AnimeNYC hits Jacob Javits for the first time November 17 to 19. The convention center is no stranger to anime cons, the last time New York Anime Fest being there in 2011. Helmed by Crunchyroll, the event was even bigger then NYAF with participating studios including Pony Canyon, Funimation, Viz, NYAV Post and more. An industry con with a heart in the fandom with a plethora of guests from directors, producers, voice actors, cosplayers and singers. Anime Diva night kicked off the weekend on friday with classic singers, masquerade on Saturday and the highlight of sunday, two movie premieres, Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower along with the sold out Fullmetal Alchemist live action movie. Hit the link for photos and fun….
Day 1: Friday, November 17
Hitting the dealer’s room
As mentioned on their site, AnimeNYC gave out a gold animenyc pin available at booths near registration doors. They also gave out landyards, a Shingeki game clear file (limited supply). On the next table, there was a booth to pick up the FMA movie ticket. Further down, there is another booth to get a Crunchyroll premium card which had early entry privileges. I’m sure many got the premium membership just for the weekend so the lines for both were significant. However, the lines for Crunchyroll members get in first.
After that was done, we hit the Dealer’s room. Crunchyroll was giving out bags for members as per usual. Finally got one for YOI! So glad we got them first since certain series ran out by Saturday. I first bought the Gundam Thunderbolt OST for the signing on saturday. Then at the anime diva booth, I bought a cd each for the female singing guests. Can’t wait for the concert tonight!
After taking a selfie with the Gundam standup boards, we get a set of trading cards. There were so many awesome booths to hit. The dealer’s room also had an arcade corner as well as the UFO machines. Didn’t see any purikura machines though.
concert time
At 7pm, the Dealer’s room began to close up. We headed down to the 1C hall for the main events. Thankfully, we all had the premium membership so we got in early. Found seats in the middle. Spent the concert dancing and waving my light stick.
- SETLIST
Yonekura ChihiroxIshida YokoxTRUE
Moonlight Desnsetsu (Sailor Moon)
Yonekura Chihiro
WILL (Senaki Houshin Engi)
Butterfly Kiss (Digimon)
Fairy Tail ~Yakusoku no Hi~ (Fairy Tail)
Yonekura ChihiroxTRUE
Just Communication (Gundam Wing)
TRUE
Hiryo no Kishi (Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle)
STEEL-Tekketsu no Kizuna- (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans)
ailes (Junketsu no Maria)
TRUExIshida Yoko
God knows… (Haruhi Suzumiya)
Ishida Yoko
OPEN YOUR MIND?Chiisana Hane Hirogete? (Ah! My Godess)
FOREVER HERE (Fairy Tail)
Otome no Policy (Sailor Moon)
Ishida YokoxYonekura Chihiro
Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Yonekura Chihiro
Arashi no Naka de Kagayaite (Gundam: The 08th MS Team)
TRUE
DREAM SOLISTER (Hibike! Euphonium)
Ishida Yoko
STRIKE WITCHES ~Watashi ni Dekiru Koto~ (Strike Witches)
Encore
Yonekura ChihiroxIshida YokoxTRUE
Sailor Stars (Sailor Moon)
Day 2: Saturday, November 18
early for autographs
Woke up at 7am today in hopes to leave at 7:30. We got to the con a bit after 9am since there was no 7 train and we had to take the shuttle bus from times sq. Still, there was sufficient tickets for us for the Anime Diva signing. However, Princess Principal signing was already gone.
I went to the signing for the Gundam composer. It was only 10:30am when I sat down. I was the first one. Next came Nobita with a Doraemon plush.
When the signing started at 11:30am for Kikuchi Naruyoshi, I told him in Japanese that I was looking forward to tomorrow’s concert.
I headed to the artist alley. The front of the artist alley is spaced out while the back area is very tight. Turns out, they were not able to move more tables to the front due to fire code space regulations. Still, the area around the Artist Alley is bright by the floor to ceiling glass windows and has a beautiful view of the water.
autograph 2
The next signing for Anime Diva started a bit late, but not by much. I had all three of the signers sign their respective cds. I said to Yonekura Chihiro-san that I enjoyed yesterday’s concert. To Ishida Yoko-san, I mentioned that I was moved when she sang ‘Otome no Policy’, adding that I was a fan of Sailor Moon. To True, I said that I look forward to new songs from her. (I’m very moved by her song ‘STEEL’ from Iron Blooded Orphans.)
