Santa Ana, CA (January 24, 2018) – Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the nonprofit responsible for the Anime Expo, formally announced today that the operation of the San Diego-based anime convention, has returned operations of Anime Conji to the San Diego Speculative Fiction Society, Inc. (“SanSFiS”).

SPJA came to this decision to better direct its resources on focusing on Anime Expo, in addition to coming to a mutual understanding with SanSFiS, while taking the best interest of Anime Conji and the San Diego fan community to heart.

“We greatly enjoyed creating one-of-a-kind events at Anime Conji that we may not have been able to execute at Anime Expo,” said Ray Chiang, SPJA Chief Operating Officer. “We are confident that SanSFiS will be able to give Anime Conji the attention needed for its continued success and growth.”

SPJA adopted Anime Conji in May 2012 and went on to host Anime Conji for the following three years, where they introduced innovative and unique events such as the Karaoke Sing-A-Long with Voice Actors, the NERF Arena, as well as original collaboration events such as the Free! Pool Party with Crunchryolland the Danganronpa Murder Mystery with NIS America. In 20 16, Anime Conji went on hiatus amid concerns for overall event quality.

Anastasia Hunter, the President of SanSFis, extended her thanks on behalf of the SanSFis Board of Directors, “We thank SPJA for their time overseeing Anime Conji and are excited to resume our management of this exciting event together with the San Diego anime fan community.”

Anime Conji will return in 2018. More information will be released soon on their Facebook page.

About SPJA
SPJA is a non-profit organization dedicated to popularize and educate the American public about Japanese entertainment and pop culture, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

About SanSFiS
San Diego Speculative Fiction Society, Inc. (SanSFiS) is a group of fans working to promote the field of speculative fiction in all its genres (science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, etc.) and forms (books, movies, fanzines, drama, etc.) that has hosted the 2011 World Fantasy Convention, Westercon 68, Conjecture, and is currently hosting Costume Con 36 and Gaslight Steampunk Expo.