Otakuthon is a Canadian anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture (music, cinema, television). It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University (Otaku Anime for short). The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual (French and English) event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in early June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2025, was held on August 8âÂÂ10, 2025 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Othakuthon 2026 date are confirmed and will be held on August 7-9, 2026 https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/festivals-and-events/otakuthon-anime-convention-montreal
As with most other anime conventions, Otakuthon offers a wide range of programming, exhibits, and other events. Otakuthon's programming consists of cosplay events, a masquerade, vendors, an Artists' Area, panels and workshops, game shows, anime video screenings, dances, karaoke and music concerts. New to 2008 were photo booths, a garage sale and a manga library.
Year after year, Otakuthon hosts a number of sub-events, a series of programming and activities based around specific passions.
In 2014, the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) announced that Canada would join this international event as an Observer Nation in 2015. Otakuthon was selected as the convention to hold the Canadian Preliminaries for the WCS, starting in 2014. Winners from the Preliminaries at Otakuthon 2014 traveled to Japan to participate in the WCS 2015 events, but not compete in the Cosplay Championship. This was the first time a Canadian cosplay delegation represented the country at this international event, which has been running yearly since 2003.
Since 2016, Canada was eligible to compete in the Championship and earn awards. The Preliminaries to select the team to represent Canada as a full-participating nation were held at Otakuthon 2015, almost a full year in advance. The World Cosplay Summit is generally held from late July to early August, with the 2016 edition held from Sat, Jul 30, 2016 to Sun, Aug 7, 2016. In 2017, the Preliminaries at Otakuthon were moved from Friday evening to Sunday mid-day, and the show was livestreamed to Team Canada's quarters in Nagoya; also that year, the Cosplay Championship was livestreamed to Otakuthon attendees in a special screening room.
Otakuthon evolved from the annual Animethon anime marathon presented by Otaku Anime of Concordia University, held at the Henry F. Hall Building on the Sir George Williams campus. The anime marathon had over the years, used one or several screening rooms, over the course of one or two days, and had included ancillary events. In 2005, the 10th edition of Animethon was renamed Otakuthon. In 2006, Otaku Anime joined with other local anime clubs and individuals to turn the annual anime marathon into a full blown convention.
While convention membership at the 2006 edition was free, admission fees were introduced from 2007 and onwards. There was a pre-registration option for the paid memberships, and attendees who pre-registered could arrive on Friday afternoon to receive their membership badges in order to gain instant access to all convention events on the same day at opening time. Admissions for the Masquerade and J-pop concert were included in the membership fee.
The 2007 edition's outstanding success prompted Otakuthon to move its venue from Concordia University to the Palais des congrès de Montréal convention center in summer 2008. This allowed the convention to increase its capacity, concentrate the main attractions on a single floor instead of multiple floors at the university, as well as free itself from restrictions imposed upon by the institution. In the same year, Otaku Anime and the other anime clubs managing the convention formed the Quebec Anime Committee, Otakuthon's new parent organization.
With a great number of out-of-province Guests invited in 2009, Otakuthon was upgraded from a regional-level convention to a national-level one. 2010 introduced a Thursday evening badge pickup option for pre-registered attendees, which alleviated the long lineups on Friday as well as provided them immediate access to the convention area when the doors opened on Friday afternoon. Year after year, Otakuthon has occupied more and more conference spaces and hallways of the convention center following an annual progressive growth; while in 2008 less than half of the 5th and 7th floors were booked, in 2010 nearly 80% of those floors plus the main exhibition hall of the 2nd floor (for Registration) were open for the convention. In 2017, Registration was moved to Level 1 to make space for expansion of the Exhibition Hall on the 2nd floor. Expansion of exhibit and conference space continued in the following years as the convention continued to maintain a strong growth rate.
Otakuthon has a relatively significant economic impact on Montreal, compared to other similar-sized national-level conventions held at the same location. In 2011, the convention generated an estimated $2,137,157 in economic spinoffs in the city, while in 2010 it generated an estimated $1,606,076.
