When you think of activities to do in the Summer, the list of options is endless as long as you have a semi-open schedule and some spare change to spend on things. If you are looking for fun activities to do, you could go to the beach, an amusement park, play games inside, go to festivals, or even go to an anime convention. At the start of summer, many anime and cosplay enthusiasts typically attend either Colossalcon Prime or Anime Expo. For those who are unable to attend the biggest cons of the summer, they can choose to check out smaller cons in their area. If you’re in the Northeast, near Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, New York, or Maryland, you could consider attending Anthrocon or Tekkoshocon, also known as Tekko. So how was Tekko 2025? Let’s find out. 

This year, Tekko 2025 took place between July 17th to 20th. 

Before we go over panels and overall thoughts, let’s go over Tekko 2025’s special guest. Each year, Tekko invites a variety of voice actors, producers, industry influencers, cosplayers, musicians, and VTubers to be special guests at the convention. 

For Tekko 2025, the convention invited Hailstone, Wildspice, and Shellsea Allura to be their special VTuber Guests. Shellsea streams in English and is typically found playing roguelikes, horror, or doing activities with their community. WildSpice is a variety Vtube Streamer that likes to go on JRPG adventures, have IRL shenanigans, do silly voice-overs, karaoke, and fun hangouts with my wonderfully unhinged community. Hailstone is a VStreamer and VTuber affiliated with Emerald Quadron. They stream in English, and their content focuses on Art and Gaming; They like Pokémon, Nintendo, Capcom, biking, and hanging out with their community. 

In addition to the VTuber guests, Tekko 2025 also welcomed Charles Dunbar, Tekko101, Karl “Uncle Yo” Custer, Samurai Dan And Jillian, and Nancy Kepner. Charles Dunbar is a Japanese and Anime historian; since 2020, he has been designing tabletop games while sharing his knowledge with others. 

Nancy Kepner is a musician, singer, and songwriter who writes songs based on Comedic Geek Culture Songs. She creates her songs to be thought-provoking, and sometimes creates songs based on random suggestions. You can find her videos on YouTube under @HeartfeltHumor. 

Samurai Dan and Jillian Coglan are full-time martial arts instructors who run a traditional samurai training center in Iowa. They have a combined 35 years of experience. They have been attending anime conventions for years, teaching guests the way of the sword. When not instructing, he is usually hosting a Cards Against Humanity panel for guests to enjoy. 

Matthew Crawford, better known as Tekko101, is an anime and TCG enthusiast with over 730k subscribers on YouTube; he is best known for his One Piece videos alongside his coverage of other anime.

Karl “Uncle Yo” Custer is a stand-up comedian whose jokes revolve around geek culture. Outside of comedy, some of his talks combine anime with mental health and social awareness. 

Alongside different V-Tubers and Industry guests, Tekko 2025 features different musical and voice acting guests. Tekko 2025 guests could meet and get autographs from voice actors Chris Tergliafera, Xanthe Huynh, Abigail Blythe, Natalie Van Sistine, Alex Organ, Megan Shipman, Jessie James Grelle, and Griffin Burns. Additionally, they could meet Caleb Hyles, Jonathan Young, D-YAMA, James Landino, and Creep-P. 

Caleb Hyles and Jonathan Young are known for their renditions of anime anthems to heavy metal space shanties; these two have redefined what fandom-fueled music can be and garnering attention from fans all around the world. D-YAMA is a world-renowned Japanese DJ who blends J-pop with club music.

Chris Tergliafera is best known for his roles in a variety of anime. He has been the voice of: Silva Zoldyck – Hunter x Hunter (2011), Tank-Top Tigger – One Punch Man, Mohammed Avdol – JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (2017 TV Show), and Gundham Tanaka in Danganronpa. 

Xanthe Huynh is best known for her roles in different anime and games. She is best known for voicing Haru Okumura from Persona 5, Marianne von Edmund in Fire Emblem, and Ui Hirasawa in K-ON! She is also the voice of MIST in Rune Factory: Frontier, Falcom in Hyperdimension Neptunia, Alluka Zoldyck in Hunter X Hunter, and Vatista in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.

Abigail Blythe is best known for her roles as Kikoru Shinomiya in Kaiju No. 8, Eden Academy Students – Spy X Family, and Pepi Barlier in I’m in Love with the Villainess. She is also the voice of the Lishu’s Ladies-in-Waiting in The Apothecary Diaries.

