Doing a Yama-Con Wrap-up Because I Have Been Meaning to do One for a While — Yama-Con 2024

6 min readDec 10, 2024

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

For all the jokes that have become prevalent online about certain groups or people (me) needing to “touch grass,” it can be legitimately hard to find a social circle that shares your interests, harder still to find one that’s near you and available to hang out. The internet age and shifting economy has left people simultaneously more united and divided.

However, conventions have been a stable part of nerdier communities for decades now, including for things like anime and manga. Though they aren’t always convenient or accessible depending on the area someone lives, for those who are able to take time off from family and work to travel, they can be incredibly rewarding experiences. There are a bountiful number of these event that happen across the country every year, but the one that happens closest to me most often is Yama-Con, held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Conventions often vary in size, but Yama-Con typically caps out around a couple thousand per year. However, just because an event is smaller doesn’t necessarily mean it will be worse. On the contrary, smaller events typically make more room for local community members or those who are close by. With that in mind, it seemed like good a time as any to talk about the event more in depth. So, here is a more casual review of Yama-Con 2024

A Brief History

Yama-Con is one of several events held throughout the southeast ran by MCA Entertainment. In their own words, “MCA Entertainment group was founded with the simple goal of spreading the arts and culture of Japan by hosting several conventions throughout the Southeast United States.”

The event typically has a different theme and aesthetic presentation depending on the year. This year’s theme was Zodiac, likely to do with this being the 12th iteration, as the first Yama-Con goes all the way back to 2012. There are almost always banners lining the halls of the Leconte Convention Center with the various art pieces made for these new themes.

Panels

Aside from walking around and talking to people, panels are a fun way to learn more about niche subjects and maybe even bump shoulders with some new friends. Personally, the friends and I were eager to do as much as we could, and a large portion of the weekend was spent walking back and forth between various rooms. Luckily, the Leconte Center itself isn’t particularly huge. One person could easily walk the length of it in about five minutes, so going back and forth wasn’t a big deal.

There was a ton of stuff going on, way too much to fit into an easily digestible blog post, so here are some highlights. The first one worth mentioning is the Q&A with Todd Habberkorn, voice of many characters including Natsu in Fairytail and Hikaru in Ouran High School Host Club. The consensus of most people there seemed to be “how did Yama-Con get this big a name?” However, no one really seemed to mind. He is an overall fun personality and interesting to listen to, so if he gets announced at a convention nearby, definitely consider fitting him into your schedule.

Another interesting panel was one that talked about the various application of scientific knowledge in anime. Though there are a number of creators who do similarly structured content online, the variety and depth with which the host was able to cover in an hour was genuinely impressive. Though I wasn’t able to catch her name, she is part of the AstroBio Babes, a duo who runs various panels for different conventions and do a damn good job of it.

The last one to mention is “Creating Your Own Comic: Idea to Draft to (Indie) Publishing,” which featured DoodleRobCosplay and fellow blogger Peggy Sue Wood of The Anime View. The two hosts explored the idea of making a comic/manga series starting from scratch from the perspective of a newer creator. They mention everything from best practices and routines to which software options are available and free. It was thoroughly enjoyable even as someone who has no plans to start a comic series, as both of them are great speakers.

The Vendor Hall/Artist’s Alley

Another staple of conventions is the vendor room. This is where all the nerds converge to spend there hard-earned money on various nerdy endeavors. Some conventions will have separate rooms with booths that sell merch and resold products in one area and individual artists who sell hand made trinkets and art prints in another. However, most modern conventions will combines these two into one area.

The Vendors at Yama-Con this year were arguably as varied as ever. Not only were there a ton of artists and booths catered to the usual anime and manga crowds, there were even a number of strictly comic and game-related teams selling great stuff. One friend I went with picked up an amazing Dark Souls print from a booth that was just inside the hall.

On top of the variety, the quality was there as well. The artists probably slightly outnumbered the merch sellers, and almost all of them were making cool stuff. Be it models, jewelry, or even fake weapons for potential cosplays. Personally, I picked up a set of Magic: The Gathering coasters from Co*Ma*Ki Designs which included the various mana symbols from the game. Probably a bit on the expensive side for a coaster set, but its hard to argue with the great material and fun design.

Cosplay

Great costumes are another staple of the convention scene, and there were no shortage of them, so much so that my friend spent most of their Sunday taking pictures and getting information from various cosplayers. It is a great way to start conversation while attracting people who share interests. Though not as common anymore, it is likely a good cosplayer will get asked to have there picture taken, and even some who aren’t as good.

Though I did cosplay myself this year, it involved a much more obscure character (Riona from the visual novel Coffee Talk) and was a bit more thrown together from stuff I already owned. However, the experience of putting on the costume and getting to look cool as hell was worth it, regardless.

In terms of the popular cosplays, Mouthwashing was a surprisingly big costume choice, with the entire cast seemingly represented this past weekend. Arcane and Delicious in Dungeon seemed to be the next biggest choices, including by said friends that went with me, with a couple of them choosing to do main characters Marcille and Falan (No bias, of course, but they looked absolutely incredible).

Conclusion

Conventions can be as fun or not fun as one chooses to let them be. Granted, it certainly helps to have a group of awesome people to spend time with, and definitely makes it a lot cheaper for those who share costs. However, even someone going alone for their first time would have plenty to look forward to. For those willing to make the journey, especially ones who are close by already, Yama-Con is a solid choice and I look forward to going back next year.

What conventions have you all been to recently? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you all so much for stopping by. For those who want to read a bit more, feel free to click back up top. Anyone who’s feeling generous or who would like to read some original poetry/short fiction from yours truly, look no further than directly below.