AnimeFest 2026! Yay!

Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to have a little vacation and actually afford going to some events.

This year, I got really fortunate and was able to visit Brno for AnimeFest 2026!
And I loved it.

I met new, absolutely awesome people. I have photos from the event too, hopefully soon to be added to my portfolio. I did not want to go back to reality, which, as usual, seems to be the case after events like this.

It is becoming more and more common to wear costumes at these events. I wanted to have one as well, but I could not make it happen. Hopefully next time I will be an Ori Prior, or some other fun thing -

The culprit?
Money and lack of time, as usual.

So I took my camera with me and simply did what I love to do. I took pictures of pretty people.

It had been four years since I was last at AnimeFest and, to be honest, it felt different. There were more cosplayers than I remembered, but the average costume felt more casual this time. Not necessarily bad, just different. More people were dressed up, but fewer costumes had that “holy hell, how did you even make this?” kind of impact.

Anyway, AF26 was very fun.

I met my favourite cosplayers, Maki and Lena, and we talked for a bit. I found new friendships. I enjoyed the atmosphere. And for a few days, Brno Exhibition Centre turned into one big meeting point for anime, cosplay, music, games, panels, artists, merch, food, photography, fan art, and convention chaos in the best possible way.

It had the usual convention energy. Crowded halls, cool outfits, random discoveries, too much program to see everything, and that weird but beautiful feeling of being surrounded by people who are into the same kind of nonsense as you are.

I really recommend going to a convention if you are any kind of nerd.

It is tiring.
It is expensive.
But most of all, it is fun.

(Used picture is new, unedited, with Eweechan)