Anime NYC 2019 Convention Report
/Kigurumi’s at the Fate/Grand Order USA Tour 2019 Exhibit
Forty-six thousand people. That was how many otakus crammed themselves into the Javits Center in New York City last weekend at the Anime NYC 2019 anime convention that ran from November 15-17, 2019. The 46,000 number should move Anime NYC to the #2 spot as the second largest anime convention in North America. That’s quite amazing considering that this convention is only in its third year. ANYC started off with 20,000 people in its first year (hard-capped), grew to 36,000 last year, and now added another ten thousand this year. That is just remarkable and goes to show that if you build a convention and do it right then people will surely come.
And ANYC did do a lot of things right. There was a huge industry presence by all of the major North American anime companies and also a slew of big-name Japanese guests that included the likes of Guilty Kiss (Aqours), Yoshiyuki Tomino (the creator of Gundam), and the tsundere-queen herself Rie Kugimiya. And that’s just the tip of the long list of notable guests that were invited that weekend. Throw in a big concert (ZAQ, TRUE, Guilty Kiss, JAM Project) and some huge premieres (I’m looking at you, “WEATHERING WITH YOU”), and this event was just jam-packed with amazing things to do and see.
ANYC was also not kidding when they said that they doubled the size of the Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit Hall was a joint space for industry booths, dealers, Artist Alley, and food stands. You literally could spend an entire weekend just looking at and doing everything that was available there. I’d almost even call it too large (although that’s not a bad thing!). It was quite overwhelming to try to look at all of the booths and exhibits that were set up. As a huge fan of the Fate franchise, of course my favorite had to be the Fate/Grand Order USA Tour exhibit that saw huge displays featuring characters and props from the game. You could sit on Sakata Kintoki’s bike and get a picture of yourself, take a VR picture of yourself with Excalibur to produce a summon card of yourself, and even pose with Musashi’s double swords. And then of course was the giant, adorable (or terrifying?) kigurumi’s of Mashu, Saber, and Gudako from FGO that some lucky souls were able to get pictures taken with.
I also attended the FGO Tour finale panel on Saturday which was moderated by the FGO Localization producer Albert Kao and included voice actresses Aoi Yuki (Shuten-Douji, Okita Souji) and Rumi Okubo (Elisabeth Bathory and Astolfo). This was probably my most favorite event of the weekend as it was just downright hilarious and the seiyuu’s banter among themselves even got quite risque at times. They also had us wearing these silly cardboard hats featuring the FGO mascot Fou.
Going back to the point about food stands, I was really happy to see that there were many different food options at the con this year. In past years there were only a few food trucks lining the outside alley and the rest of the food options were handled by the convention. This year they also added a number of Japanese-themed food stands inside the Exhibit Hall like Go! Go! Curry! and the BentOn Cafe stands. They were still predictably expensive/overpriced, but it was nice having a bunch of Japanese-themed options to choose from. I particularly liked the BentOn stand that had some really delicious bento boxes that you could pick up (that teriyaki chicken and salmon was amazing!).
In terms of crowds, while there was certainly an uptick in attendance this year it really wasn’t that bad getting around or getting into the Exhibit Hall (unlike last year’s line disaster). However, part of this is not only attributed to the fact that the Exhibit Hall had two entrances instead of just one entrance compared to previous years but also due to the fact that the security guards really didn’t do anything in terms of bag checks at the security checkpoints. It certainly made the lines going into the Exhibit Hall and panel room areas much faster but really did nothing in terms of providing actual safety to the con.
And I suppose it is worth mentioning the coat/bag storage services that is available at the Javits Center. Since there are no attached hotels to the convention center, people don’t have the convenience of storing things at their hotel rooms or changing into their cosplay in their rooms like they do at most other conventions. The Javits Center does offer a bag check service on the middle floor where you can store your coats, bags, and luggage ($4 per item). However that bag check area is actually kind of limited in storage space so by late morning or early afternoon people get directed to the open-area bag check at the South Concourse although it can be confusing to people who may be there for the first time and are unaware of the layout of the convention center. It is also worth mentioning that Anime NYC had a dedicated cosplay changing room set up but most attendees didn’t actually know where it was and simply changed in the restrooms which caused long lines for the stalls (and for a convention center of its size there were actually very few restrooms and stalls available).
