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Convention Review: TouhouFest 2023

I had the pleasure to not only visit but also be an exhibitor for TouhouFest 2023. It was my first opportunity to representative my social venture, Artist Collaboration Experience. While I was there as an exhibitor this review will be written from the perspective of an attendee. Touhoufest stands for Touhou Festival, it is a celebration of the Touhou Project series. For those of you who haven't heard of the Tuohou project before it is a series of  25 games created by ZUN, a Japanese composer and video game developer. One of the unique aspects of this series is that the creator allows and encourages fan made content, which has led to thousands of original media being created by fans. I hope you like my review and I look forward to working on more content now that con season has started!


Ticket price: $50 online early bird - $70 for the weekend, $35 - $45 at the door depending on the day

Parking: Free!


TouhouFest was held in the Torrance Cultural Arts Center April 29-30. It's location chosen due to its proximity to LAX. People had been wanting a Touhou based convention and the AniMarketplace organization has been working on creating one to reach the demand for the last three years. While the convention had up to 1k attendees the percentage of people who flew in was really high. As I talked to other attendees I would hear they came from different states and some from different countries. Fans who arrived early had a chance to get their badge the evening before and attend a mixer on "Day 0." While this was an option, the majority of the fans chose to pick up their badge on Saturday. Badges were being individually printed which caused a long line to form as seen below, up to an hour and half of wait time. This issue was resolved around 12 and foot traffic continued to flow smooth during the rest of the convention.

As you entered you were greeted with a hall of fan tables containing other conventions that the AMP organization made or were happening locally later in the year. From there you had three options, you could go straight into the main event and see one of many panels in the main event. If you went to the adjoining right room you would be met with the Artist Alley that had a plethora of Touhou related merchandise. There was one  booth that had a line over 20 people long! I passed by a couple of times and by the end of day 1 most of the Touhou products that artists brought were gone. While talking to a couple of artists they were all saying that they wish they had the capacity to bring more because they weren't expecting this demand. Some artists sold out entirely and did not show up day 2, it's something I have never seen in my many years of convention attending. 


Past the artist alley you were greeted with the outdoor stage and a great outdoor plaza full of exhibitors. This convention was unique in terms of the exhibitors they had, in addition to vendors they had game developers, music artists, and cosplay ambassadors! Touhoufest staff utlized the entire area that the Torrance Cultural center had to offer. The gaming area was full of rythm games, the main stage had a non stop series of amazing panels and located a bit further was the Japanese garden that made an excellent backdrop for cosplayers. 

There were so many cosplayers at this event, percentage wise the most I've see in any convention, with the majority being a character from the Touhou series. Some guests brought multiple cosplays for the weekend. This event was truly a convention made by fans for fans. There was no doubt that this event brought together passionate Touhou Project fans from around the world. The fact that this was the inaugural event it had such an amazing draw, selling out in the second day!


It was so successful that the organizers were announcing that TouhouFest 2024 is confirmed. I will definitely attend next year and I hope you give it a chance. I would give this convention a very strong 8/10 as an overall event, there is room for improvement and the staff is currently taking feedback. If I were to rate the fans I would give them a 10/10, you could feel the passion and love for the games and the event. 





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