Katsucon 2026 Report
Feb. 19th, 2026 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stardust_rifleAs you most likely already know if you follow my Tumblr, I, a recent arrival to the DMV area, went to Katsucon for the full 3 days! This was actually my first big 3-day con, as well as my first time cosplaying, and I’m happy to say that both were very fun and went well. I’m not going to look at my bank account. It’s fine. Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave. If you remember seeing or meeting a Rotten Girl!Miku with a light blue Yotsuba Tamaki itabag, that was probably me, unless there was a fourth Fujo Miku running around that I didn’t meet.
Here is everything that I purchased, was gifted, or otherwise received at the con. More details under the cut.
First day was the only non-cosplay day, and I decided to go with the full vampire schoolgirl princess look. (No pictures, though! I’m just not super comfy putting my face on the Internet) Busted out the leather jacket because 1: more people need to wear leather + girly kei, and 2: it was cold. Idolish7 meetup was wonderful, everyone was so friendly even as we were freezing to death. Special mention to the person handing out hand warmers, you were an absolute angel and I can’t thank you enough.
Spent less at AA than I naively expected, though that’s what you get for liking more obscure stuff. Enjoyed the variety, though. AMV Showdown was next on the agenda, and I enjoyed it less than I thought I would. I think I expected every category to be full of standout great AMVs, but there was usually only one or two standouts in each category. Perhaps I’ve simply become a snobby bitch about AMVs…
Went to the Accuracy In Sports Anime panel, did not particularly enjoy it. The presenter repeated my most hated misconception about Free!’s production (the old “it was just supposed to be a commercial, but it got so popular that they made it into a full anime” chestnut).
Super Idol Show was delightful, though the disproportionate amount of Project Sekai stuff did annoy me. If you were the Ramuda or Gentaro cosplayer that I hung out with there, thank you for being so nice, and I really enjoyed talking with you.
J-Fashion Trivia was next on the agenda, and I had loads of fun. I know trivia events must be a bitch to run, but I fucking love doing them, so thanks to everyone who runs one.
Day 2 arrived, and this was my first time cosplaying, so I was extremely nervous, but I got a lot of good reactions (shout out to the guy trying to get a picture with every Miku at the con and the people doing some kind of cosplayer bingo/scavenger hunt) and I don’t think there’s anyone who’s upset to see a Miku around. Protip to anyone else who’s cosplaying a character with long pigtails- crimp the shit out of them! Not only did it make them fluffy as hell, but it also helped keep them from getting tangled. At the end of the day, I only needed to finger-comb the pigtails for a few minutes until they were nice and neat again. Dealer’s Hall was generally overpriced, but even if she’s 22 bucks, I can’t resist a good Jingliu. Or a good Douma. Or a JOJOAGOGO artbook. After that was the Masquerade, which had less showing off of costumes and more skits than I expected, but I did like it. Attended a Queer Rep In Anime panel, and once again got to hear the presenter say just wildly incorrect shit. I know these kinds of panels aren’t intended for M Reads Queer Theory Papers For Fun Georg, who is an outlier and should not have been counted, but still. Left halfway through in favor of going UM, ACTUALLY, which was probably best for everyone involved. After that, I went to Jojo Trivia, where my powers of autism paid off to help lead my team to victory. I’m pretty sure that doing trivia and hearing the people around you express confusion or incorrectly speculate about a question that you know the answer to is better than sex. When I was leaving, I saw an Ocelot/Kaz/Naked Snake genderbend cosplay trio and the instant I asked "Are you from Metal Gear Solid" they lost their fucking minds the whole interaction was so fun even though I just devolved into repeating "the OT3, the OT3" over and over again and probably sounded like an absolute crazy person. Probably one of my favorite interactions I had at the whole con
Day 3 was short, but I still had fun. Went to a safe cosplay construction panel, which was very informative, participated in the Vocaloid meetup, which was fun (though I really should have considered ideas for poses!) and did one last go-through of Artist Alley, which was a bad idea for my wallet. (me: OH MY GOD IT’S SINNERS?!??!?!? AND THEY’RE LITTLE KITTY PEOPLE CURLED UP BEING CUTE TOGETHER?!?!??? I REQUIRE!) After that, I did some more people-watching, and then left my first real 3-day con experience! All in all, it was fun as hell, and I’m looking forward to next year.
