(1) PERSONAL INTRODUCTION: I lived the beginning of the black and white TV Anime Era in Japan in 1960s. I also lived the glorious era of the ever growing color TV anime series in 1970s and the early 1980s, before I moved to America in 1983. Today, I do not watch any American TV programs at all whatsoever (unless it is my own TV shows such as IMMORTALIZED, produced by the AMC cable TV station. I was featured in over 25 different TV shows, news, and programs internationally.) Instead, I watch Japanese TV anime series almost every day. Therefore, I was so thrilled to learn about this giant scale convention of art and culture of the Japanese anime here in New York City.
(2) OVERVIEW OF ANIME NYC: Anime NYC was not the first one, which introduced the Japanese manga and anime to New York City in the grandest scale. It was New York Comic Con. By following the big commercial success of that, Anime NYC was born by the same organizer in 2017. The first Anime NYC in 2017 was quite humble. They did not even use the amount of space New York Comic Con does at the same place. Nevertheless, it was a big commercial success. So, Anime NYC added more floor space and more programs in 2018. For this year 2018, Anime NYC also hosted the Anisong World Matsuri (anime song world festival) at the Hammerstein Ballroom, which complimented this audio & visual entertainment (unlike manga).
Anime NYC is a giant scale annual three-day anime convention held during November at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, New York (a.k.a. "New York City"). The 1st convention was held on November 17 - 19, 2017. Estimated about 20,000 tickets were sold. It was reported that this first Anime NYC was the 12th largest North American anime convention as of 2017. Unfortunately, I missed it last year. The second convention was held on November 16 - 18, 2018. Estimated about 36,000 tickets were sold. For this time, I had a great fotrtune to visited it on 11/17(Sat) and 11/18 (Sun) for free.
(3) MY PERSONAL TIP FOR YELPERS: FREE TICKETS: I obtained one free ticket by winning the Halloween costume contest on the Halloween by Go! Go! Curry! Japanese chain restaurant (one of the sponsors) in New York City. I also obtained two more free tickets as a yahoo Elite Squad Member. I believe you can do the same for the next year!
PROGRAMS & ATTRACTIONS: If you are an anime Otaku from Japan, you know very well about the Comic Conventions ("komi-kon") and Comic Market ("komike") in Japan. You will surely see what you expect here at Comic Convention here. This Anime NYC is more anime and movie oriented convention. At the Anime NYC 2018, we were informed, educated, entertained, and inspired by the variety of attractions there. Among them were photoshooting sessions by the professional photographers on the lobby, screenings of the new TV anime searies and new movie, arcade game machines (over a dozen and they were all free to play!), Artist Alley (local artists with their goods for sale), anime music concerts, manga booths, gift booths (most of the booths were vendors. LOL), costume contest (NOT open for the public, unfortunately), famous and active voice actor's booth, etc. There were ALSO number of booths, that give away free manga books, anime character buttons, and posters. (I am a anime Otaku BUT I do not collect any anime goods like the most of the anime Otaku. I brought home only one button of the new TV anime to be aired soon, which I won at one of the anime game booths.)
I highly recommend Anime NYC if you enjoy Japanese TV anime series and anime movies. Please make sure you dress up in your favorite character of the TV anime series or video game. I guarantee you will enjoy this convention 10 times more! Also, I highly recommend you bring a good "point and shoot" digital camera with a flash (instead of a smart phone) to take your photos with other Rayers ("cosplayers"). Just as my festively colorful photos posted here, I guarantee you to get many memorable wonderful photos here at Anime NYC.
Dr. Takeshi Yamada and Seara (Coney Island sea rabbit)
My awesome 100+ photos will be all posted soon. read more