In recent years, Anime Frontier has shot its way to being among the very best anime conventions in the state of Texas (and with 50,000 attendees expected, one of the largest). Awesome guests, excellent programming, and excellent management have turned this relatively new con into a highly anticipated one—this year is no different. I’m making my way to Fort Worth tomorrow to cover the festivities for Beneath the Tangles—and I’m personally looking forward to chatting with guests, viewing the premieres of several anime that begin streaming in January, and connecting with attendees!
I’ll be there Friday and Saturday, and updating this post as I go along! Expect quick hits about the premiering series (including one I am highly HIGHLY anticipating!) and plenty of photos!
So come on back throughout the next few days to see what I’ll be wrangling at the con. In the meantime, check out our interviews from last time, including with Chiwa Saito, Steve Blum, and Marisa Duran!
By Date:
Preview • Friday 12 Dec • Saturday 13 Dec
By Event:
Interviews (Friday) • Interviews (Saturday) • First Impressions (Friday) • First Impressions (Saturday)
Convention Preview
Anime Frontier is celebrating its 5th year—and there’s plenty there to be hyped about! But three programs particularly stand out:
- COVER Corporation is bringing their hololive production booth to the con! There will be exclusive live streams taking place for fans, and the talents are to die for: Airani Iofifteen and Kureiji Ollie from hololive Indonesia; Ouro Kronii, FUWAMOCO, Gigi Murin, and Raora Panthera from hololive English; and Axel Syrios, Machina X Flayon, Banzoin Hakka, Josuiji Shinri, Jurard T Rexford, and Octavio from HOLOSTARS English. They’ll be live and interacting in person on the show floor!
- Critical Role is coming! Voice acting meets D&D as many of the show’s actors—including Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey—will be featured in a special panel. Attendees will also have the chance to join in photo and autograph opportunities with the cast!.
- Is the next great voice actor out there in the crowd? Maybe! Band Zoom! Studios is returning with open auditions. Just make sure to register on time—this is certain to be one of the busiest programs at the con.
In addition to those major events, there is, of course, a slate of wonderful guests at the convention, including a number who have flown in from Japan. Don’t worry—I’m working the circuit and hoping to grab an interview or two for us!
But what you’ll probably see coming from us out of the convention first are first impression posts! Crunchyroll and HIDIVE are both dropping in to premiere winter 2026 anime. So, no need to wait until January for our posts to start dropping—we’ll make sure to push a few out over the weekend!
Writing this preview has me absolutely pumped! I can’t wait to drive up there and show you around the con! Come back to this post over the next couple of days for updates, and be sure to check us out on Twitter, where I’ll live-tweet some of the goings-on, and Instagram, where I’ll drop fun photos of the event!
Friday 12 December
Interviews
Day one was so much! I participated in a press junket for the Studio Trigger guests, Yoh Yoshinari and Naoka Tsutsumi, and they gave some wonderful responses about AI, the current state of anime, and more. We may not post about this interview, but our friends at Anime Diet may, as may others who were in attendance; I would check it out!
The revelation for me, though, was my one-on-one interview with Yukari Anzai, a seiyuu who voices Ajisai Sena in There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…, and was here to promote that anime’s film. She gave some thoughtful answers to my questions, and we’ll post that interview once it’s cleared; until then, enjoy a selfie of me with her!
First Impressions
Crunchyroll premiered a couple of series today; the one I sat in on was for Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None. The first episode felt fairly like any generic fantasy anime, but the hero is pretty easy to root for and the warmth of the tale may keep me coming back. Check out all my thoughts on the episode here.
Saturday 13 December
Day two began early! I got the feeling that while much of the Friday crowd slept in—especially those who went to after-parties—those who skipped Friday were raring to go. The hall was filled with con-goers waiting in line for the exhibition hall to open, and once 10:00 hit, the lines went through quickly and orderly. I checked in with a wonderful artist whom we featured before (and bought a wonderful Fern acrylic from her), before heading out for screenings!
First Impressions
On the heels of yesterday’s premieres, Crunchyroll rolled out three screenings this morning, including two winter 2026 anime premieres. I got to catch them both! I was particularly excited for You and I Are Polar Opposites, which is the anime I am most anticipating for the winter season. And it totally delivered! Read my thoughts on episode one here.
I also caught Release That Witch, which may not be for me, but was still fairly impressive with some of its animation and some terrifying fight scenes! Here are my impressions of episode one.
At the same time, HIDIVE did a special screening of Hell Mode. Yep, same time! Whew. I was able to time it so that I started with Crunchyroll, then went to HIDIVE, and then back to CR. Thankfully, they were all on the same floor, separated only by the massive line for Bang Zoom’s tryouts.
Hell Mode is based on a light novel series that I really enjoyed for the first few volumes (I’ve fallen behind since then, but I do want to catch up). So, how did the anime adaptation do? I would say it’s still up in the air. Here are my full thoughts on episode one.
Interview
The wonderful press team for the event (thank you, Amanda!) scheduled me to interview Hiiro Ishibashi, a young man who started out singing as part of Japanese dubs, but has transitioned fully into anime in adulthood. I’ve known him from both The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity and Mr. Villain’s Day Off, but he was here to talk about a series he’s very excited to be a part of, and which is connected deeply to Japanese anime culture: Yoroi Shinden Samurai Troopers. We chatted about that and other seiyuu-related things in a very lovely interview. It was a lot of fun meeting him, and he was such a lovely guest!
We’ll bring you that interview soon!
And that was all she wrote for me! I head out after the Ishibashi interview and drove back to home base just as the con was really getting started that afternoon. I hope everyone had safe travels heading home—and congratulations to Anime Frontier for doing another terrific job. We’ll see y’all next year!
