Anime Riverside 2026: Welcome Back Summer Cons

 By Jonathan Bilski

Rock out to Alien Ant Farm you Otaku people as downtown Riverside is taken over by aliens, robots ,maids and ghosts over two days. TTDILA will keep you in the loop as we play the latest and greatest in bands from the 2000's and anime theme songs. Wait...this already happened? And, radio DJ skits are played out? Well, too bad! Cuz, TTDILA covered again this year.

 

As per usual will have follow-up articles on all our favorite moments, our fav cosplays and of course, photos from the JoJo Pose-Off! For now sink into our looks and Artist Alley and the Main Hall from Anime Riverside 2026. We also have our take from the Anime Slam Professional Wrestling and gripes we had as there was some obvious downturns, like the Marriot no longer being part of it. And, we'll go over as best we can here and over the next few days.

 

You could still it was special for quite a few people getting to meet so many of the amazing voice actors who've been in...well everything. Honestly, it is amazing the voice talent that comes out for this. We stopped in a local book store near the convetion center; actually called Downtowne Bookstore. Where the young man behind the counter was super stoked to get an autograph from a prominent voice actor and was going to check out the Anime Riverside after party and go the 2nd day of the con. He seemed like he was in anime heaven getting to talk anime and gaming with people.

 

Meanwhile, just outside his store there was a semi-Artist Alley and place to grab snacks called Otaku Market. This was a bit sparse, but a nice idea. It could have be clumped closer together and had the same effect. The booths seemed a little lonely.

 

What also seemed lonely was the walk all the way to the other side of the convention center. Sheesh. They did it last year, and no one liked it, and I still can't say I'm a fan, but entry is oddly on the side of the convention center facing away from where ALL THE WALK-ABLE SHOPS ARE!

 

You might have noticed something else missing from the con this year depending on which way you went to collect your badge. The Marriot! Not sure why, but Anime Riverside didn't use the very adjacent hotel that has been used every year before for arcade, karaoke, maid cafe & more. 

 

A Little Tight

This meant those places had to take up space in the convention center which took out half the panels. Because, it literally took panel space. Sigh.

 

Called the Marriot. They said Anime Riverside just chose not to work with them this year. Seems, like it was a bad choice. I can only speculate it was a financial choice and hopefully next year they have enough to make a deal again.

 

 

 

 

 

Comfy Karaoke

Other than that it was time to see people fight over CHEEEEEESE!!! Anime Slam Professional Wrestling, why are you so good to me? To us? We got to see the ridiculous "fight"...spectacle of Team Adult Swim: The Smiling Friends (Alan & Charlie) vs. Team Toonami: Son Goku & Sasuke Uchiha. It drew a lovely crowd outside, sadly lasted 20 minutes and blew people's minds.

Smiling Friend's shaking the crowd's hands

If you were a fan, as many were, of Dragon Ball, Naruto and Smiling Friends you would get many of the jokes from the wrestlers who aren't miked. Kind of hard to hear, but whatever. And, even if you weren't, you have to commend their showmanship. For when whomever was playing Alan took out some cheese and it was thrown out of his hand, by G-d, did you understand his feelings when he said, "ALL I WANTED WAS SOME CHEESE!!!" And, did those fists did fly, and kicks did connect in the worst cosplay I have ever seen, but it was stupid, yet entertaining. Oh, they had the crow hooting and a hollering and yelling cheese!

 

That's not even the main stage, main stage had Alien Ant Farm on Sunday. But, before that, they had 

panels from top animes like Attack on Titan's dub cast and cosplay contests and concerts.  

Got to say it was nice to see some late night content and to see some comedians again for a panel. So, you had stuff for the fam during the day and at night, much more for teens and the adults.

 

Main Hall/Artist Alley...I can't really say there's much of a difference as one just has more vendors. So many booths in the Main Hall are people I've seen in Artist Alley a month ago at WonderCon or will see soon at Anime Expo. Quality wise, pretty much all the artist made stuff looked top notch. If you're into a particular fandom you can't go wrong getting specialized stickers, charms or what not. Here's just sample of some of the stuff I saw. It's too hard to pick something and it's always better to buy in person, because shipping sucks.

 

 

Soda Girls

 

 

More to come in more posts from Anime Riverside 2026.