Day 3: Sunday, November 19
trying to rise early
Got to the con a bit before 9am. However…the Iron Blooded Orphans tickets were all given out. I heard it was given out by 8:22am. O.O Princess Principal thankfully had a lot of signings. Considering that there was only one signing for Iron Blooded Orphans, I’m not surprised that it was gone so fast.
Walking around the Dealers room for the bit, I started talkin with Mangagamers. They noted that they actually released drama cds by having English subs on top of video with static pics which is a wonderful way of localizing the product. They also spoke about their yuri title Kinder Heart which sounds wonderful.
Bandit Flower screening and jazz concert
At 11:30am, I headed down to the Bandit Flower screening which is the next installation of the series. They left part of the way through but I finished the movie. Afterwards, I stayed for one jam session of jazz with the composer Kikuchi-san on the saxophone with piano, bass, drums and trumpet. They played awesome music with Gundam scenes flashing across the screen in toned colors that remind me of Cowboy Bebop. It was perfect, Needed to leave early but since video recording was allowed, I hope to be able to find it online. Bandai posted on youtube the anime mix clip that was shown in the backround during the concert as well as short clips from the concert itself.
Fullmetal Alchemist live action movie
Priced at $10, the movie was sold out prior to the convention. It was my first movie screening at a con that I had to pay for, but with the following this series had, I’m no surprised. Director Sori spoke a bit and then they show a clip of Arakawa-sensei and Yamada Ryosuke (Edward Elric) greeting the overseas fans. Unfortunately, they didn’t utilize the side screens so there were initial complaints, but it was awesome still. I could see majority of the subs I knew the story and even the lines due to being a fan of the series.
The hilarious thin about Arakawa-sensei, Funimation noted that since she is always a cow in her self drawings, the put a cow on her face in the clip.
The director chose specific story lines to focus on to tell the story. It drew from key events that we all knew and pulled together a single cohesive story. Some changes included the timeline of where the key events came from but the context as a whole was all there. The elements of the scenes were taken from the manga/anime and we could see it come to life. It was awesome. The music was great and had it’s own style blending in and the acting was awesome. It was comedic, real and sweet. Characters were not included but doesn’t mean there won’t be an appearance by them, in the future. Yes they hope to make more! (The end of the scene credits was omg….so awesome yet so gross. XD)
When the Q&A between the host and director Sori was finished, the fans were encouraged to stay to speak with the director directly about their feelings about the film which is sure to be placed in the media releases.
a con in review
For the first year, animenyc was a really fun con. There were tons of programming that I wanted to hit with tons of awesome guests. Mainly an industry con, there were a ton of different guests promoting the latest from Japan along with the news and their experiences.
Organization of the con as an attendee was great. Autographs were released at 8am every morning with the con starting at 10am. Which meant that people knew whether or not they could get their autographs. And the wait was not long at all for any of the signing…but that could be depending on the guests. They had an hour signing each rather the 30min. on the schedule. There was also 2 lines, premium and regular since this was a Crunchyroll con, premium membership got priority…but there was alot of people with premium. ^^; It was only slightly better but still good. So in the morning, the queue hall/main events hall had two lines to everything that was going on as soon as the things opened up at 10…mainly the dealer’s room. And unlike NYCC, there were not long lines waiting to get in. The bag check in process was from entering the queue hall, the Dealer’s room and more. There were dogs checking large packages and prop checks and marked with a yellow tab. It was very organized, efficient and made us feel safe.
The artist alley was the only place I felt crowded and that was because the end of the hall had all these tables right next to each other. Otherwise, there was sufficient spacing everywhere else. There were bathrooms which were predominantly empty due to being at the end of the hallway. And thankfully, they were actually clean. O.O
For a home con, I had so much fun. The cosplays were good and the con did not feel small or empty which was sometimes I felt about NYAF despite liking the intimate feel. Also, I enjoyed hanging with my friends and bumping into them. Looking forward to next year!