The 18th Annual
Arizona's anime convention
- February 19-21, 2027
- Mesa Convention Center
Locations & Hours
Mesa Convention Center
263 N Center St, Mesa, AZ 85201
Parking Info
Free Parking
Delta Hotels Phoenix Mesa
200 N Centennial Way, Mesa, AZ 85201
Parking Info
Free Parking
Badge Pickup & On Site Sales Hours
Friday: 10am – 8pm; Saturday 10am – 7pm; Sunday 10am – 3pm
Programming / Event Hours
Friday: 11:30am – 12:30am; Saturday 10am – 12:30am; Sunday 10am – 4:30pm
Vendor Hall Hours
Friday: 12pm – 8pm (Premier Badge & Bundle Badge holders access at 11am); Saturday 10am – 7pm; Sunday 10am – 4pm (last entry at 3:30pm)
Solar Japanese Festival Hours
Friday: 1pm – 5:30pm; Saturday 10am – 5:30pm; Sunday 10am – 3:00pm
Luna Night Market Hours
Friday: 5pm – 9pm; Saturday 5pm – 9pm
About Us.
Taiyou Con is a family friendly 3-day anime convention and Japanese festival at the Mesa Convention Center! We are an introduction to all things Asian pop culture – anime, cosplay, video games, K-Pop, Asian food trucks, and much more with over 300 hours of interactive activities just for YOU.
We started out as an event for people that needed a place to share their common interests with each other. Our first event took place almost TWO DECADES ago at a school with no admission cost and lasted only a total of eight hours. Now, our event is much bigger and strive to introduce more people to this community by making it easy and affordable, but our mission remains the same… help people make awesome memories with each other.
Oh yeah! You can bring your kids.
Let your kids enjoy browsing through the art in artist alley, eating at the food trucks at the Japanese festival, getting autographs from their favorite anime voice actors and more!
- Kids at 11 years old or younger enter get free admission with a paid adult ticket purchase.
- Up to 2 kids per paid adult ticket purchase.
- Kids must be supervised at all times.
Things To Do
Download the mobile for complete schedule and activities!
Cherami Leigh
Voice Actor
Cherami Leigh
Voice ActorCherami Leigh is an actor, writer and director and has been working in the industry for over 25 years. She has appeared in films such as Temple Grandin, The Hottest State and Fast Food Nation, as well as television shows including Friday Night Lights, Bones and Shameless, and 9-1-1. In anime she has played over 150 characters including Lucy in Fairy Tail, Asuna in Sword Art Online, Sailor Venus in Sailor Moon, Sarada in Boruto, Kotaro in Kotaro Lives Alone, Chloe and Grookey in Pokémon: Journeys and Red Blood Cell in Cells at Work. Some of her video game credits include her BAFTA nominated performance as Female V in Cyberpunk 2077, Gaige in Borderlands 2, Makoto in Persona 5, A2 in NieR Automata, The Quartermaster In Call of Duty: WWII, Minerva in The Walking Dead: Final Season, Irelia in League of Legends, The Imagined in Fortnite Queen Sonia in Legend of Zelda: TOK and Manon in the upcoming Street Fighter 6. She also voices multiple characters in the Fire Emblem universe: Caeda, Mae, Rhea, and more. She also worked for Radio Disney in various roles over 20 years and is one of the creators of the award winning web series “CONfessionals” as well as creating over 600 episodes of “Love and Light.”
Keith Silverstein
Voice Actor
Keith Silverstein
Voice ActorKeith Silverstein is a veteran voice actor with a diverse list of credits. He’s the voice of Zhongli in the worldwide sensation, Genshin Impact, Torbjörn in Overwatch 2, Hisoka on Hunter x Hunter, Hawk Moth on the fan favorite Miraculous-Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Speedwagon in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Gouhin in Beastars, and Dhalsim in Street Fighter 6. He can also be heard as Jigen in Boruto, Orochi in One Piece, En in Dorohedoro, and Vector the Crocodile in the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise. The Resident Evil fans know him as H.U.N.K., and in Persona 5 he voices the villainous Masayoshi Shido. Not enough for you? Here are a few other titles under his VO belt: TMNT, Jujutsu Kaisen, Amphibia, Solar Opposites, League of Legends, Seven Deadly Sins, One Punch Man, My Hero Academia, Sailor Moon, Star Wars Squadrons, Bungo Stray Dogs, Fate/Apocrypha, Fire Emblem, Glitter Force, Bleach, World of Warcraft, Dead or Alive, Call of Duty Black Ops, Gundam: The Origin, Danganronpa, and Big City Greens.