Natalie Van Sistine is best known for her roles as Yor Forger / Thorn Princess in Spy X Family, Miorine Rembran in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, and Serval in Honkai: Star Rail. She is also known for her role as Selene in Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, Mother Superior in Cris Tales, Rachel Cowell in the Paranormal Files video game, and Star and Stripe / Cathleen Bate in My Hero Academia. 

Alex Organ is the beloved voice of Loid Foger/Twilight in Spy X Family. He is also the voice of Norway in Hetalia, Eraser Head in My Hero Academia, Decim in Death Parade, and Sirzechs Lucifer in High School DxD.

Megan Shipman is a voice actor best known for voicing Anya Forger in Spy X Family, Aoba Suzukaze in New Game!, and Sakura Mizukami in D-Frag. She is also the voice of Grace Howard in Zenless Zone Zero, Grey in Black Clover, Huohuo in Honka: Star Rail, Homura Momiji in Dr. Stone, La Brava in My Hero Academia, and Sasah Braus in Attack on Titan. 

Jessie James Grelle is best known for their roles as Phog in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, Tsukuyomi / Fumikage Tokoyami in My Hero Academia, Wraith in Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, William Vangeance in Black Clover, Sadao Maou in The Devil is a Part-Timer, Armin Arlert in Attack on Titan, and Glenn Radars in Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor.

Finally, Griffin Burns is a voice actor best known for voicing Akira Fudo / Devilman in Devilman Crybaby, Tartaglia in Genshin Impact, and Doppio in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. He is also known for voicing Muichiro Tokito in Demon Slayer, Sariel in The Seven Deadly Sins, Julius in Fire Emblem Heroes, Tadano in Aggretsuko, and Kaito Kid in the modern Lupin movies.

Although it is great for fans to be able to have access to an array of voice acting talent in order to get photos and autographs, there has been a noticeable shift in what these talent do while at the convention. Since the COVID-19 shutdown, it appears that there are fewer voice actor panels at any convention you go to with special guests.

Throughout the Tekko 2025 weekend, there were only a handful of voice actor-focused panels. Instead, guests were able to attend panels hosted by other guests or by some of the other special guests. During the weekend, Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyles hosted close to, if not the same number of panels as there were voice acting panels. 

This goes for any convention and not just Tekko; Congoers go to conventions to interact with the special guests, not just in a monetary way, but to get to know more about their lives, their experiences in the industry.  Tekko, like other conventions, is failing to meet that demand, and some could argue, obligation. 

Tekko 2025 featured a wide variety of activities for guests to participate in or enjoy. Whether you are a cosplayer wanting to show off or check out other people’s cosplays, or someone who wants to relax and maybe play a game of DND with like-minded people. You can. 

During our Tekko 2025 weekend, we decided to check out the Pokémon and League of Legends photoshoots. Outside of the photoshoots, we decided to play a few games in the arcade with strangers, played Jackbox with a group of other Murder Trivia heads, checked a drag show, and danced to EDM music put on by MOGRA ft. D-YAMA, Creep-P, and James Landino.

Although the voice actor aspect might be a sore spot, there is always something for guests to do while at a convention like Tekko. The game room has continued to grow over the past few years. Meanwhile, the dealer hall has continued to expand and welcome creators and small businesses to sell merchandise over massive companies; this made it so the dealer’s hall didn’t feel like everyone was selling the same product, as is the case at other cons.

If you want to show off your cosplays or get scenic shots, you can try out the different themed landscapes within the convention center. If you are looking for more of a natural environment, you could go out to either of the gardens or head to the rooftop to get a scenic view of the city, river, or ballparks. 

Whether you are going to a convention for the first time, going to show off your new cosplay, or just hanging out with friends, Tekko is a good medium-sized con for you to enjoy. For beginners, it’s a decent-sized con that should give you the experience without feeling overwhelmed compared to conventions such as Colossalcon, Anime Expo, PAX East, or Anime NYC.

We would like to see the convention continue to grow and expand by offering unique panels. We hope that in the future, voice acting talent will play a more prominent role at the convention, rather than being confined to their booth for the majority of the show. If you are looking for a medium-sized con, it would be a great entry point. If you are in the Northeast part of the United States, you should consider attending Tekko if you thought Tekko 2025 sounded fun.

A special thanks to the Japanese Cultural Society for providing badges to Tekko 2025.