Kawaii Kon

I first attended Kawaii Kon when I was in 5th grade at 10 years old. I remember the first time I ever attended Kawaii Kon I commissioned a drawing of Mia Fey as a guardian angel in Heaven in the clouds. When I was a junior in high school I joined the elite Chivalry of the Kawaii Kon Lifetime Members Association. I met a gentleman and asked him how did he skip the lines for autographs. That's how I met Ivan. Many of you know him as the dude in the lab coat who hands out surveys and Marlon (RIP) who was our vanguard. Joining the lifetime membership association made me a better person since I have autism and I am pretty shy. Artist Alley is my favorite. People know me as the guy who wears WW2 German and Japanese uniforms. I met a lot of friends because of Kawaii Kon.

This is the 2nd year that my kids have attended Kawaii Kon (2023 and 2024) and they LOVED it.So much to do - shop for art, clothing, accessories, plushies, toys, models, and more in the exhibition hall (soooo many vendors); watch videos, read manga, play games, meet voice actors, listen to guest speakers, get autographs, etc. But my kids' favorite part was the the cosplay - planning and creating their costumes, showing it off and seeing how everyone else was dressed. The general atmosphere was fun and good natured.Plan ahead and purchase your tickets online to save money and time. Also, get there early as the wait time in lines to enter and get your passes can be brutal. Saturday is the busiest day of the convention. Buy a 3 day pass to get the most bang for your buck.Negatives - Parking at the Convention Center is limited and expensive. Best to park across the street at Ala Moana shopping center and walk over. Extremely overpriced concession food and drinks. $4 for a small bottle of water?!?!?!?!? Sneak in your own snacks if you can or leave to eat and come back. This year, there was a metal detector you had to pass through at the entrance - which added to the wait time getting in.

Kawaii Kon, Hawaii's first anime convention that started off at the ballrooms in the Ala Moana Hotel that then grew into the Hawaii Convention Center taking several ballrooms. Now it takes up almost all of the ballrooms and floor space at the Hawaii Convention Center. With their sister convention, Comic Con Honolulu. The one day passholders get paper colored wrist bands. While three day passholders get lanyards with a plastic three day passes. It a great convention for all things anime, video games, table top games, cosplay and meeting some celebrities guests getting their autographs and merchandise. Mainly anime, I've been to this convention a few times but took a break for a while. I always enjoyed seeing the bands and artists perform live in person because concerts are fun. The cosplay contest as well as opening ceremony is always very cool to attend as well. They have a "weapons" check to make sure it adheres to con rules. They had EMKE performing a lot at the cons but they changed their band name to Close the Distance. They have artist alley and dealers in the same Kamehameha 2 and 3 ballrooms. The cosplay cafe is on the 3rd level along with video games, table top and smaller speaking events in the other ballrooms. They have events for 18+ years at night due to the hentai and other explicit content. The 4th floor ballroom is used for main events, opening and closing ceremonies and concerts. There's water stations throughout the convention center, some coolers are colder than others but always well stocked. The bathrooms throughout the convention center are kept clean and stocked for the entire three day convention. Artist Alley has both local and mainland artists. Line first is always the con rule, same for theme parks. I'm not a big anime fan, more of a casual attendee. I haven't watch anime in years. These events are fun to attend casually even if you're not a big fan. But to see all the cosplayers, be in the fun atmosphere although a lot of body odors because some people forget to bathe during the three day convention. I think I'm growing out of attending anime and comic conventions but will occasionally come to see what's happening and if any interesting guests come by to visit. Food and parking at the convention center can be costly. So many people park at Ala Moana Center, walk over and then eat elsewhere to save money. Paying for autographs, photo with celebrities, dealers and artist alley merchandise can add up to be a lot real quickly. Like at theme parks with food and merchandise shopping. You'll see people passed out everywhere from being exhausted from the heat and doing long days at the convention. Parking at the Convention Center is now 12 dollars as of 2021. Friday is the least busiest day, best day to find those items that collectors want to get their hands on first. Saturday is the busiest, most events and most crowded day at the con. Sunday is one of the slowest day but with the most deals and discounts with whatever is left at artist alley and dealers. Most people get a one day pass for Saturday or 3 day pass early to save money. Be prepared to walk around a lot at the convention center throughout the con. There has been 10,000 to 20,000 people attending this con as it has grown over the years to one of the largest conventions in the state annually. Certain Japanese artists you can't take pictures of unless you pay or take it at opening ceremonies due to the agent rules from their companies as they are highly protective of their artists as Disney is of Marvel secrets. It always costs extra to meet and have photos. Always ask a cosplayer if you can have a picture before taking out of respect and cosplay rules as they would want to pose or have it a certain way. The only problem I had when COVID-19 happened, the convention was canceled. It took me over a year to receive my refund after emailing them over several months to get it. I had a special pass that costed a little more than the early entry prices that you can get while buying it early on the last day of the previous convention because it was supposed to be mailed to me instead of having to pick it up. It was easier getting my races that were canceled deferred or transferred to a virtual registration than to get this refund. They had to mail me a physical refund check because their Dyad, LLC is out of Georgia not locally in Hawaii. The con is run mainly by a large group of volunteers with some people actually working for the convention holder. Thank you to all the hard work the volunteers do into making this con fun to attend!For now, I'll be taking a break from attending cons and doing my races and athletic lifestyle. But I highly recommend this convention to anyone into anime, comics, video and table top games. It's one of the best small to medium sized conventions in the United States. It'll be fun to attend whenever conventions are able to be held again safely.

