Orobouros.net Convention Reports and Photos

Katsucon 2025

Congratulations to Katsucon on 30 amazing years. Conventions tend to just go by year now instead of a sequential count, which is a bit of a shame, since this 30th event is something to celebrate. For a bit of historical context, Katsucon started in 1995, admission for the weekend was $30 (about $65 in current year dollars), and pulled about 500 attendees. Today, the main events room alone holds well over 500 people; More like 5,000-plus, ten times the original attendance. Though exact figures aren't available, attendance is around 20,000 people. It's been quite a journey, and Katsucon feels special as a convention, not just for it's history, but for growing up to be a very big "small con" event. Most historical conventions have either closed up or leaned heavily on industry support. Katsucon remains a very fan-focused event, and has a great venue for exactly that purpose. This is a good contrast to Otakon, which is geographically very close and takes up most of the Washington, DC, Convention Center. Otakon has a very large industry presence. In that way, Katsucon and Otakon complement each other very well, both providing a distinct experience in a major world city.

Katsucon's setup uses both the Gaylord National Harbor convention facilities and the attached Convention Center facilities. Though with 20,000 attendees or so, crowd control will always be an issue, no part of the convention is too far away or too hard to get to. The hotel part includes plenty of socializing areas, like the middle-of-the-atrium fountains, but also some relatively reasonably priced dining options inside the hotel. The large hallways of the convention center, with huge windows, also invite quite a bit of opportunity for socialization. Many a good conversation can be had sitting along the walls between official convention events. Weather permitted, as it often does in spite of the convention's mid-February dates, the outdoor areas between the hotel and Potomac river are also very accessible. For those willing to venture just a bit away from the hotel, there's plenty more dining options, a few shopping options (drug stores, etc.), and bars. Should you be inclined, the MGM casino is still close enough to be convenient for those who want the luxury rooms or gambling experiences to be found there.

Likewise, the programming reflects fan-driven interests, though of course there's a lot of overlap between what is currently popular and what industry is pushing. The hotel-side meeting spaces are almost all dedicated to various fandom panels, meeting almost every possible interest from cosplay to gatcha-gaming to gunpla to history. The only downside to the broad variety of panels is that the rooms tend to be a bit small for a convention with so many attendees, and the popular panels can quickly fill up. But most panels feel personal, open, and inviting to attendees -- unlike the kind of gigantic auditorium events you may be used to from Otakon or Anime Expo.

Katsucon has it's big side, too. The dealer's room and artist's alley take up most of the huge convention center exhibition halls with tons and tons of dealers and artists. The very last hall is used for registration; a good choice so that the very long lines can be managed without too much spill-over into the hallways. Attendees are recommended to come on Thursday evening to pick up badges if at all possible. As efficient as the registration system is, with this many people it will take a while if you arrive during peak hours. For the major events, the main event room, located fairly conveniently on the middle floor in the middle of the convention center, easily holds around 10,000 people, or about half the convention if needed. The space is turned into a rave area in the evenings, which allows plenty of space (for better or worse) for those who attend. A fairly recent addition is the availability of lockers at the end of the convention space hallways. This is a much better way of handling bags than either returning to a hotel room (which may be far away or at best difficult to access during peak elevator times) or leaving them in a pile in the hallway. For some people, the rave/dance is the big event; the convention very much becomes focused on parties after dark.

During the daytime, the atrium lets in lots of great light for photography. Many conventions are set up such that you'll almost always need a flash indoors, but the Gaylord has great lighting most of the day, until about 5 pm when the sun sets (it is February, after all). I'm quite fond of stepping down a 50mm f/1.2 lens to really get some great portraiture. Other photographers use wide-angle lenses to capture cosplayers' whole outfits despite the crowded conditions. The irony is that with such great lighting and environments, Katsucon draws a lot of cosplayers looking to really showcase their latest creations. Both the atrium and fountain area can get excessively crowded at peak times. Many cosplayers intentionally get up at the crack of dawn to use the area in the early early morning for this reason -- or stay late on Sunday to use the area when it's less crowded, or arrive Wednesday to use it on Thursday before others arrive. So if you're seeing amazing photos come from Katsucon without crowds, know what to expect. As is common now with a lot of conventions, Katsucon does provide large group meet-up spaces for cosplay and puts them in the schedule. However, these are all fan-organized and as such entirely subject to last minute changes.

