Another year of Anime NYC, and yet we’ll go into 2025 wondering just how the industry will handle this convention. Last year it was somewhat notable that VIZ skipped out on hosting an industry panel; this year, while VIZ again did not have an industry panel, the more surprising one was Crunchyroll not having one. While the partnership is likely not the same as it once was, this is still an event that has them and LeftField Media working together — this could’ve been a good time to reveal a few more of their upcoming seasonal anime or something new. Instead, we just had a few premieres here and there.
This makes me go back to the shift from November to August, which likely impacted what could be ready to go and be announced to the public. A few publishers said this during their panel, so across the board, even for those who didn’t share this with any attendees, it likely factored into how everything was handled. So with that knowledge, I will again wonder if this will be the convention for the industry to go to for next year’s Anime NYC. With SDCC, Anime Expo, Otakon in the summer and then NYCC in October, that’s a lot of traveling for some companies, so decisions will have to be made.
But that’s a question for next year. Here’s how I think this convention went for a couple companies this year.
– Aniplex of America Industry Panel. Always crazy packed, yet not really much of anything new out of their panels. It feels like they’re always in that weird spot in the anime industry where they have to promote whatever Aniplex Japan wants to personally sell, even if its detrimental (See: them showing a Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Disturbance trailer, which got some mixed reactions! Yes there was a cheer in there). After the whole Rascal Does Not Dream English dub fiasco they did reveal they’re finally gonna dub the anime series and first movie, but that was the only news of note. Will their panels have anything cool to announce in the near future? One can only hope so.
+ Azuki. While they have a veteran crew, for a new company, announcing a partnership with Scholastic Graphix is major news. Now two of Azuki’s titles will be in full-color print next year. I’d have to go deep into the memory banks to compare it to last year’s panel, because Evan Minto did make time to emphasize how much Azuki’s in need of support from manga fans, which I don’t think they were that insistent last year. It’s likely not too big of deal, but as they’re a small company competing with other services, it’s something to file away. Overall though the panel explained who they were to those who weren’t in the know and communicated what attendees needed to know in a timely fashion.
+ Dark Horse. I’d actually say their panel was pretty typical Dark Horse, complete with no surprising announcements from them. Berserk volume 42 coming in English next year is not major news, but as it is the first work not done by Kentaro Miura, it’s nice of them to share a date. But my extra point is more or less due to them announcing what’s getting reprinted, which personally I just wish every company would start doing. It really doesn’t hurt to share what’s getting a reprint, even if it’s Berserk, which we already know it’ll be getting new printings. It’s very cool to share.
+ Yen Press. I won’t say they had too many titles I was interested in reading, but they once again had a number of titles to share to the crowd, from more BL to Yuri to of course more continuations of works they already have. In fact it was so many they couldn’t even announce them all at the panel (some they did a day earlier on Twitter). But once again their structure on how to communicate the news of what they’re bringing over was good, so even if you think the work they licensed is bad, they at least made an attempt to sell it, which possibly worked on a few people. My only gripe is this feels like a good time to put in print another title from J-Novel Club’s catalog, but no dice so far. Think their last J-NC grab was Black Summoner (manga) last year? Someone will correct me on that. Blade & Bastard the manga doesn’t count.
+ Seven Seas. Some weeks later, if you needed to have a winner in this convention roundup compared to everyone else, it would be Seven Seas due to the variety of announcements they had. Their standouts would of course be the license rescue of Pet Shop of Horrors since now fans can continue to hope more great TOKYOPOP manga from the 2000s could be licensed by them (since they’ve licensed Gravitation and Rozen Maiden to name a few) and a new Nagabe title (EAT) is welcomed by Boys Love fans, but having their hands in a variety of media (Webtoons, novels, Danmei) makes them stand out just a bit from other publishers.
My only criticism is the lack of Yuri announcements they’ve made. The good news is, after having them twist in the wind for some time, SHWD and Black and White: Tough Love in the Office will be released next year as omnibus editions (both ended after three volumes). The bad news is those aren’t new titles, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some out there who are disappointed about not having single volumes for these series. So overall there’s still things lacking here, so you hope eventual license events will have something new for Yuri fans.
– Kodansha. Funny enough, their announcement of Kodansha House, which at the time there was very little information about it aside from it happening in SoHo NYC, is probably the biggest piece of news to emerge from Anime NYC compared to everything else. Four acclaimed manga artists and a number of manga specific events all occurring in one month? Considering how hard it is to find a schedule for most Japanese creators, this is really impressive. This certainly took some time to plan, and it all culminates with a month of insights and signings for a few lucky people.
Which leads to my first criticism of why they couldn’t share this at Anime NYC. Maybe not even all of it, but would’ve been nice to have shared a few things about it while there. Because man, my second criticism is are they saving the rest of their licenses for NYCC, or did Anime NYC’s move to August impact them? They didn’t really have much to announce. It sort of makes me wonder if they’re stable or if they’re at an acquiring impasse (the last part is doubtful). I do personally like them sharing things aside from manga announcements (see them sharing details on their Twilight Out of Focus Box Set and the new cover for Musashi drawn by Takehiko Inoue). But can someone tell them to just start sharing at least new, upcoming digital licenses? Those leak early enough on retailers.
+ DENPA/KUMA. I’m actually in the middle despite their positive rating. There’s still a few manga in need of updates from them, but I suspect their biggest ones was Short Game and They Were 11!, and the latter recently got its cover approved so it’s looking likely it’ll be published this year. No new licenses for either DENPA or KUMA (which is probably for the best right now), but they did explain what they’ve been up to and they took questions from the audience, and it’s because of that we learned Anime NYC and BL fans might’ve missed out on an opportunity for a BL author to come to the convention because of the move to August. Oops.
– J-Novel Club. Another victim of the November to August move, and hearing Sam Pinansky’s explanation at the panel, it makes sense to me since J-Novel Club wants to announce their titles and have them go up on their website quickly. That does not mean I’ll cut them complete slack though — aside from J-NC Original Contest and then Original Contest 2 talk and the Q&A, the panel was ok. Most of the licenses weren’t interesting to me (The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman was the one that interested me, From Villainess to Healer is a maybe), and while they did mention they’ll reveal audiobook release dates for some titles soon, it would’ve been nice to know it at the panel. You add in their usual Q&A and me once again laughing at them getting Ascendance of a Bookworm questions when we know they’re going to release every Bookworm that’s out in Japan (just let Quof and the team eat, rest and see family and friends at some point!), it does get near positive territory, but overall, nothing stood out this time.