Below you will find the panel schedule for Saturday, November 22. There will be exciting topics and sessions will cover perspectives, history, influences, the music of, cosplay influenced by anime – and more! Panels will take place in the Balboa Room, Directors Room, and the Terrace Room.
Click on the buttons below to see panel schedule for Friday and Saturday.
Panel programming subject to change without notice.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2025
TERRACE ROOM
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM – Cosplay Wrestling Federation
The best in Cosplay Sports Entertainment, Cosplay Wrestling Federation presents Showdown in San Diego! Hosted by The Don Corneo and Dr. Onion, competitors from your favorite fandoms will fight for the title of Waffle King of San Diego. Join us on Saturday for the cosplay show with the most hype. Note: No “real” wrestling. Just vibes and promos.
Cosplay Wrestling Federation is an improv, performance, competitive cosplay traveling troupe bringing the biggest personalities on stage, in the spirit of pro wrestling and cosplay. Our organization has been performing at major California conventions since January 2014, including Anime Los Angeles, Fanime, Fangaea, Hentai Matsuri, and LACC. We have been performing at SDAC since its inaugural year.
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM – Um Anime
From Darker Than Black to Black Butler, if there’s one thing otaku love, it’s correcting people. Your host will read off a statement about anime with one mistake. Your job is to find that mistake and correct it.
J.D. Kelly has been a nerd as long as he can remember. Now as a writer and producer for A-to-J Connections, he likes to use his knowledge of anime, manga, video games and other media to create quiz shows to stump and delight contestants and sometimes, to torment his friends. You know, as a treat.
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM – In Walt’s Footsteps: The Osamu Tezuka Story
Join The American Anime Otaku as he takes a look at two legendary animators, what thier careers had in common and how they indirectly influenced each other.
Justin Karvelot
BALBOA ROOM
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM – Giving Yourself Anime Proportions
Anime proportions can be difficult to achieve. Join Kizu and Sol as they show you tips and tricks to giving yourself anime proportions while making and while wearing cosplay!
A Father Child duo who cosplays together. Double the trouble, double the nerds.
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – Mythology of Final Fantasy
From deadly monsters to heroic summons many creatures come from myths and legends. Learn the stories behind the creatures you love.
A writer and YouTuber who has won awards for his AMVs and masquerade skits. His channel DapperBardGames covers Gundam, BattleTech, and TTG news. An opinionated giant robot fan who loves building GunPla abd playing TTRPGs.
2:30 PM to 3:30 PM – “33 Strings“
The koto musician for Shogun (Disney+, Hulu) and Ghost of Tsushima (Sony Playstation) introduces iconic traditional Japanese instruments to you: the koto and shamisen. She will be with her ensemble, who recently collaborated with Silent Hill for its launch event at Little Tokyo. Learn about the great history and culture of Japanese music alongside trying the instrument yourself! For more information about us, please visit our website: www.33strings.org and follow our Instagram at @33strings_
33 Strings
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM – Alan Z and Paul Dateh Panel – Pop Culture, Music, and More
Alan Z and Paul Dateh talk about pop culture, anime, music, and more!
Alan Z and Paul Dateh
5:30 PM to 6:30 PM – How Anime Sticker culture in the States originated from street drifters in Japan
Learn how anime sticker (slap) culture in the U.S originated from street drifters in Japan. What was once a niche aspect of collecting unique anime stickers among touge drivers in the States mimicking street racers in Japan grew to be an industry standard among artists in the anime convention and artist market communities.
Jeremie Sunico – The founder of Cars N’ Anime San Diego.
Chester Porte – Team mate and cosplay/motorsports photographer
R – Team mate and owner of RNS Design Works specializing in itasha livery designs
DIRECTORS ROOM
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM – Sidekicks Spectacular Table Read
Sidekicks Spectacular Superheroes and villains became more than just myths or comic book characters. They live here on Earth, alongside us. But this story isn’t about them, this is the story of their kids whose powers aren’t as great from making the perfect fry to counting things accurately, follow these kids as they learn to navigate the world through the eyes of a Sidekick. Join us for Sidekicks Spectacular! We will be listening to new episodes from the 2nd season and have a script reading. We will also have a table read with mock auditions.
Panel includes Christa Rew, Noah Krzywdzinksi, Eli Krzywdzinski, Gideon Krzywdzinski, Gunnar Ready
Christa Rew is an indie voice actress based in San Diego, California. She has studied under Connie Teriwilliger and has been voice acting for over 5 years. She is the creator of Sidekicks as well as the Founder of Black Maze Entertainment. When she is not trying to make her mark in the voice acting community, she enjoys creative writing, pretending the world is her stage while singing karaoke, watching anime/cartoons, and reading books, manga, and comic books. She also dabbles in playing Sims.
