Since 1995, fans of anime, manga, video games, and Japanese culture have come together for Anime Weekend Atlanta, the largest anime convention in the Southeast. AWA boasts a variety of panels, events, and entertainment, ranging from family friendly to more adult oriented, so there’s something for everybody. I had a blast attending this year’s AWA at the Cobb Galleria and Renaissance Waverly Hotel.
No convention is complete without cosplay, and as soon as I walked into the Galleria my first day, I ran into a few Breath of the Wild cosplayers.
Wandering the convention, I came across some other Zelda cosplayers, representing Ocarina of Time, A Link Between Worlds, and more Breath of the Wild.
I paid a visit (okay, several visits) to the dealer’s room, in hopes of finding a Prince Sidon dakimakura. Sadly, no such luck. I missed my chance when I spotted one there last year. Fortunately, I still came out with some super cute Prince Sidon and Link artwork, so I’d still consider it a win! I also spotted some neat Zelda Perler bead creations from Unification.
Compared to previous years, AWA 2019 had a relatively chill atmosphere, which was fine with me, as I’m not big on the party scene. That being said, there were still plenty of party opportunities, they just didn’t pervade the entire convention. This may be in part to the convention occurring later in the year than it used to, and because of the sudden cold snap that hit at the same time. I certainly enjoyed my time at AWA, and now to start thinking about next year’s cosplay!