In 2014, the Quebec Anime Committee became the Otakuthon Cultural Society and continues to manage the convention to this day.
In 2018, Otakuthon started offering VIP passes called Premium Badges. A badge mailout option was also introduced to attendees pre-registering for the convention. The same year, the convention adopted RFID technology for on-site access and exit; each and every badge had an embedded microchip that had to be scanned ("tapped") onto a card reader at any of the convention's multiple entry points, both to access the convention floors and exit the premises. The same technology was used to encode digital concert tickets onto attendees' badges if they purchased them, or refuse entry to individuals who have had their admissions annulled (banned). Staff were present at entry points to assist people entering and leaving the convention, showing them where to scan their badges on the card readers. This limitation on who could enter the main convention area drastically cut down the number of unregistered people and passersby, reducing congestion in the Viger Lobby as well as allowing Otakuthon staff to know exactly the number of people inside the premises in real time.
2019 continued the adoption of RFID badges, encoded with attendees' badge type and purchased concert tickets.
In 2020, Otakuthon was cancelled for the first time due to concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For two years, the convention held 2 online editions where attendees could watch and discuss livestreams featuring staff, guests and performers.
2022 marked the return of Otakuthon in physical format, fully returning at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
By 2023, Otakuthon passed Toronto's Anime North to become Canada's largest Anime convention in terms of attendance, as Anime North is capped in terms of attendance/ticket sales (whereas Otakuthon is not.)
In 2025, for its twentieth anniversary, Otakuthon transferred all of its paid concerts to the Place des Arts, namely ' in Concert, the Orchestre de Jeux Vidéo, MindaRyn, in concert and . The RFID card reading system malfunctioned temporarily on Friday afternoon at the Viger Lobby entry points but service was quickly restored by technicians.
Otakuthon's staff and volunteers also organize events in Montreal other than the main annual convention. Most of the con's staff and volunteers are present at these events.
Additionally, they used to organize an annual trip () each May to Anime North (AN) in Toronto, Canada's second-largest anime convention. The travel group was open to anyone, not just Otakuthon attendees. The Otakuthon staff and volunteers assigned to this trip, which acted as brokers, received trip signups and trip money from travelers, which was used to reserve charter buses, book hotel rooms and make group registrations for the con. This travel group from Montreal was the largest, single group registration for Anime North, at about 50-100 people depending on the year; 1 or 2 coach buses were hired depending on group size (or 1 coach and 1-2 minivans if a 2nd bus could not be filled).
Otakuthon's annual Anime North trip provided a cost-effective, centrally-managed opportunity for Montrealers to attend AN without the hassle of figuring out every detail of the trip, competing for hotel room bookings, getting together a group large enough to qualify for Anime North's group rate, and determining an itinerary from Montreal to the con's area, which is outside of downtown Toronto, requiring commuting or a taxi ride if the method of transport chosen was by bus or train, which have their terminals downtown. (Car travelers could drive directly to the con, while air travelers could land at Toronto Pearson International Airport, which was next to the con.) Signups for the trip usually opened in January of each year.
The annual Anime North trip is no longer offered most likely because Otakuthon is now Canada's largest anime convention and no longer has a need to promote or organize trips other events. The shift occurred after Otakuthon surpassed Anime North in attendance, allowing it to become the dominant anime convention in Canada, while Anime North has attendance caps on its admission sales, though the abolition of the annual AN trip happened a few years before attaining the No.1 size ranking.
Yurika (pictured on the right), a fictional blue-haired teenage girl, serves as Otakuthon's mascot. She appears under many forms on Otakuthon booklets, badges, website, clothing and other wearables. She was originally created for the convention by local artist Jessie Rong. Yurika has been drawn by various artists over the years and a mascot contest was even once held. Véronique Thibault, Yinyin Liu, Sharyl Chow and Meryem Bahnini were credited in the Otakuthon 2010 program booklet for different versions of the mascot. In 2011, Yurika was joined by her brother Yatsumi, her cousin Yuki, and her friend Yumi.
There has been 2 other anime conventions held in Montreal, in addition to Otakuthon. They were:
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