Convention Type
Anime

When and Where
June 27th-29th at DeVos Place

Things to Do/See
Attend panels, photos/autographs, vendor hall, artist alley, gaming area that included console, arcade, indie developer games, board games, and table top, fandom meetups, cosplay contest, sumo wrestling, weapon lessons at the swordsmanship dojo, swordsmanship museum, VIP lounge, manga library, video game tournaments, Pokémon challenges throughout the event, Doorbusters game show

Guests
Voice Actors: Tiana Camacho, Stephanie Nadolny, Zach Gierig, David Errigo, Jr.
Musical Guests: Kohei Hattori, Michigan Hiryu Daiko, Chiri Girls
Cosplay Guests: AMH Cosplays, Exuberant Cosplay, Kira Elric
Guest Panelists: Ted Bentley, Party Table, Soga Japan Center

Pros
Held in one central location at DeVos Place

Program booklet was very informative with who, what, where of all the events, panels, and guests.

This was another year of nice artwork for JAFAX’s merch. The black t-shirt background made the artwork pop out at the merch stand. Their anime squirrel mascot, Ringo, was featured as a villain this year.

Over 60 artists/crafters and over 45 vendors in the Vendor Hall and Artist Alley room. The layout of the Vendor Hall and Artist Alley was more of a compacted version (space-wise) compared to previous years. Aisles seemed evenly spaced out and did not seem cramped during high traffic times.

JAFAX had the biggest badges that I have ever seen in the Michigan convention scene. Why? You might ask. They were hugely designed to accommodate JAFAX’s first Ribbon Game. The Ribbon Game is an interactive event where attendees can adorn their badge with various ribbons after they’ve completed specific activities/tasks. Any attendee would have the chance to personalize their badge with the ribbons of their choice. Very cool to see.
Also, I appreciated that JAFAX included a very soft lanyard that was comfortable to wear all weekend. Little touches like that make a big difference in the long run.

I appreciated the incorporation of a digital display outlining the floor plan/map of JAFAX and the Fandom Cosplay meetups’ official schedule.

The gaming setup was impressive, with free-to-play gaming for everything. Console gaming featured retro gaming to current gaming with multiple choices of games to choose from at most of the gaming stations. There was even a Japanese Sega Saturn to play select imported games on. I appreciated that there was a more fully fleshed-out area for indie developers to show off their game demos, too. I enjoyed playing Rad Venture and Checkout Blitz: The Shopping Dead.

Water coolers were prevalent throughout DeVos Hall, which helped keep attendees cool and hydrated during the hot summer weekend. I appreciated this.

Multiple demonstrations of combat exhibitions from the Grand Rapids Sumo Club throughout the weekend.

Doorbusters closing game show where contestants won prizes that included JAFAX 2026 badges with a hotel stay, and various donated items from the vendor hall. The grand prize was a PS5.
I must note that I appreciate the comedy and charisma from the dueling hosts Wes and Chris during the game show. They are very entertaining, each year. Plus, the artwork for the “doors” is very cool and unique.
JAFAX took part in the local charity called Kids’ Food Basket. Here is an audio description (from last year) of the charity.

Cool Cosplay – Check out the GALLERY

Cons
The placement of the panel description signs led to the unintentional obscuration of the signs next to the Panel Rooms. Outside each panel room on the Gallery Overlook, there were printed signs describing the panels/events taking place in said room. Each room had double doors that would open outward. There were a few instances where an opened door was hiding the panel description sign because the sign was on the wall behind the opened door. I would suggest a different place to feature the sign to avoid the door blocking it off.

There was a lack of signage for directional guidance this year. There were maps in the program booklet. However, if I were a first-time attendee unfamiliar with the layout of the event, I would have no idea where to go until I found my way to registration and grabbed a copy of the program booklet. I would like to see the directional signs return next year.

I appreciated that JAFAX’s badges included a QR code, which would direct you to the website to look up the online schedule. However, once you clicked on the schedule link, a Google Docs grid-based schedule popped up. The grid-based schedule was not conducive to an easy navigation experience on a mobile phone. A desktop is a better way to experience that type of schedule. I hope they will use the Guidebook app in the future for electronic event scheduling needs for attendees.

Double Dragon II’s cumbersome and clunky controls. The nostalgia for this 1988 NES “classic” did not hold up well, control-wise. Why did Technōs Japan think it was a good idea to dedicate the B button for Left side directional attacks and the A button for Right side directional attacks? Also, why would I ever want to push A and B at the same time to make Bimmy  and Jimmy jump? This game featured platform jumping with the worst approach to controlling said jumping. Suffice to say, I didn’t get far. It seems like there will be a yearly retro video game failure (of some sort) for me going forward. All joking aside, I can’t hold this against JAFAX since it was all a user and skill level error.

Do I recommend attending the event?
Yes. I’ve never had a bad time attending JAFAX and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. There is plenty to see and experience at JAFAX. I look forward to next year’s event, which will be the 30th anniversary.