On the music front, Anime Expo announced the appearance of the group Travis Japan for Anime Expo 2022. Travis Japan is part of the wide-ranging Johnny and Associates organization. First founded in 1962 under Johnny Kitagawa, Johnny and Associates (or Johnny's for short), has pioneered the evolution of male singing and dancing groups in Japan. Some of Johnny's (and Japan's) most famous groups include Arashi, KinKi Kids, SMAP, KAT-TUN, and many others. It's safe to say they know what they're doing when it comes to male groups.

Aside from the wide variety of games, there was also some very some very impressive cosplayers on the show floor. Here's just a quick look at some of the coolest cosplay we found at PAX West.

Fanime is coming up next weekend. This is the long-awaited return of one of California's mainstay conventions. It's been a long three years since the last one (having been on hiatus since 2019) and we're finally back in the city of San Jose, CA.  We at The-O Network have been attending Fanime for upwards of 10 years so this is one of our most loved conventions, and given its proximity to many of the staff here, is best considered our home convention.

Like many things in life, the first impression of a convention is important.  A convention's first-year oftentimes determines its ultimate fate.  The inaugural OffKai Expo took place between April 29 and May 1 of this year at the DoubleTree Hotel right next to San Jose's Mineta International Airport. As mentioned previously, "OffKai" translates to "offline meetup," and usually in the context of people who have met online through video games, chat rooms, or otherwise, and are now meeting for the first time in person.  That's exactly the name of the game here, and the focus is on Virtual YouTubers.

Never thought I'd see Steve Aoki related to Anime Expo but here we are.  Toei Animation pairs with none other than famed DJ and producer Steve Aoki for promoting One Piece Film Red. There's a decent chance that this also means a premiere of the film too.

OffKai Expo is an up-and-coming convention being held for the first time ever in just a few weeks. For the uninitiated, an offkai is an "offline meeting." Offline, aka "real life" or "in person," as opposed to online. Given that a lot of us haven't seen each other in years at this point, the name is fitting.  OffKai Expo focuses on one thing that really blew up over the last few years: Virtual YouTubers, or virtual streamers, or whatever you'd like to call them. Now, streaming itself isn't anything new, but the combination of anime plus streaming is what OffKai Expo is all about. The OG, Kizuna Ai, now sleeps, but the world has been left in the capable hands of many, many others.

After two years, Anime Expo will finally resume in-person activities. Like many conventions, Anime Expo took some time off during the pandemic. With the advent of various countermeasures, it's now time for a roaring return to the conventions we all love and enjoy. It's time for this time-skip arc to end. Anime Expo will be held this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center during July 1 through 4th.

The fourth and final event of the July Fourth weekend is Kurocon (Kurotsukicon). Kurocon, you ask? Don't worry if you've never heard of it; I hadn't either until earlier this week when a friend told me about it. There's a Canadian eventer (slang for a person who goes to Japanese events, generally musical in nature, and generally a lot of them) who goes by the name of Kurotsuki. As Anime Expo was not taking place this year he decided, perhaps jokingly, to make his own event. Things kind of ran from there, a bunch of people jumped on board, industry joined too, and voila, here we are.