# AnimeFest

AnimeFest is an annual four-day anime convention held during August at the Loews Arlington Hotel in Arlington, Texas.

## Programming

The convention typically offers an art show, autograph sessions, cosplay contests, dealers room, gaming, and a masquerade.

## History

In 2012, the convention moved from the Hyatt Regency Dallas to the Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel. A-Kon also used the same hotel in 2012. AnimeFest in 2017 had issues with its autograph lines. AnimeFest 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AnimeFest 2021 was initially cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an online event held in its place. The convention would later hold an event in December 2021. AnimeFest held its last full event in 2024, with future planned events being smaller.

### Event history

| Dates | Location | Atten. | Guests |
| October 5, 1992 | Richardson Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Dallas, Texas | 105 | |
| February 5–7, 1993 | Holiday Inn North Park Plaza Hotel Dallas, Texas | 450 | Ichiro Arakaki, Matt Greenfield, Dwayne Jones, John Ledford, and Kevin Winkler. |
| November 6, 1993 | Richardson Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Dallas, Texas | 140 | Fred Patten. |
| November 4–6, 1994 | Holiday Inn North Park Plaza Hotel Dallas, Texas | 500 | |
| September 1–3, 1995 | Doubletree Hotel at Park West Dallas, Texas | 600 | |
| November 1–3, 1996 | Clarion Hotel Dallas Dallas, Texas | 650 | |
| September 4–7, 1998 | Omni Dallas - Park West Dallas, Texas | 650 | |
| September 3–6, 1999 | Holiday Inn DFW Airport North Dallas, Texas | 750 | Gilles Poitras. |
| August 31 - September 3, 2001 | InterContinental Hotel Dallas Dallas, Texas | 1,300 | Bôa, Steve Bennett, Bonsai Society of Dallas, Austell "DJ Asu" Callwood, Rodney "Largo" Caston, Scott Kurtz, Bruce Lewis, Mark Mandolia, Scott McNeil, Dan Minut, Kirby Morrow, Krista Perry, and Doug Smith. |
| August 30 - September 2, 2002 | Hotel Inter-Continental Dallas Dallas, Texas | 1,800 | Arik Renee Avila, Rodney "Largo" Caston, Michael Coleman, Dallas Kiyari Daiko, Kyle Hebert, Bruce Lewis, Kitaki Mayu, Scott McNeil, Kirby Morrow, Stephanie Nadolny, Chris Patton, Krista Perry, Monica Rial, Kristine Sa, Jan Scott-Frazier, and Serdar Yegulalp. |
| August 29 - September 1, 2003 | Hotel Inter-Continental Dallas, Texas | 2,350 | Arik Renee Avila, Greg Ayres, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Michael Dobson, Tiffany Grant, Kyle Hebert, Kato Kazuhiko, Bruce Lewis, Mike McFarland, Scott McNeil, Vic Mignogna, Chris Moujaes, Move, Stephanie Nadolny, Dr. Susan Napier, Chris Patton, Krista Perry, Ramen and Rice, Xero Reynolds, Monica Rial, Aaron Romo, and Doug Smith. |
| September 3–6, 2004 | Hyatt Regency Dallas - At Reunion Tower Dallas, Texas | 2,725 | Greg Ayres, Beau Billingslea, Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch, Kyle Hebert, Kumiko Kato, MAX, Mike McFarland, Jamie McGonnigal, Vic Mignogna, Chris Moujaes, Chris Patton, Krista Perry, Xero Reynolds, Monica Rial, Aaron Romo, Brianne Siddall, and Sean Teague. |
| September 2–5, 2005 | Hyatt Regency at Reunion Tower Dallas, Texas | 3,301 | Greg Ayres, Johnny Yong Bosch, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Caitlin Glass, Kyle Hebert, Jonathan Klein, Bruce Lewis, Mike McFarland, Jamie McGonnigal, Scott McNeil, Randy Milholland, Krista Perry, Ramen and Rice, Xero Reynolds, Monica Rial, Maaya Sakamoto, Carrie Savage, Stephanie Sheh, Doug Smith, and Shinichirō Watanabe. |
| September 1–4, 2006 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | 4,127 | Yoshitoshi ABe, Greg Ayres, Chris Cason, Lindsay Cibos, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Flow, Rivkah Greulich, Kyle Hebert, Jared Hodges, Taliesin Jaffe, Bruce Lewis, Jamie McGonnigal, Randy Milholland, Ramen and Rice, Monica Rial, Carrie Savage, Doug Smith, and Yasuyuki Ueda. |
| August 31 - September 3, 2007 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | 4,629 | Chris Ayres, Greg Ayres, Amelie Belcher, Beau Billingslea, Greg Dean, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Quinton Flynn, Shukou Murase, Jeff Nimoy, Monica Rial, Dai Sato, and United Fellas. |
| August 29 - September 1, 2008 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | | Hannah Alcorn, Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres, Amelie Belcher, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Jessie James Grelle, Matt Herms, Ross Hines, Steve Horton, Chuck Huber, Akiharu Ishii, Bruce Lewis, Jamie McGonnigal, Scott McNeil, Shuhei Morita, Carli Mosier, Dai Sato, J. Michael Tatum, and Jeong Mo Yang. |
