Anime Destiny Berkeley Con Review
Last weekend I headed up to the land of UC Berkeley to check out the Anime Destiny convention, which is hosted annually by Cal Animage Alpha. If you are not familiar with that name, Cal Animage Alpha is UC Berkeley’s premiere anime club. I stopped by to do some promotion of our lasted production, Scorned Waifu and see what Anime Destiny had to offer.
These crazy maid girls greet you on the sign.
On the way to the con, you have to walk through Berkeley onto the University of California. It was interesting as there where quite a few unhoused people sleeping on the campus itself. You pass a few bulletin boards filled with political slogans. One was for a speech entitled “Why did half of America vote for a fascist?”. Then there was another poster that caught my eye that just read “It’s going to be okay!”. It’s very interesting times that we are living in and an odd vibe walking towards the con.
The con itself took place in the ASUC Student Union: Martin Luther King Jr. Building. However there was no signs outside indicting the correct entrance. So I had to walk around a few times to find out where to go. I wish they had some outside signs to help people find the right place. Once inside, it was fairly quiet and I was able to purchase my badge with no hassle.
An cool Sailor Moon Fanart made by @sneakybunniesx
Anime Destiny feels very much like a budget con. Admission is only $20 and it only takes place on two main floor of the building with the main highlight being the Artist Alley. The Artists Alley was also next to a small Game Hall where they had one Dance machine, a few console games and a mahjong table. Due to it’s small size, I feel like this would be a great con for anyone’s first time as you don’t feel overwhelmed. But at the same time, the small scale does mean there is not much to do if you plan on staying all day.
Walking the rows of the artist alley is fun, as you get to see the anime art and meet the artists behind them. Some of the artists are friendly and were great to talk with. While others were definitely more shy and quiet. After walking through the artist alley, I walk over to the mahjong table for a round of Japanese Majhong. Which feels like a very complex version of Poker. I feel like you would have to play the tutorial like 15 times to even get a feel for it as I was a bit lost during my play-through.
Here I am posing with a Areith and Tifa cosplay from FF7.
In terms of Cosplay, there was a few cool cosplays to be seen, but not very much. I could attend for the first few hours so maybe the cosplayers roll in later. But the few are saw were pretty awesome and it’s always fun to spot characters you know. In terms of food there isn’t any to had, so you will have to venture out into Berkeley to get your grub on. Overall, Anime Destiny is a fairly solid anime con. It has a youthful crowd and spirit due to it’s university location. It’s a great con for beginners and it avoids the trope of smelling like body order.