(now, what to do with my ribbons…)
Here is everything that I purchased, was gifted, or otherwise received at the con. More details under the cut.
First day was the only non-cosplay day, and I decided to go with the full vampire schoolgirl princess look. (No pictures, though! I’m just not super comfy putting my face on the Internet) Busted out the leather jacket because 1: more people need to wear leather + girly kei, and 2: it was cold. Idolish7 meetup was wonderful, everyone was so friendly even as we were freezing to death. Special mention to the person handing out hand warmers, you were an absolute angel and I can’t thank you enough.
Spent less at AA than I naively expected, though that’s what you get for liking more obscure stuff. Enjoyed the variety, though. AMV Showdown was next on the agenda, and I enjoyed it less than I thought I would. I think I expected every category to be full of standout great AMVs, but there was usually only one or two standouts in each category. Perhaps I’ve simply become a snobby bitch about AMVs…
Went to the Accuracy In Sports Anime panel, did not particularly enjoy it. The presenter repeated my most hated misconception about Free!’s production (the old “it was just supposed to be a commercial, but it got so popular that they made it into a full anime” chestnut).
Super Idol Show was delightful, though the disproportionate amount of Project Sekai stuff did annoy me. If you were the Ramuda or Gentaro cosplayer that I hung out with there, thank you for being so nice, and I really enjoyed talking with you.
J-Fashion Trivia was next on the agenda, and I had loads of fun. I know trivia events must be a bitch to run, but I fucking love doing them, so thanks to everyone who runs one.
Day 2 arrived, and this was my first time cosplaying, so I was extremely nervous, but I got a lot of good reactions (shout out to the guy trying to get a picture with every Miku at the con and the people doing some kind of cosplayer bingo/scavenger hunt) and I don’t think there’s anyone who’s upset to see a Miku around. Protip to anyone else who’s cosplaying a character with long pigtails- crimp the shit out of them! Not only did it make them fluffy as hell, but it also helped keep them from getting tangled. At the end of the day, I only needed to finger-comb the pigtails for a few minutes until they were nice and neat again. Dealer’s Hall was generally overpriced, but even if she’s 22 bucks, I can’t resist a good Jingliu. Or a good Douma. Or a JOJOAGOGO artbook. After that was the Masquerade, which had less showing off of costumes and more skits than I expected, but I did like it. Attended a Queer Rep In Anime panel, and once again got to hear the presenter say just wildly incorrect shit. I know these kinds of panels aren’t intended for M Reads Queer Theory Papers For Fun Georg, who is an outlier and should not have been counted, but still. Left halfway through in favor of going UM, ACTUALLY, which was probably best for everyone involved. After that, I went to Jojo Trivia, where my powers of autism paid off to help lead my team to victory. I’m pretty sure that doing trivia and hearing the people around you express confusion or incorrectly speculate about a question that you know the answer to is better than sex. When I was leaving, I saw an Ocelot/Kaz/Naked Snake genderbend cosplay trio and the instant I asked "Are you from Metal Gear Solid" they lost their fucking minds the whole interaction was so fun even though I just devolved into repeating "the OT3, the OT3" over and over again and probably sounded like an absolute crazy person. Probably one of my favorite interactions I had at the whole con
Day 3 was short, but I still had fun. Went to a safe cosplay construction panel, which was very informative, participated in the Vocaloid meetup, which was fun (though I really should have considered ideas for poses!) and did one last go-through of Artist Alley, which was a bad idea for my wallet. (me: OH MY GOD IT’S SINNERS?!??!?!? AND THEY’RE LITTLE KITTY PEOPLE CURLED UP BEING CUTE TOGETHER?!?!??? I REQUIRE!) After that, I did some more people-watching, and then left my first real 3-day con experience! All in all, it was fun as hell, and I’m looking forward to next year.
(now, what to do with my ribbons…)
