Torrential downpours did little to stop Dragon Ball fans from flooding into the Irving Convention Center for KamehaCon 2019. The annual convention highlights one of America’s favorite anime series by bringing fans, celebrities, cosplay, and gaming into one central DFW location. With all of the interest and growing popularity, we decided it was about time that we looked into the event.

Since most conventions tend to focus on an entire genre rather than a specific show, it would be easy to assume that the attendance would be much lower. Wrong. We were only there for a few minutes before we realized just how deeply the Dragon Ball series has impacted pop culture. Both parking garages at the Irving Convention Center were filled to capacity, and people were still filing into the building through the extreme weather.

Being a fan, I proudly displayed my DB shirt as I entered KamehaCon. As I looked around at the other attendees, I almost felt a bit underdressed. I did not keep a tally, but it seemed as if half of the people there were in some form of cosplay. I watched as a fan dressed as Piccolo went through his entire “Special Beam Cannon” preparations, chant and all. Dragon Ball fandom is intense!

The magnitude of the convention is somewhat overwhelming. There are so many things to do that it is difficult to know where to begin. The vendors had every possible item of DB merchandise that a fan could imagine. Various artists displayed their renditions of the beloved characters. One booth displaying amazing lifelike busts from the series was definitely a fan-favorite. Nearby, a Dragon Ball Fighterz tournament that was in progress. The two gamers faced off on a large projector screen as an announcer narrated the play-by-play to the audience. From there, I headed to the autograph area to meet up with several of my favorite voiceover actors. While all of this was going on, card games and several panels were in progress upstairs. It was obvious that fans would have to attend multiple days to get the full KamehaCon experience.

The best part of the entire weekend was watching fans interact. Everyone was eager to share their favorite story lines or characters. In all of the conventions that I have gone to, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fanbase more excited and connected than at KamehaCon. This is a must experience convention for any Dragon Ball fan in DFW. While we will have to wait another year to explore KamehaCon a little further, we will leave you with some of our favorite moments and cosplay from this year’s event!