Anime NYC is an absolute blast to attend. There is so much to do and see that the $65 weekend ticket ($75 at door, individual day passes also available) almost seems like a steal. However of course there were some major issues that arose throughout the weekend. The first being the location and organization of the organized cosplay photoshoot gatherings. I’m just going to cut and paste what I wrote in the ANYC 2019 feedback survey:
“Cosplay photoshoots were a chaotic mess. The South Concourse was not only a path for people to get to the Panel rooms but was also taken up by dozens of photographers with large light stands and mobile studio setups. In addition, three photoshoots were scheduled concurrently and there was no specified spot for each of the photoshoots so it was a free-for-all in terms of fighting for wall space. In the future, there needs to be a dedicated venue that's reserved just for cosplay photoshoots and need to be labeled/blocked off for each photoshoot. For instance, some conventions have multiple locations and label them as Photoshoot 1, Photoshoot 2, etc. so people know exactly where they are expected to meet up and to conduct the shoot. Some (but not all) of these spots also need to be large enough to accommodate large fandoms (like My Hero Academia) that can see many hundreds of people gathering for the shoot. Also, just in my opinion, the South Concourse is not a good place for photoshoot meetups because of the harsh sunlight that comes through along with the bars that create tons of uneven lines of shadows to go with the harsh sunlight (in short, the lighting is just really bad for photoshoot gatherings).”
Here’s a photo to illustrate just how crowded and congested the South Concourse got during the peak hours:
The next issue that I would like to highlight was the disaster that was the Masquerade contest. The Masquerade is generally my most favorite event at any anime convention and it was truly disheartening to see the sad state that it was in this weekend. I felt really bad for the contestants that had to endure the BS that they were put through. Again, I’m going to just cut and paste what I wrote in the feedback survey:
“The Masquerade event was also a colossal failure. The fact that it started half an hour late was an indication for things to come. The event was kicked off by the Miku Ito concert which saw the room filled to capacity at the start, but then the expected mass exodus began immediately after the mini-concert. The hosts were clearly not used to hosting a Masquerade-type event as they just rushed everyone on and off the stage (although I'm sure the fact that the event was running behind schedule was also a factor). Instead of having a half-time show or event to create time for the judges to deliberate and decide on the winners, the MC's were forced to stall for a lengthy amount of time and quite frankly were not very funny or entertaining (not to mention the numerous swear words that were dropped, not that I mind but I'm sure it might have been alarming to some parents there chaperoning their kids). And then add insult to injury it seems as though some of the winners didn't receive the right medals for their awards because of a printing error from the manufacturer. In the end, Anime NYC owes the contestants a sincere, heartfelt apology for the mess that they were put through. It's stressful enough for them to be going on stage to do their thing, it must have been hell to be put through the shameful mismanagement of the event that they were forced to endure.”
Another thing that I would like to touch on was the autography policy that they had this year. In previous years they did a first-come-first-serve ticket system for the free autograph sessions for their guests. This was a colossal mistake as people would camp out overnight to be the first ones to grab the tickets when the doors to the Javits Center opened and anyone who couldn’t arrive that early in the morning was screwed. This year they instituted a lottery system to make it a bit more fair. People could submit their entries for autograph tickets beforehand and then a fair/impartial lottery was drawn to determine who would get the autograph tickets. The problem is that this lottery was open to everyone on the Internet. You didn’t even need to have a purchased ANYC ticket to submit a lottery entry. This, coupled with the fact that many people simply submitted a lottery entry just for the heck of it even if they had no intentions of getting that person’s autograph, led to many tickets being awarded that either were never picked up or were never used. I’m kind of mixed on my opinion overall about a lottery system for the autographs. On one hand it is a fair way to hand out tickets but on the other hand it kind of screws with fans who might be attending a convention for the sole purpose of meeting a particular guest.
Most of the American guests did have their own autograph booths that they were available to sign autographs all weekend long (for a price).
Finally, while Anime NYC did continue to expand and rent more showroom space at the Javits Center, they still could do a better job next year by renting even more space in order to enlarge the panel rooms and especially the special event hall. There were plenty of panels that got capped because it was filled to capacity, and although the special events hall is fairly large it was fairly clear that it is still not large enough for concerts and other high-interest events.
Anime NYC has definitely become a staple convention that I plan on going to each year, much to the pain of my wallet as this convention is far outside of my usual convention radius and thus requires transportation and lodging. However I look forward to seeing Anime NYC continue to grow and become the premiere anime convention in North America (it’s about time that we got a convention that can give Anime Expo a run for its money).
Click here to go to my Facebook photography page where I uploaded my photo albums from the cosplay photoshoot gatherings for Fate/Type Moon (Friday and Saturday), Persona, My Hero Academia, and Demon Slayer.
Click here to go to my YouTube channel where I posted my recording of the Masquerade contest.