Anime is a vibrant and imaginative realm, to put it mildly. So it stands to reason an event like Saboten Con, the largest anime and Japanese pop-culture convention in the Southwest, would be equally colorful.
Such was the case at the 2024 edition of the annual four-day event over Labor Day weekend. More than 20,000 people invaded the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel and Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, many wearing costumes inspired by anime, manga, video games and pop culture.
There were characters from such popular anime series as “Chainsaw Man” and “My Hero Academia,” as well as games like “Genshin Impact.” Some Saboten Con attendees even dressed as memes or viral figures, such as San Francisco resident Albert Ng's cosplay of Yusuf Dikeç, the Turkish marksman who went viral during the 2024 Olympics in Paris and has been embraced and parodied by anime fans.
Here’s a look at the memorable costumes and cosplayers we encountered at Saboten Con 2024 in downtown Phoenix.