Tia Ballard
Voice Actor
Tia Ballard
Voice ActorTia Ballard is a North Texas native residing in Los Angeles, California. With a love for character and storytelling, Tia is a professional voice actor, artist, director, and creative. She has a diverse portfolio of over 300 anime appearances, including Darling in the Franxx (Zero Two), Kamisama Kiss (Nanami), Fairy Tail (Happy), Edens Zero (Happy), Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (Nene), One Piece (Carrot), That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime (Princess Shuna), Black Clover (Sylph (Bell)), Rosario + Vampire (Mizore), Fruits Basket (Kagura), My Hero Academia (Ragdoll), Quintessential Quintuplets (Itsuki), and many more!
Kyle McCarley
Voice Actor
Kyle McCarley
Voice ActorKyle McCarley is a Los Angeles-based voice actor, director, and scriptwriter whose versatile performances span some of the most popular anime and video game franchises in recent years. He is best known to anime fans as the voice of Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama in Mob Psycho 100, Mikazuki Augus in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Narancia Ghirga in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. In the gaming world, he is widely recognized as the tragic android 9S in NieR: Automata, and Alm and the Gatekeeper in the Fire Emblem series
Brittney Karbowski
Voice Actor
Brittney Karbowski
Voice ActorBrittney Karbowski is a prolific voice actress, who has voiced in a number of series with studios from Texas to California. She is best known for her roles as Wendy Marvel in Fairy Tail, Black Star in Soul Eater, Camie Utsushimi in My Hero Academia, Ryou in Clannad, Yuri in Angel Beats, Pride in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Mikoto Misaka in A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun Series, Nanachi in Made in Abyss, Rimuru in That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, Migi from Parasyte the Maxim, Kusu in Dragon Ball Super, HisaKo in Food Wars, and Hitch in Attack on Titan. Most recently she’s Tirol In Sabukui Bisco; Saori in Tribe Nine, Minoru in Akebi’s Sailor Uniform, Cetia Final Fantasy Brave Exvius; Pookie and Chela in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and there’s more to come!
Kira Buckland
Voice Actor
Kira Buckland
Voice ActorKira Buckland is a voice actor best known as the English voice of Jolyne Cujoh in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Mitsuri Kanroji in Demon Slayer, Kuki Shinobu in Genshin Impact, and 2B in NieR:Automata. Other popular anime & dubbing credits include Kakegurui (Mary), Pokémon Horizons (Sprigatito), Eden’s Zero (Rebecca), Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun (Ameri), YashaHime (Setsuna), Miraculous Ladybug (Alix), ReZero (Beatrice), Komi Can’t Communicate (Makeru), Rainbow High (Violet), Blue Exorcist (Izumo), Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Princess Syalis) and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (Reimi). Additional video game work includes the Danganronpa franchise (Hiyoko & Kirumi), River City Girls (Kyoko), Fire Emblem Engage (Eirika), Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (Trucy), NIKKE: Goddess of Victory (Privaty, Novel & Liveryn), Sand Land (Ann), and Granblue Fantasy (Lyria). Kira has also appeared as prominent characters in various other game franchises such as Soulcalibur, Street tFighter, Dead or Alive, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Skullgirls, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Trails of Cold Steel, Disgaea, 13 Sentinels, Phantasy Star Online, Unicorn Overlord and many more. Kira is the founder of the Voice Acting Club, an online community providing free resources for actors and content creators around the world. She streams Genshin Impact as a cowtuber on the Twitch channel “msziggystardust”, has five cats, and is the proud owner of an ‘83 DeLorean.
Do you know what's going on?
Stay up to date with the latest news in our Updates section or on social media. You can also check out the mascot stories in the Light Novel menu!
Anime conventions give fans the opportunity to meet the talented voice
Cherami Leigh is an actor, writer and director and has been
Kira Buckland is a voice actor best known as the English
The fun times over the years...