Too crowded and long lines. Stood in line for walk in entry and was there for 1hour 1/2. Decided to leave since that is just to long to wait. I heard from others that they waited almost 3-4 hours. Just not worth it.

Arrived at the Hawaii Convention Center for the Kawaiicon 2022 at 7:20pm, stood in 2 different long lines, 1 for registration & 1 to get into the exhibition hall. I paid $90 for 2 1-day passes into the hall & $12 for parking. We stood in the lines for more than an hour & finally made it to the front doors 15 min before 9pm. At this point we were told that the hall was closed. So I literally paid $102 total for an event I didn't even get to go into. WTF!!!! I hope I can get my money back!No one made it clear to us that we had a time limit standing in the long lines & that we'd be turned away before 9pm.Such BS! It was a waste of time & money!

I recommend you prepay and register online and pay the rip off price of 2 or 3 days even if you are only going for one day. Since we were bringing our whole family and a kid's friend (5 of us plus a fres little one) we decided to do the walk in registration for one day and lived to regret it. We had no idea it was the line that never ended. It was like a horror version of Disneyland. At least in Disneyland they warn you of the wait time. Everytime we thought we reached the end we found out the line just continued. We ended up waiting 3.5 hours in line with the hope it was ending soon. By the time we got to the front and paid the $50 for each person we cheered to get in. However, we soon found out the kids were done already and soon after an announcement went off to say the merchandise area was closing soon.Everyone was a cranky mess. Wish I could of given this event 5 Stars but it was just poorly organized, registration wise. Hopefully they will improve the experience for next year!!!!!!!! We are willing to try again one more time.

This is a fun once or twice a year experience for all lovers of anime, gaming, Japanese culture, and more. I went for the first time this year on Sunday, the last day that they had this event. I loved to see everyone cosplaying as their favorite anime characters and was impressed to see some high quality outfits. I do think that it would be more fun to visit on Saturday instead of Sunday because the last day is cut pretty short while Saturday offers longer hours and more events. I saw people hanging out past 10 pm on Saturday. I did want more out of the experience though, because I felt that 90% of it was paying a good amount of money to walk through a maze of booths that sell goods so I can spend more money. I would go again because it was fun but I'll be aware that it's a kind of a trap to get your wallet loosey :)

A 3 day convention in the heart of Honolulu celebrating Anime. If you plan to go I suggest preordering tickets and picking it up before the actual event (the lines were long on Saturday but moved pretty fast). Also if you get tired there are A/C'ed rooms where you can watch anime or read manga. PARKING: It costs $10 to park but that is what the convention center charges and not the actual Kon though it is for all day parking so my suggestion is to make a day of it because there are many dining options there and nearby (even some offering discounts if you show your badge).

It only comes annually, for 3 days, and I was lucky to get free admission for Saturday from Emi and the yelp team. Meaning to go every year, I never was able to make it until today.What a blast I had with my son now that he is older. It's a different world of anime characters and cos play in the little glass dome at the convention center located across from ala moana.As you enter the glass doors, there are people hanging outside taking pictures and enjoying interacting with other cos players without paying. They can also hang outside on the 3rd and fourth floors as well.There was a long line to register for 2 or 3 days, which I'm glad I bypassed because I got to walk straight to the information then the yelp booth to get my wrist bands for the day.The first floor room had a lot of booths to buy anime posters, comics, t-shirts, etc which aren't sold at regular stores. There was also a booth by the library that gave free items if you show your library card. There were also board games for those to challenge each other, as well as autographs of certain professionals.3rd floor had a huge gaming room, video rooms as well as other rooms of different events.4th floor also had special events, especially the cos play contest which we enjoyed, and live bands at night.It's like Halloween again, but with cool anime characters, role playing and events to enjoy the entire day.

The panels with guest speakers were on the upper floors, which was good, as that was the only reason that I was able to get to them. It was a nightmare going to the place and getting parking, despite how early I got up. The staff was...not doing the best job of organizing the crowds, and after multiple mix ups in their line organizing, one employee began yelling at people for being in the long line.Don't waste your time or money. These people don't deserve it.