Anime AlleyCon - Spring 2026

Building off the success of AlleyCon, we set out to bridge the gap between our virtual artist events and physical conventions. Looking at what we already had, it was clear we were on to something. Through our work with Anime Soul, Discord’s largest anime server with over 760,000 members, we had a large amount of in-game anime assets that were being underutiliized. Along with identifying the artist super user group, The next step was obvious. We needed to focus on anime artists. Specifically, US based anime artists who sell at conventions.

For the first two months of 2026, I attended Anime Los Angeles, Anime Impulse, and the Anime Gaming Con to recruit talent directly. What started as outreach quickly gained momentum. We booked hundreds of artists early on, and before long, artists began reaching out to us. By the time things settled, we had assembled around 100 artist and VTuber booths.

But the most important takeaway wasn’t the numbers. It was the opportunities we discovered on both the artist and organizer side.

After speaking with hundreds of artists, we quickly realized that their biggest challenge is simply getting into conventions. Many are waitlisted or rejected due to limited capacity. One artist shared that they applied the moment applications opened, only to find the artist alley already full by the time they submitted 10 minutes later.

On the organizer side, the opportunity was very clear. Physical constraints limit how many artists can participate. But when we introduced the idea of a companion virtual event, the response was immediate interest. It requires only incremental marketing effort and minimal additional coordination, while opening the door to a much larger pool of artists and attendees. It also gives conventions a way to engage fans who can’t attend in person, rather than losing them entirely for the year.

It’s an obvious win-win.