Colorado Anime Fest 2023 Quick Take
This year we visited for the first time Colorado Anime Fest (COAF) held March 15-17. COAF is a relatively small anime convention that has been around since 2016 that was set up by a group of friends. While small, our first impression of the convention is that there are always people down to celebrate anime and come together to hang out. It had your standard set of panels, artist alley, vendor hall, game hall, and plenty of cosplay. For those who have never attended any type of convention before COAF would make for a good start as it is small and not too overwhelming.
Hosted at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, this had plenty of space for various activities but with a few drawbacks. The most glaring issue with the venue was the spread and somewhat inaccessible nature of the different panels. There were three panel rooms that were located on an upper area while the other two were on the main floor but still not together. It was hard to locate where to go for the different panels due to the separation. While finding the different rooms myself there was countless chatter in the halls of others also lost trying to find key locations. In addition at the beginning and through out the convention, new attendees were unable to easily find check-in as it was hidden behind the hotel check-in. However there was plenty of mix-up as many people went to the Staff check-in area thinking it was the correct area. It is clear that next year better planning is needed for the placements the different rooms, minus the Vendor Hall.
As far as the panels go it was obvious that many were fan driven. This gave you a very community-driven feel of what you wanted to see. Now the only issue we had when trying to find panels to go to was finding something that was not too hyper-specific. Of course, there were a few panels that were more generalized but being so focused from a fan perspective made it hard to find a sequence of things to see. If you didn’t have an interest in a certain series of panels you could almost go hours without one to drop into. The biggest block I found were hours of cosplay panels which were great but again made it hard to plan your day without major gaps.
Now honestly for this convention, I spent the majority of time in the shared space for the vendor hall and artist alley. As far as vendors go you could find your dime a dozen of general merch booths that had figures, keychains, snacks, wall scrolls, plushes, and other anime merch. There were a few stand-out ones that really had a smaller niche such as swords, woodwork, and muscle powder. For the vendors, it was something you would pretty much expect at every convention. There were some decent deals but really most of the common things could arguably be found online for cheaper so it is best to look for the big-ticket items that are less common to find the best deals.
As mentioned before the artist's “alley” was also in this same area but really it was just the artist lining the exterior wall. As someone who buys way too many art prints, I can say I wish there were more artists and more space given to them. It was such a tight fit that it made it hard to really get to see what was on display without feeling in the way. Honestly, I wish the artist alley was in a separate area so there was more walking space. We did get some great prints from Savvy Jensen who has some amazing works. I will always leave with about 3 to 5 pieces whenever I go to any artist's alley because I always find great work that I want to have on my walls.
With this being mostly our quick-ish thoughts on the convention here are my key takeaways. First, COAF is a great start for people to sample what conventions are like on a smaller scale. Not only is the cost much lower to start but it also gives a much less intimidating feel when trying new things. Second, this convention feels like it is either still figuring out how to be managed or going through some growing pains. As mentioned by our critics of the panels and layout, we do think that things need to be addressed for next year but it is not a major drawback. Honestly, we have seen other anime conventions such as Nan Desu Kan use the same venue much better when at the same scale without having attendees feel lost or frustrated. Third, go enjoy it for what it is. Honestly, the great thing about anime conventions is getting to see others like you and being able to enjoy the physical presence of anime. For a more in-depth write up look for our events page coming soon!
