Anime Expo 2025: Crouch Pounding Fun & Mega 64's 20th Visit

 By Jonathan Bilski

Anime Expo remains both an amazing place to totally enjoy yourself with Japanese culture and a place where getting-hit-the-balls joke are together. There was a lot to take in at Anime Expo 2025 and here's the best parts that made me laugh. But just look at dat a$$.

Azur Lane, a video game with cute girls, let you marry one of them. I mean there were points in the day I wanted to say, "Hey, it's just a woman, relax guys." People taking photos of cosplayers got to chill. But, this was too funny. There was a line of very single men waiting to have their "wedding photos" taken with a cosplay model. I'm sure those are getting framed. Pure cringe, but Azur Lane knows their audience. Thank G-d, Love and Deepspace didn't hire real models for their photo booth or a mob of women might have taken them.

I know pronounce you dork and wife.
 

Game Grumps might have the best idea when it comes to merch as it just re-imagines the two male game players as cute anime girls.

Another cringe sort of moment was the Vtuber booth that let you talk with different Vtubers. I understand why interviews with them can be so weird, seeing it in person. It's unsettling.

The Mega 64 Merch booth was selling the funniest shirt about a Tuesday. Mega 64 is a comedy group that mostly perform video game related skits.

Shawn explained, during the Annual Mega 64 panel, the idea came to him while stuck in traffic and the idea of it being exclusive when it has no real deeper meaning was the perfect idea. The frog was simply added by the artist of the shirt.

It turns out 3/4 of the Mega 64 crew made it to their annual panel; Derrick  doesn't love you. We all thought Rocco wasn't gonna make it when Shawn and Garret said he got a phone call and had to leave, but of course it was a prank. He popped in moments later as some sort of Indian Jones. Dressed as per usual in stupid joke cosplay like Vin Unleaded instead of Vin Diesel, they took us through past skits and unreleased material.

Funny enough, there was very little mention of how bad it was for Mega 64 last year, they almost went bankrupt or Rocco's hellish week on Twitch where he was stuck in a room.

Instead fans just asked about their fav moments or told them the newest Kamen Rider is gonna stream live in the US. 

Toward the end they realized that this was their 20th time at AX and we're blown away how much people knew what anime was now. When they started no one knew what anime really was, it had been that long.

Gamer Supps or GG Energy booth had tiny cups to try their various concoctions. Of course, Titty milk flavor was loved by many.

It seemed like a very horny booth.

The back end of this inflatable big-reared creature was hard to pass up from most selfie takers.

Not sure a booth should have devoted a section to dumb shirts that have images on the inside when they flip over.

Thinking about it, at least all booths I saw we're supposed to be there. I didn't see a random tie-in booth from a phone company.

This one had me wanting to watch the comedy Grand Blue Dreaming Season 2. After signing the above waiver you and a friend could rock a piece of concrete between your thighs back in forth using special belt pillows...or really avoid the hit. Sadly, didn't see anyone willing to do it when I passed by. Apparently, one episode in the series has a character fighting a professor with the above Charpy Impact Tester of who can come closes to not get hit in the crouch.

This was a wonderful idea headed straight for disaster, I wonder how long it was before they put barriers around the Haikyu!! booth. If you look online you can see some people with a running start did make it that high. But, this was in the Main Hall with no waivers, so I assume they realized, lawsuits. Still, people did love it, so I hope they bring a safer version back. 

The random cosplay where people dressed so very bad was spot on.

Well, one section did take up some space at Artist Alley. Where once booths had little oversight, nowadays to get to the dirty stuff you had to wait in line and just show I.D.. Welcome to the 18+ section, formerly of long dead video stores. Maybe they can just have a tent and call it the Porn Pavilion.

My favorite part might have been overhearing, "Okay, enough of that let's goon some more."

As always I can't show you too much, but I can tell you booths seemed to be busy with both men and women buying plenty of dirty manga, games and friendly TENGA products.

Missing was a new pack of tissues from J-List, but as the J-List blog here explains, they moved all their stuff to Little Tokyo this year? J18 Publishing Presents: The YABAI Art Gallery Experience at LA ARTCORE, Little Tokyo!

Not the happiest that J-list wasn't at AX proper, but ballsy movie to rent out a shop all the way in Little Tokyo. 

 

I totally missed this TENGA hat, perfect friends.

This one really got me, it took multiple camera shots to essentially make you look like your doing an attack in an old JRPG.

So, that's some of the silly from Anime Expo 2025. I'm sure I missed some with four days of people dressed as fantasy characters and bars nearby.