| September 4–7, 2009 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | | Troy Baker, David Doub, Chuck Huber, Shinji Kimura, Ramen and Rice, Dai Sato, Junichi Taniguchi, and Tsutchie. |
| September 3–6, 2010 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | | Greg Ayres, David Doub, Kazuyoshi Katayama, Bruce Lewis, Nirgilis, Dai Sato, and J. Michael Tatum. |
| September 2–5, 2011 | Hyatt Regency Dallas Dallas, Texas | | Greg Ayres, Amelie Belcher, Bowling for Soup, Leah Clark, Terri Doty, David Doub, J. Grant, Mel Hynes, Carrie Keranen, Cherami Leigh, Bruce Lewis, Dai Sato, Jan Scott-Frazier, Spike Spencer, J. Michael Tatum, and Cristina Vee. |
| August 31–September 3, 2012 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Robert Axelrod, Amelie Belcher, Mark Crilley, J. Grant, Mel Hynes, Mike Iverson, L33tStr33t Boys, Cherami Leigh, Bruce Lewis, Bryan Massey, Kristen McGuire, Koji Morimoto, Ramen and Rice, Dai Sato, Mark Stoddard, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Greg Wicker, Sayo Yamamoto, and Yoshimitsu Yamashita. |
| August 30–September 2, 2013 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | | DJ Blade, Terri Doty, Tomohiko Ishii, Kenji Kamiyama, and Greg Wicker. |
| August 15–18, 2014 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | 10,297 | Hiroyuki Aoyama, Amelie Belcher, Flow, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Todd Haberkorn, Reuben Langdon, Yuri Lowenthal, Kristen McGuire, Shingo Natsume, Tara Platt, Dai Sato, Hiroshi Shimizu, Ian Sinclair, Alexis Tipton, Kimiko Ueno, and Eric Wile. |
| September 4–7, 2015 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | 10,090 | Akai SKY, Hiroyuki Aoyama, Amelie Belcher, Jessica Gee-George, Grant George, Kristen McGuire, Ramen and Rice, Monica Rial, Jad Saxton, Hiroshi Shimizu, Ian Sinclair, Arina Tanemura, and Stephanie Young. |
| August 12–15, 2016 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | 10,751 | Amelie Belcher, Mark Crilley, Toshio Furukawa, Fumi Hirano, Shino Kakinuma, Chikashi Kubota, Kristen McGuire, Erica Mendez, Kazuhiro Miwa, Shuhei Morita, Shingo Natsume, Melissa Ng, Gilles Poitras, Lindsay Seidel, Micah Solusod, Akemi Takada, Austin Tindle, Greg Wicker, Lisle Wilkerson, Robert Woodhead, and Apphia Yu (Ayu Sakata). |
| August 17–20, 2017 | Sheraton Dallas Downtown Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Amelie Belcher, Morgan Berry, Eunyoung Choi, Christophe Ferreira, Jessie James Grelle, Tadashi Hiramatsu, Motonobu Hori, Caleb Hyles, Jeremy Inman, Jerry Jewell, Kenji Kamiyama, Shigeto Koyama, Mitsurou Kubo, LM.C, Daman Mills, Dr. Susan Napier, Monica Rial, Yoshiki Sakurai, Dai Sato, Ian Sinclair, Micah Solusod, Sonny Strait, Atsuko Tanaka, Arina Tanemura, Atsumi Tanezaki, Tsutchie, Eric Vale, Greg Wicker, Sayo Yamamoto, Apphia Yu (Ayu Sakata), and Masaaki Yuasa. |
| August 17–20, 2018 | Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Mai Aizawa, Tia Ballard, Dawn M. Bennett, Jacob Browning, Ricco Fajardo, Naoya Fukushi, Erika Harlacher, Natalie Rose Hoover, Caleb Hyles, Roland Kelts, Helen McCarthy, Margaret McDonald, Tomotaka Misawa, Whitney Rodgers, J. Michael Tatum, Christopher Wehkamp, Bennett White, Greg Wicker, Lisle Wilkerson, Takanori Yamamura, and Apphia Yu (Ayu Sakata). |
| August 16–19, 2019 | Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Yoshitoshi ABe, Hiroyuki Aoyama, Amelie Belcher, Leon Chiro, and Shingo Natsume. |
| July 31, 2021 | Online convention | | |
| December 17-19, 2021 | Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Bryn Apprill, Amelie Belcher, Kyle Hebert, Robert McCollum, Kyle Phillips, and Christopher Wehkamp. |
| July 29 - August 1, 2022 | Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Katelyn Barr, Amelie Belcher, Dani Chambers, Ray Chase, Robbie Daymond, Marissa Lenti, Joel McDonald, Ry McKeand, Max Mittelman, Molly Searcy, Micah Solusod, and Apphia Yu (Ayu Sakata). |
| July 28-31, 2023 | Sheraton Dallas Hotel Dallas, Texas | | Amelie Belcher, Beau Billingslea, Melissa Fahn, The Geeky Seamstress, and Bryan Massey. |
| July 25-28, 2024 | Loews Arlington Hotel Arlington, Texas | | Greg Ayres, Bryson Baugus, Amelie Belcher, Drew Breedlove, Kamen Casey, James Cheek, Aaron Dismuke, Ricco Fajardo, Cole Feuchter, Caleb Hyles, Corinne Sudberg, Kiba Walker, and Howard Wang. |