Noah Krzywdzinski is the voice of Maverick in the Sidekicks podcast. He is 20 years old and loves playing video games especially fighting games, watching anime like Gundam and Bleach.
Gideon Krzywdzinski is the voice of Brice in Sidekicks. He is 23 years old and enjoys playing games, building model kits, working on small projects in blender and writing small stories and overall and is extremely excited for another year of doing a panel.
Elias Krzywdzinski is the voice of Calvin within the Sidekicks podcast. He is16 years old. He enjoys 3D modeling, 3D Printing and game development. Some of his favorite games are, Rain world, Starbound Don’t Starve Together, Nine Sols and Portal 2.
Gunnar Ready is a physicist turned voice actor and audio engineer which he’s been doing for 5 years and 2 years respectively. He just started as the audio engineer for Sidekicks this year. He’s done a wide range of work from commercials to eLearning to video games but he specializes in monsters and creature voices. When he’s not in the booth or editing audio together he’s painting, cooking, scuba diving, and creating stories and characters for his TTRPG group.
1:00 PM to 2:30 PM – In My Y2K Era: Cosplay Back in the Day
Anime, conventions, and cosplay in an era before streaming and social media. Oldtaku unite and let’s look back at a time when anime was evolving from a niche underground hobby to mainstream as we gathered around the screen for Toonami. This is for the millennials who grew up with anime!
Erica Victoria Espejo grew up in the South Bay, raised on Sailor Moon and Broadway musicals, music and girlhood has always been a part of her soul. She loves creating playlists for everything in life.
A girl boss in high school, she created Scarlet Rhapsody productions where she wrote and directed radio plays and podcasts. She also started blogging about fandom and cosplay and created scarlet-rhapsody.com, the longest running active archive of fandom history by a BIPOC woman.
She also found a calling in helping others by becoming a school counselor for high school students. She has a Masters of School Counseling from Loyola Marymount University. She published her first book, “The Fangirl Diaries,” a memoir of the intersection of girlhood and anime fandom in an era before streaming and social media. She currently works at the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. She lives with her two cats, Karma and Nico.
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM – Gunpla 101
Ever want to try out building an anime themed model? From DragonBall to Gundam to Pokémon there are plenty of options. Learn the terms, tools, and techniques needed to start this fun hobby.
A writer and YouTuber who has won awards for his AMVs and masquerade skits. His channel DapperBardGames covers Gundam, BattleTech, and TTG news. An opinionated giant robot fan who loves building GunPla abd playing TTRPGs.
4:30 PM to 5:30 PM – Japanese Queer Media
The panel will be discussing the history and terminology of Japanese Queer Media. How it began, commercialization, legal issues, and where it all is going. Also how it has influenced western queer media and the blow back.
Melissa Gene Meyer is a small youtuber, who has been working conventions for the over 30 years. She is knowable on a wide range of convention subjects.
Jimmy is a local favorite in the Drag scene, known for performing in cosplay. He has also been along long-time lover of anime, often pulling his love of anime into his work.
Elisa is a graphic artist who works in the convention industry, designing logos and websites. She is also well known for her anime knowledge.
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM – Certified: The Rise of Animation in San Diego
Certified is a 3-5 minute animation created by David Gagliardo (Joey Kang). The short animation is about a joey and wombat named Joey Kang and Tim Wombart who aim to be “certified” to gain respect on the streets and stand up to the group of late teens who make fun of them. Certified is produced by Poetic Quote Media, a multimedia company based in San Diego, CA that aims to offer creative opportunities in San Diego County and beyond.
In this panel, David Gagliardo, along with Charles Clark (character designer, storyboarder) discuss how they got started in their animation journey, along with showcasing the process of bringing the characters of Certified to life with their character designs/revisions, storyboarding and key frames. The panel will also discuss the efforts to help build the animation industry in San Diego and will feature an engaging read through with David Gagliardo, Jose Rizal Mills (Tim Wombart), Josh Standish (Rat) and Kylie Munro (Ellie) and will conclude with a Q&A session!
Poetic Quote Media is an entertainment company based in San Diego. Their goal is to create and expand opportunities in music, film, and animation in San Diego County and beyond. With their first animation “Certified,” they are poised to solidify a robust animation team and reshape the entertainment landscape of San Diego.
