HanamiCon 2023 - The Manga & Anime Convention in Graz

The convention in Austria with „picnic flair“ (not only) for anime, manga, cosplay, gaming & Japan fans at the Seifenfabrik in Graz.

Sitting next to series favourites under the trees in the park, enjoying delicious cakes in the extraordinary Maid Café, shopping for Japanese sweets and cheering on the dance battles on stage - you can experience all of this in just one day if you want to - namely at the HanamiCon Convention in Graz, which was organised for a weekend in the soap factory 🏭🌳.

How we spent our Sunday outing to the Anime convention Graz and more details about the HanamiCon 2023 you can continue reading from here:

The „HanamiCon“ Convention in Graz

🧝‍♀️ Cosplay Ball
🪩 After-Con Party
☕️ Maid-Café
👾 TCG & Game Area
✨ Extensive stage programme
📱 „In-house“ app: HAYU

The HanamiCon is the convention for anime, manga, cosplay & gaming in Graz. It was the first of its kind to organise „side“ events in addition to the convention itself, such as the Cosplay ball, with this year's theme „Magic Elements“ on Friday and the After-Con-Party with live acts on Saturday - which unfortunately neither of us were able to attend. The convention took place in Graz for the first time in 2017 and was held for the sixth time this year, becoming increasingly popular with visitors from Austria and now also from neighbouring countries.

Programme + specials at the convention

• Workshops 📏
• Speed art competition ✍️
• Photo, drawing & cosplay competitions 🏆
• Anime, Sound & Pokemon Quiz❓
• Cos Care & Repair 🪡
• Charity Auction 👨‍⚖️
• Super Smash Bros. (Tournament) 🕹
• Cosplay guests 🦹 & Voice Actors 🗯️
• Cosplay Contest & Catwalk 🤴🦸🏻‍♀️🧙‍♀️
• K-Pop Performances 👯‍♀️ & Concerts 🎤
• AMV Contests ⏯️
• Dance Contest 🕺
• TCG/gaming area & tournaments 🎮

Many from the community can be found on all days of the convention anyway. On Saturday at the latest, cosplayers from the scene, photographers, like-minded people from the community and other interested parties will come together.

Experience shows that things are usually a bit more relaxed on Sundays. You don't get pushed through anywhere, you can look at everything in peace and it's generally just a bit more „chilled“. But what we couldn't transfer to the stage programme was that we were entertained really well!

The convention stage programme on Sunday

The charity auction attracted plenty of bids and donations.

The dance contest featured over ten talented dancers and/or as a group against each other and battled their way to victory. Public voting, via the organiser's own „HAYU“ app. In addition to the chance to vote, you could even save programme items that you found particularly interesting and receive a Programme reminder on the smartphone.

And the cosplay performance contest left the crowd amazed, laughing and with a catchy tune - thanks at this point to Toad - the singing mushroom head with the „Peaches“ song. 🍄❤️👸

Catering at the Convention Graz

There were various snacks to choose from fresh rice bowls, as well as the ever-popular spiral potatoes, sausages and frozen yoghurt to cool off. Drinks were available both in cups and in bottles on the open-air site.

In the probably most extraordinary café in Graz At this weekend - the Maid-Café „Sakura“ - coffee, tea, milk with flavour and cake were served.

Further areas at HanamiCon 2023

In the foyer you could get autographs and photos with the internationally invited cosplay star guests.

And in the gaming area, a retro area, an arcade area, Viennality (Fighting Games), Dance Dance Revolution, Beat Saber, Super Smash, Pinball and more awaited us.
and Pokemon VGC.

Hall of exhibitors: Vendors & artists at the convention

Of course, the sales stands with merchandise (fan articles), Japanese snacks and the passionately designed works such as drawings, candles, postcards, jewellery, pendants and much more from the exhibiting artists were also an integral part of the convention.

The location📍Soap factory Graz, Styria, Austria

🏭 Exceptional event location with old halls, brick walls & extensive grounds

🌳 2500m² Garden/park with large trees = plenty of shade

🌊 directly on the Mur

🅿️ 220 free parking spaces

Originally dedicated to carrying on the flair of the cherry blossom festival 🌸, the soap factory with its brick façade and the neighbouring garden with Old trees and all the greenery around it perfectly reflects the idea of the convention in Graz.

We have always been lucky enough to experience HanamiCon in summer temperatures. The shaded park and the cool breeze, which thanks to the direct flowing past the Mur simply makes you want to spend the whole convention day on the beautiful grounds. The various halls and the additional tents, which this year housed the cloakroom and the gaming area, among other things, certainly make it easy to spend the day there even in cooler weather. The Hall with the stage, as well as the Haller of the exhibitors were also very well attended on Sunday.

With its multifaceted grounds, the Seifenfabrik offers photographers, videographers and videographers a multitude of opportunities to perfectly stage the cosplayers at the Graz convention.

