One month ago as of this writing, San Antonio’s biggest anime rave finally returned after the two-year sideline from the COVID-19 pandemic. Coinciding with Sailor Moon Day, HakubiVerse presented San AnTokyo 4: A Night in Crystal San AnTokyo. Anime raves were ongoing dreams that have brought many amazing people in HakubiVerse together and the impossibilities that we were willing to make reality became our motivators. Every San AnTokyo that took place managed to succeed beyond amazement and HakubiVerse was willing to continue to make every event we do history-making, and San AnTokyo 4 became no exception as for the first time in history, the Alamo City got to welcome the Neon-Queen of Hardcore Serenity, Jimni Cricket.
This story might sound that I’m saying the same thing 100 times in 100 different ways (I promise it won’t be that many), but it is the same story that the AnimEDM fans shared growing up in San Antonio have lived through the absence of otaku nightlife and finally getting their chance to experience it through the mind and muscle of ravers that wanted to make something happen in the Alamo City whether they’d be from HakubiVerse, Hard Dance Texas, or any of our friends past and present. I can honestly speak for myself that I wanted an event like this since my teenage years no matter where I lived, but it seemed that anime raves to others outside of the scene; and in some cases within the dance music community, something that is ‘weird and scary’ and anyone that’s outside an anime convention afraid to touch. Many of us shared these challenges and we were tired of being told that it wouldn’t work so with pure desire and effort, San AnTokyo became more than just an anime rave, but a legacy of dance music that has blazed the trail for San Antonio nightlife to embrace otaku pop-culture.
San AnTokyo 4 took place at 800 Live in the heart of San Antonio, Texas and featured two stages, the main featuring AnimEDM and Hard Dance and the front stage featuring House music, with afterhours lifting the veil of Bass and finishing the night with more Hard Dance and local Bass sounds. The front featured sets from Off The Air (Pleasant, Ryuza, & DJ Venus), Signs, Echo, and Shane V while the main stage of course featured Jimni Cricket along with Wolf n Spice (Sebris & Sephi Hakubi [THAT’S ME ^.^], Brandon Legacy, Reno, Eric Monster (featuring surprise appearance of PRBLMZ), Raulie Smilez, Tynam0, and special guest vocalist, Deaconrap.
More photos and the after film will be dropping on HakubiVerse’s Facebook, Instagram, and other socials so be sure to stay tuned…Finally, my set with Sebris from San AnTokyo 4 is now up on my Mixcloud so now you can take San AnTokyo in your pocket!