Most of the guests are local industry, many of them those who long ago (not to make us feel old, I swear) were "just" attendees and learning how to make their hobby a career. This is a nice addition to all the very explicitly east Asian-oriented focus, and really helps connect the fans with western-hemisphere talent and leaders. With the influence of the western marketplace becoming more and more relevant to the anime and gaming industry, this is a nice way to get a fuller picture of the state of the industry. As a bonus, many western guests have worked in Japan and east Asia and can better speak about the industry from personal experience without the need for translation (or industry PR interests). Guests this year were:

• Bill Butts
• Aaron Dismuke
• Chris Hackney
• Yaya Han
• Carrie Keranen
• Ryan Colt Levy
• Kyle McCarley
• Landon McDonald
• Xander Mobus
• Jez Roth
• Michael Sinterniklaas
• Abby Trott
• David Vincent
• Sarah Wiedenheft
• Lex Winter
• and Suzie Yeung

And you can always find the staples of video games and board games at the convention, too. Some games even have lessons scheduled, such as Riichi (Japanese Mahjong) though they do require sign-up ahead of time. The scale is much smaller than at a dedicated gaming convention -- MAGFest is held in the same location about a month earlier. But they make a nice option for those whose interests span into anime-adjacent hobbies. Katsucon has also been hosting their own maid cafe, which follows the type found in Japan as closely as possible given the convention setting. Entry is timed (instead of queued as in Japan), but inside you get a variety of game and food options, plus the quintessential "chiiki" (Polaroid photo) opportunity. All activities cost money, but the experience is about as close as you can get short of going to Japan and visiting a maid cafe. Another major difference is the hours of operation: typical maid cafes in Japan will open in the later afternoon or evening, whereas the Katsucon maid cafe event is during the morning and afternoon. It's well worth a visit if you're interested!

For those flying into the convention, Washington DC Ronald Regan airport is by far the closest, and the one that is viable to cheaply taxi or uber from. (Well, relatively cheaply.) However, both Dulles (in Virginia) and BWI (in Maryland) service the DC metro area. Depending on when you get tickets and where you're coming from, those airports may be significantly cheaper without being significantly harder to access. Regardless of how you get to the area, public transit to the National Harbor isn't the best. You can take a bus, though by far the most popular options is by car; uber/lyft are entirely possible options if you don't drive and park yourself. Parking is mostly available in the National Harbor, though the "good" spots will disappear by Thursday evening and overall you can expect to pay around $100 for the weekend -- more if you use the hotel lot for all four days. Unlike Otakon, there's no good metro option for the National Harbor. Even so, plenty of people do commute in to the convention. For those looking for a good day or two of activities, this is a great option. For those looking to really enjoy the party scene, you'll want to stay in a nearby hotel. The hotels will sell out very quickly, and even non-associated hotels and accommodations (local VRBOs and AirBNBs) will sell out quickly. If you don't mind losing easy access to your accommodations, Virginia has a few decent options for hotels that are ultimately cheaper (once you figure in uber/lyft costs) than staying on-site. But beware -- you'll get what you pay for, and some of the cheapest options nearby are the kind of places you really will want to read up on before choosing. So all in all, depsite feeling like a small convention, Katsucon is plenty big that unless you plan on doing it as a day-trip (which is still a great way to attend), you'll need to plan well in advance.

Despite being a "small convention," Katsucon draws in quite a few non-locals and international attendees, too. Part of this is certainly thanks to Washington, DC, having three airports and frequent flights to every major country in the world. In addition to many Canadians, you can meet quite a few European attendees, too. And as for locals, with the capitol being a very international area, there are many Asian ex-pats who come to Katsucon, as well. Like most anime conventions, Katsucon has expended well into anime-adjacent hobbies and fandoms, and plenty of other east Asian pop culture and enthusiasts are found, as well as plenty of scifi/horror/fantasy fans and even a few cross-over events. To bring things back full-circle, over the last 30 events, Katsucon has really found it's rhythm. While some years go smoother than others, each event is a solid con experience. The staff has figured out what works and what doesn't -- except for still trying to manage the atrium, which is probably a lost cause -- to make the convention appealing and enjoyable for everybody. You can attend for just a day or make a whole vacation out of it. Despite being so close to such a similar convention (MAGFest), it's a very unique event and offers quite a bit a different experience. And for having so many other conventions in the area now, Katsucon has stood the test of time.

Katsucon will be returning in 2026, to the same location, February 13th -- 15th. While I currently expect to attend, my life is taking me to Japan to live! At least for a while. This website has been my personal history, chronology, and report on 26 years of anime (and other) conventions. Though the desire to attend my "local" conventions will never die, life might shift my opportunities, and hopefully I'll be able to bring coverage here of Japanese events as well. So if this ends up as my last Katsucon report, it's been an absolute blast, tons of fun, and every other event I attend and report on, I'll have to compare with Katsucon.