Chatter, music and elaborate cosplays filled the Texas Union on Saturday for the first KōmoriPOP!! anime convention. An extension of KōmoriCon, the free pop-up event featured an artist alley, local idol performances and giveaways. Organizers Emily Nguyen (biochemistry ‘25) and Hanming Li (biochemistry ‘25) said KōmoriPOP!! presented the perfect opportunity to re-engage with UT students.
“We started this as students for students, (and) we wanted to stay true to that,” Nguyen said. “This pop-up was our love letter back to the campus.”
Since 2023, KōmoriCon has grown from 800 to over 2,000 attendees. To accommodate the growing interest, they plan to move the event to the Palmer Events Center in 2027. Li said while a bigger venue was necessary, they didn’t want to disconnect from UT students, and KōmoriPOP!! created more student access.
“It’s on campus, so it’s super accessible for students,” Nguyen said. “Half of our artist alley are students. We had student performers. We had all those student orgs tabling out here. We wanted to highlight the student community.”
Both student and nonstudent attendees competed in themed trivia, played retro video games and visited attractions to collect stamps for a free keychain. With activities similar to KōmoriCon, Nguyen said they wanted people to attend the free pop-up for fun without spending money.
“I love what they do here,” said Allen Jiang, art vendor and biochemistry sophomore. “This year’s KōmoriCon was only $20 for everyone, and they even have student discounts. I love what they do because they make community events like this so accessible, and it makes it easier for everyone to make friends. It just removes the paywall for these students.”
Beyond lowered paywalls, KōmoriPOP!! gave attendees the opportunity to connect over shared passion and celebrate their unique interests.
“(It’s) really welcoming,” attendee and archaeology freshman Joaquin Lara said. “Really creative people all around, (and) it’s amazing to see so many people and so many different fandoms be here and have fun.”
For attendees, KōmoriPOP!! acts as part of a welcoming community. Li said KōmoriPOP!! allows them to reconnect with their creativity.
“It’s cool to see my art inspire more art, and people have drawn (Mori, KōmoriCon’s mascot) for our stickers as fan art, freebies and collaborations,” Li said. “I made something that other people really appreciate and enjoy and love, and it makes me feel like I’m more than just a cog in the machine.”
Jiang said KōmoriPOP!! helped put a spotlight on interests people might feel embarrassed about.
“I personally got made fun of a lot when I was younger for being into this kind of thing, listening to Vocaloid and watching anime,” said Rosemary Greenwald, an ACC Highlands student who performed at the event. “Now, as we have these spaces, it shows people that this is cool, this is fun. We love doing this, and it’s not wrong to be into this kind of thing. It helps people who are maybe afraid to take part in things like this find their community.”
