My Experience at the New Erie Anime Fest

This past weekend marked my return to the exhibitor floor at the new and improved Erie Anime Fest—our first show in over a year and a half following Pokékon’s takeover of the previous two slots this past March and last August. It was fantastic to be back in the arena alongside many of the fellow doujin creators who have made past conventions so memorable.

Unlike my usual convention routine in Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, or Cleveland—where the day begins right inside the host hotel—my Erie Anime Fest kickoff was a local affair. The morning ritual was familiar enough: roll out of bed, check social media, throw on my con attire, pack up the car, and fuel up at McDonald’s. Well, the lattermost did not happen due to a power failure, and I saw FirstEnergy trucks pass by as I was approaching the highway, so I went to the Burger King near the Ambassador Center instead. I tried out their French toast sticks and they were really good.

The real shift came on the commute. Leaving our old haunt at the Quality Inn behind, the event made the leap to the Ambassador Center, extending the drive down Interstate 90 to Peach Street—Erie’s bustling retail and entertainment core. Peach Street is effectively Erie’s answer to Akihabara, packed with landmarks like the Splash Lagoon indoor water park, the Millcreek Mall, and the local Cinemark (currently the city’s last standing major movie theater after classic spots like the Warner Theatre shifted focus, and locations like The Plaza and the old Dollar Theatre faded into history; the former was demolished and the latter has become a non-denominational church).

The Anime Fest Experience

Stepping out into the morning air, Erie greeted us with familiar gloomy, overcast skies—a tradition that almost felt like an inside joke at this point, echoing the steady rain and icy conditions of previous Anime Fests. But inside the venue, the energy was entirely renewed.

The Ambassador Center offered a noticeable upgrade in scale compared to previous venues. For the first time in my Anime Fest history, my booth was situated along the side aisle rather than standard front-or-back placements, opening up a totally different flow of foot traffic.

This show also marked the debut of my upgraded setup here: sleek cubed signage framing the space, with my Steam Deck taking center stage as a live interactive showcase. Plus, after the tragic rookie mistake of forgetting both my table display and official Drillimation shirt at the Cleveland Anime Fest the week prior, having the full setup back in action felt like a massive win. Returning to the Ambassador Center for the first time in seven years—my last visit being a college outing back in 2019—was surreal, bringing full circle a passion for creator culture that I’ve carried since I was a kid.

This show carried an extra layer of significance for the booth, too: Erie Anime Fest served as the final public opportunity for convention-goers to get hands-on time with both Touhou Meishuugeki ~ Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel. Giving players one last shot to experience these titles on the show floor before retiring the playable builds added a bittersweet, end-of-an-era capstone to the whole weekend.

Thanks to the residual momentum of Touhou 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil New Classic, it was a genuine treat having a crowd of con-goers roll up to the booth already speaking the language of ZUN’s danmaku empire. One ambitious challenger even managed to muscle their way through Stage 1 of Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel—though, admittedly, they had to lean on Free Play Mode to survive the danmaku gauntlet.” And just like last week, still not one Touhou cosplayer in sight.

Post-Mortem

While returning to Erie Anime Fest was a huge highlight, it also served as the official sign-off for our 2026 convention season. With the show behind us, Anime Fest goes into hibernation, and our team is officially stepping off the show floor until March of next year. When we return, Pokékon will be running the show during that same March weekend in Erie, overlapping with the Niagara Falls event (the same was true for last year). Just like Erie’s recent venue upgrade, the Niagara Falls return is also making a major move to the nearby DoubleTree. Fortunately, that transition makes life easier—the drive is significantly shorter, saving me from having to navigate deep into the city just to reach the floor.

This transition marks a pivotal shift for our booth lineup as well. With Touhou Meishuugeki ~ Cursed Sweeper and Bewildering Parallel officially wrapped and retired from public demos, we’re clearing table space for our next chapter. Taking its place on the show floor will be Blockstar, our in-development title designed to give attendees a more accessible, casual gameplay experience—a deliberate contrast to the high-intensity challenge of our traditional danmaku titles. As one era ends for Drillimation on the con circuit, the stage is set for a fresh start in 2027.

Of course, Emiko Hosokawa noted that if she made the trip to Pokékon, it might provide the ultimate spark: she agrees it would serve as the ideal incentive to finally pen the final few chapters of Himmelrike and kick off work on its sequel, which took a back seat after Ciel Chandelleur surged to Adored by the Network status within a few months of her debut last July.