Metrocon is an annual three-day

anime convention An anime and manga convention (often called just anime convention) is a fan convention with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Anime conventions are commonly multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college cam ...

held during July/August at the

Tampa Convention Center The Tampa Convention Center is a mid-sized convention center located in downtown Tampa, Florida at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. It has both waterfront views of Tampa Bay and views of the city's skyline. Harbour Island is across the epo ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. It is Florida's largest anime convention and organized by Team Dynamite Productions. The convention evolved from meetups of AnimeMetro.com members.

Programming

The convention typically offers an artist alley, autograph sessions, contests, dances/raves, LAN gaming, main events (such as the Anime Human chess Match, Costume and Cosplay Contests, Fantasy Masquerade, Fire Show, and Professional Wrestling), panels, tabletop game rooms, vendors room, video game rooms, and video rooms screening anime. Metrocon also hosts a blood drive. The convention brings $3.5 million to the area's economy.

History

Metrocon was first held in 2003 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and after growth moved to the Tampa Convention Center in 2005. The convention had issues in 2008 with rowdy attendees from the

Red Bull Flugtag Red Bull Flugtag (, 'airshow' ) is an event organized by Red Bull in which competitors attempt to fly home-made, human-powered flying machines, size-limited to around and weight-limited to approximately . The flying machines are usually launched ...

event also occurring at the Tampa Convention Center. In 2009, the founder and CEO of Metrocon was arrested in Florida for violating Florida Statute 794.05 (unlawful sexual activity with certain minors) eight days before the convention. The conventions Director of Operations characterized the arrest as "an attack on the convention". The CEO stepped down from his position, with the Director of Operations and Head of Security taking over operations. The convention added a fourth day when unique attendance hit over 10,000, with the first occurring in 2015. Game five of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoff finals was held during Metrocon 2015 at the

Amalie Arena Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, United States, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tamp ...

. Metrocon 2020 was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Event history

Amano's World

In 2006, Metrocon held a second convention known as Metrocon: Amano's World, which featured the works

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He began his career in 1967 at Tatsunoko Production working on anime such as '' Speed Racer'' and later became the c ...

, who is best known for his ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'' character designs and ''

Vampire Hunter D is a series of novels written by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983. As of January 2025, 56 novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes. They h ...

'' illustrations.

Event history

References

External links

Metrocon Website
{{coord, 27, 56, 30.12, N, 82, 27, 24.12, W, region:US-FL_type:event, display=title Anime conventions in the United States Recurring events established in 2003 2003 establishments in Florida Annual events in Florida Culture of Tampa, Florida Festivals in Tampa, Florida Conventions in Florida