anime Matsuri announced they had licensed two shorts from

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

, '' Genbanojō'' and '' Chuck Shimezō''. Both were dubbed and

Vic Mignogna Victor Joseph Mignogna (); born August 27, 1962)Birthday tweet: * is an American voice actor and musician known for his voice-over work in the English dubs of Japanese anime shows, such as Edward Elric from the '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' series ...

was controversially involved in the production.

References

External links

* {{coord, 29, 45, 8, N, 95, 21, 28, W, region:US-TX_type:event, display=title Anime conventions in the United States Recurring events established in 2007 2007 establishments in Texas Annual events in Texas Conventions in Houston Japanese-American culture in Texas Festivals in Houston Tourist attractions in Houston Anime companies Dubbing (filmmaking) Mass media companies established in 2022