How to get to the convention in the soap factory

The soap factory in Graz is of course the easiest to reach by public transport, by train and/or bus with the Bus route 34 accessible. If you're not travelling from „far, far away“, you can even take a leisurely stroll on the Cycle path directly on the Mur cycle along. If you prefer to fly but don't have the superpowers to do so, you can also travel by plane. 🧚‍♂️

Whoever wants to Car would like to travel to the airport. toll costs incurred for the Bosruck & Kleinalm tunnel on the Phyrn motorway. The soap factory also has 220 free parking spaces, However, these are very quickly utilised, especially for larger events.

We also travelled to Graz by car on Sunday, and as we were a little late we understandably didn't get a parking space „right outside the door“ either. However, we found a car park nearby in one of the surrounding streets. The Parking zones are also free of charge on Fridays from 20:00 and at weekends. (as at May 2023).

Despite the slightly longer journey, we would probably try travelling by train next year. Despite the relaxed day at the convention, we were really exhausted after many kilometres on the motorway including traffic jams - and without a toilet anywhere 😱. Relieved when the next Asfinag facility appeared on the horizon 😮‍💨, and the familiar route from the Voralpenkreuz junction finally brought light to the end of the tunnel, we tackled the last section of the route at the speed of light 🚗💨

Tickets and prices

• Ball&Con Combi-Ticket
• Conticket
• Single tickets e.g. Sunday: 27,- €
• Further information in the HanamiCon Ticket & Merch Shop

Our tips for your next visit to HanamiCon 2024:

1. The visitor frequency is usually a little more pleasant on the last day of the convention and the ticket is a little cheaper. Therefore Sunday perfect suitable for families with children, thrifty travellers, interested parties & spontaneous visitors (On-site tickets while stocks last). HanamiCon also offers a varied programme on Sunday and there are plenty of cosplays to marvel at in the park and in the halls.
2. If the car park at the Seifenfabrik Graz is already full, be sure to use the Use the car parks on the side streets, which are also free of charge from Friday, 20:00. (as at: May 2023)
3. When the weather is fine, make sure you take a Picnic blanket or something similar to get to know and enjoy HanamiCon to the full. Although there were some seating options such as wooden benches and deckchairs, these were very popular and therefore often occupied. So in addition to the stage programme, the exhibitor hall and the other areas, you can also spend the day in the shade of the trees in the garden of the soap factory.

My/our conclusion

✅ Garden with shady trees & beautiful grounds

We used to go to a lot of conventions, but we just wanted to experience that atmosphere again and „see if it's still like it was back then“.

Even on my first visit to HanamiCon, I liked the soap factory and the beautiful terrain was a pretty good venue for the convention. It was just as hot back then and people sat just as with blankets in the meadow and under trees, used as a kind of „base camp“ for the day, where you could return again and again between shopping, photo shoots and the stage programme.

Just like back then, it was the same again this year. As a „vampire“, I avoid the sun as much as I can anyway, and the quicker I scurry into the Shadow, as soon as I see one - the old trees in the garden of the soap factory come in very handy.

✅ Varied stage programme

A few years ago, we didn't even think about it that way, but on that Sunday we did take a look at one or two of the numerous stage programme items surprised by the variety, we were really entertained by it.

In terms of food, we were also pleased that there was a vegan meal option with kimchi for us. Unfortunately, however, at a very proud price of €15/bowl - we hope that this is simply due to the super-good quality of the food, in addition to the usual price increase ;).

✅ Cosy atmosphere & well-being

The hall with the exhibitors is small compared to other cons, but sufficient for this size of convention. In the spirit of the Cherry Blossom Festival, however, it would also lose some of its ambience if the atmosphere that can be experienced in the garden and throughout the grounds had to give way to a huge sales event.

I wouldn't describe myself as having a particular affinity for anime and manga, I'm more or less a non-person.Otaku in these areas. Due to the Mutual openness, acceptance and acceptance of all visitors among each other everyone is given a safe space here to be who they are. That's why we always feel very comfortable at these and similar events.

This, coupled with the soap factory as a well-selected location and atmosphere, makes a visit to HanamiCon a successful day or weekend, and not just for professional cosplayers, manga artists and gaming nerds!

Further/upcoming conventions of the organiser

• YuniCon: 20. to 22.10.2023 in the Multiversum Schwechat
• KokoroKon: 09. to 11.02.2024 in the Multiversum Schwechat

You don't want to wait any longer but want to dive straight into the world of cosplays, anime & manga community? Then go for it! The next convention „Austria Comic Con“ will take place this weekend from 3 to 4 June 2023 in Wels:

Further recommendation:

From 18 to 19 November 2023, the Vienna Comic Con at the Vienna Exhibition Centre. What you could possibly expect - read about the „VIECC 2022“ last year.

Here you can get a small impression of Sunday at HanamiCon:
You can also find more photos in the HanamiCon Gallery.