Events should be more than just gathering together, it should be an experience
The Anime Market Pop-Up Organization—better known as AMP—was founded in 2018 by three longtime anime fans who felt that anime conventions were losing their spark.
Like many others, we fell in love with anime, manga, video games, and the convention scene back in the late 2000s. Conventions were magical: you could meet fellow fans, cosplayers, artists, and even industry guests. But most importantly, they brought people together in a way that felt real and personal.
Over time, we watched these events grow larger—but also more commercialized, more expensive, and at times, more impersonal. While the content expanded, that original sense of community we once cherished began to fade.
So we asked ourselves:
Why not build something different?
What if events could go back to being more community-focused?
What if we created a space where fans could buy, sell, and trade, where artists and subcultures could thrive, and where attending didn’t have to break the bank?
In September 2019, we launched our very first event—AniMarketplace—at the Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo District in Downtown Los Angeles. It was small, scrappy, and a little chaotic. But fans came. They had fun. And they asked us to do it again.
The pandemic briefly paused our momentum, but not our passion.
Since then, AMP has grown into a grassroots events organization with a deep focus on niche fandoms and community engagement. We’ve branched out from AniMarketplace to form many other events. From our swap meet-style WeebMart, to the dedicated idol culture of Idol Matsuri, to our love letter to the Touhou fandom through TouhouFest, AMP events continue to center fan creativity, accessibility, and collaboration.
We may not be the biggest names in the convention scene—but we’ve always stayed true to what inspired us in the first place: Making events that fans actually want to attend.
—Lucas Chang
President and Executive Director