Anime NYC has brought back anime and J-culture back to NYC in a big way for it inaugural 3 day convention. By the time City Council member Ben Kellos gave his weebo referential filled speech and handed off the official citation kicking off AnimeNYC convention at Javits Center reports were in that close to 20,000 tickets were sold. For an unproven event these are huge numbers of attendance and shows the need for AnimeNYC.
I’ll go out o a limb and say due to the con being associated with one of the American industry’s biggest names, Crunchyroll, added some credibility. From the minute the doors opened this con has been on and popping with great video game machines, crane machines, and of course cosplay!
I can only see AnimeNYC getting bigger. As for now its size is great as many who attended the first day have told me its way better than NYC Comic con due to less congestion and room for wheelchair bound folks to enjoying the con.
Als speaking with cosplayer’s they like being in an atmosphere where they can not only walk around but also have people know who they are cosplaying as. I like that there weren’t a huge swatch of things to steer your attention away from places like Artist Alley, which I felt could of been in a better situated place, the exhibit hall, panel rooms and event space. As a first run convention in an age where things as Vans Warp tour is going down the drain its interesting to see what drives people, some even literal miles, to go out to an event. Anime culture isn’t going any where and has been a driving force in many folks lives even outside of Japan I can say this, see you next year at AnimeNYC.
