Well, this is an unusual time to post my thoughts about Anime NYC. Isn’t this convention held in November? Well not this year! (And next year too!). The much discussed move to August occurred, and with that came some major changes to how this year’s Anime NYC operated compared to prior years. Some were good moves, others were in-between, and a few should undergo considerable revisions, and I have thoughts on what those were below!
The Good
+ The gaming area. I’m not super crazy into games, but from a layman’s perspective, the gaming area looked awesome this year. The past couple years it was relegated to the exhibit hall which meant it could only have so much space and had to close exactly when the exhibit hall was closed (7PM). This year? With its own dedicated space it could stay up later (10PM on Friday and Saturday), have plenty of games (video game, tabletop, the works) and have plenty of game developers at the convention too. If there’s time next year I might want to just spend a few hours down there. So if I’m feeling this way, I have to imagine gaming enthusiasts might’ve felt even better.
+ In general, things seemed to be placed very well. I say that knowing I didn’t obviously go everywhere (like I finally went to Sakura Stage on Sunday), but basically making sure everyone gets from Point A to Point B or Point A to Point C with little inconvenience is the goal, and I was able to get to where I wanted the whole weekend with little trouble. With clear designations of locations — cosplay area upstairs, gaming hall downstairs, a quiet room towards the end of 1A for example — it was easy to figure out where you were. One of the immediate challenges with the move from November to August was making sure everyone can get to where they want to go easily, and they seem to have done that pretty well with the extra space.
+ Much better panel scheduling. Again it’s always touch and go with how panels are scheduled throughout the weekend, and depending on your interests there could be conflicts. There were a few panels that I was interested in going to that happened around the same time over the weekend and Saturday was crazy busy (I was at least pleased after talking to people that I wasn’t the only one feeling very tired on Day 2). But across the board I felt like everything was scheduled much better and I didn’t have to completely skip out on everything.
+ Case Closed: Bride of Halloween subbed premiere. The 25th movie entry in the Case Closed franchise, Bride of Halloween was a good time, complete with two separate storylines that eventually converge into a crazy time in Shibuya. The only real misgiving is the identify of Plamya, the main villain of the film, was not so difficult to figure out based on how things were progressing. Otherwise, well timed jokes and some slick action — which the movies have been known for aside from solving cases and mysteries — made this great to watch. You add enthusiastic Conan fans who also laughed/scoffed/etc. when Professor Agasa did his usual movie quiz and that adds to the overall experience.
The Mixed
- Lack of guests. Yes, the VTubers certainly count as guests, but if you’re not interested in VTubers, then once again, Anime NYC sticks out with its lack of guests. Not to say who they brought over this year were slouches (the VAs of Dandadan, the creators of Shangri-La Frontier, 3 of the Love Live! Superstar cast VAs to name a few), but I don’t know if it beats last year’s (to just name a few: Gundam Witch From Mercury VAs, Lycoris Recoil creators) guest list, and I think I saw complaints about it lacking last year. That said, the move to August certainly played a role in who could come out, so the true test should be in 2025 and whether or not Anime NYC can be an attractive destination for a variety of guests.
- The move to November from August. Will reiterate that I personally like the move to summer as opposed to cold weather and a holiday coming up, though it’s understandable if you did enjoy the convenience of a convention in November. So why is this in the mixed section? Well many things were affected by the change, some positive (in the good section), and some negatively that was revealed in panels. During DENPA’s panel someone asked a question regarding bringing over guests, and Ed Chavez (Denpa Founder) revealed there was discussion about possibly bringing over a Boys Love creator to Anime NYC, but with the move to August instead of November, that affected availability; at J-Novel Club’s panel, they announced 4 titles — if you know them, that’s shockingly few to announce. But it was revealed at the panel that due to the convention move it affected what they could reveal — as Sam Pinansky (CFO at J-Novel Club) wants what they announce to go live on their website following their industry panels, they just didn’t have their usual slate of titles ready to go.
So their production line was impacted, and this was just public stuff — you can guess privately lots of people and companies were affected by the move. I imagine it’s something Anime NYC expected though, so chances are things will be different in 2025.
The Bad
– Panels starting on time (again). Whether it’s how fast they can get people into the room or technical issues (I think it was Dark Horse that had an issue at the start but I can’t remember, but Denpa’s panel did not start on time because of technical issues), panels starting exactly on time remains an issue for the convention. It’s funny looking back at what I said last year because they did make sure people could get in before the panel start time, but for one reason or another, most of the panels I attended didn’t start on time. Now some is a bit minor (like say, a 2-5 minute wait if no tech problems), but you definitely want to ensure panelists have the proper time they need and that they’re not rushing.
– Javits Center Wi-Fi being bad once again. I mean I always look forward to it landing in this section every year since it never gets better. But it was more noticeable for me this year due to it involving press communication issues and as usual, it affecting select vendors and artists. I mean yes cash is great, but people also use cards too. That very much affects business.
– Me for ever thinking the 7 train would escape the bad section:
With the news that Anime NYC will be in August, many more fans can actually attend the convention much more conveniently. You think there have been attendees who decided not to come back because the 7 wasn’t running over the weekend? It’s likely happened for sure. But presumably the 7 will actually run conveniently on the weekend during the summer as opposed to late November.
…Well, you’d think!
Justin from last year’s Anime NYC 2023 thoughts.
I clearly don’t know what the heck I was thinking last year! Why I had optimism for a working weekend 7 train at Anime NYC is beyond me!
Unless Anime NYC themselves is telling MTA to not run the 7 train to Hudson Years over the weekend (which would be weird since they advertise this in their FAQ), someone over at MTA is keeping track of this convention and making sure this remains the case. The 7 train either has never run or has only run once over the weekend in this seven-year span (skip 2020) for Anime NYC, and clearly the move to August didn’t change anything. What’s the real story here? Luckily this year there wasn’t any other issues with MTA (like the A/C having issues or maintenance work), but geez, it’s certainly a sign that something’s going on here.
Despite the change from November to August, there was definitely a lot of people at the convention. One reason is with no school this might’ve opened things up for more students and kids to come, so it’s very possible it can be even more people next year as Anime NYC attempts to try and stand out as the big summer convention to go to in 2025 and beyond. What new thing will LeftField Media attempt to add as they toy with all the Javits space? Guess we’ll have to find out.