CRUNCHYROLL EXPO 2022 IS UPON US, and it’s geared up to be an exciting year! Setting foot in New Crunchy City again for the first time since 2019, this weekend is promising to be an unmissable event!

I ran a little late picking up my press badge, but Crunchyroll staff couldn’t have been more helpful. With enough people handling several registration lines, it took me no more than fifteen minutes to skate through badge pickup and the adjoining health check. I got to walk across the street-level floor of the convention center, and got the smallest of glances at what to expect tomorrow. To be honest, there isn’t much to report in the way of aesthetics since they did a great job of keeping things cordoned off, draped over, and behind closed doors. What was a great indicator, however, were the friendliness of staff and the buzz in the air of movement and excitement, and there’s plenty of reasons for that excitement!

The Hololive guest reveal a couple weeks back really set the tone for this show, with a large portion of the floor dedicated to the holoMeet Experience Zone, which houses a “Meet and Greet” area, an exhibit, and the showcase theater, an area that we will become incredibly familiar with, as host Salvador Garibay has a meet-and-greet with hololive Indonesia’s  Anya Malfissa, and I, host Cruz Esparza, have one with Kureiji Ollie of the same branch. (You can check out an artwork timelapse I made in anticipation of the event here.)

Another thing I’m personally looking forward to is the New Crunchy City Music Fest, not only because they have live music lined up throughout the whole weekend, but also because a personal favorite of mine – a J-Pop group called Atarashii Gakko! – is performing at the event. J-Metal band SiM is also performing, likely playing “The Rumbling”, the theme to Attack on Titan’s final season part 2. The festival is hosted by Hime, Crunchyroll’s own VTuber mascot, and talent from PRISM Project, a Tokyo-based multinational Tuber agency.

All-in-all, this year’s Crunchyroll Expo is looking great a day in advance, and I’m excited to see what it’s like. But with Crunchyroll Expo a short fourteen hours away, I won’t be waiting long. We’ll be keeping the audience updated through Instagram (@nakamapod), TikTok (@nakamapodcast), Twitter (@nakamapod), and right here on the website!