Today I went to AnimeNYC, a large anime convention held in the city. Apparently they’re expecting over 100,000 attendees this year, about 40,000 people a day for the three (full) day event.
It was held at the Javits Center, which I hadn’t been to since New York Comic Con back in 2015! I bought a one-day ticket for the con at the last minute, since I wanted to do something fun to end my summer break. I didn’t know what to expect since I’d never actually attended an anime-specific convention.
In short: it was amazing. I was immediately surprised by the size, the density and variety of exhibitors and artists, and the range of things being shown or sold. My original plan was to go to the two principle panels today (the new Panty & Stocking and Star Wars Visions III) and also visit every booth but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to be possible and in fact got so engrossed by seeing all the booths I forgot about the panels.
Most of the exhibitors were stores, and there were hundreds of them. The most common type was figure shops, and most of these specialized in prize figures at very reasonable prices.
These were very popular, and I’d suspect a large percentage of the attendees left with a figure or two (me included). Some of the stores also sold scale figures, including some very expensive ones (>$500). Shops selling model kits were common as well, although they tended to be extremely Gundam-focused.
Manga was common, in both publisher booths and bookstore booths. Amusingly – considering this is an anime convention – there was very little actual physical anime for sale, probably because most watchers stream it these days.
I was surprised by the cosplay weapon stores. Several companies were present, and you could buy an amazing variety of guns and swords and magic staves and other items to help with your cosplay. How many of the above guns do you recognize? I chuckled when I saw one of the shops was sold out of Frieren’s staff, since Frieren was one of the more popular cosplays I saw today:
There were many other shop types such as soundtracks (including vinyl), T-shirts and other clothes, dice, keyboards, plushies, pins, jewelery and even whatever this is:
Of course it wasn’t all shops. As soon as you entered the venue a massive Hololive ‘stage’ towered over the crowd, and it seemed for the entire convention the girls (and guys) of Hololive entertained and interacted with a large and boisterous crowd. I knew Hololive was popular, but this opened my eyes as to exactly how much. It was also interesting that this seemed to be the Japanese Hololive girls, at least every time I walked past.
Several anime companies and mobile games had big booths as well, and the most popular was for a new game called Brown Dust II, which drew a big crowd taking photos of their professional cosplayers:
There were several Japan travel booths – one of which I got a few tips from – but perhaps the most unexpected interaction I had today was when a guy from Heritage Auctions urged me to contact him with details about our anime cel collection since he may be interested in selling it on consignment!
And then there was artists alley, which is hundreds of small tables featuring amateurs selling their own art. This for me was the highlight of the show, since I was blown away by the talent. Almost all of them sell posters, but postcards, mini prints, acrylics, charms and all manner of other items were common as well.
Back in our NYCC days artists alley were tables with laser printed A4 posters, but now these ‘amateurs’ even sell woven blankets, acrylic stands and even resin statues! And the posters themselves now include effects like texturing and all sorts of foil effects! Such as on this gold foil embossed postcard I bought from one artist:
I bought more postcards than anything else – maybe 20 in total. I would have liked a poster or two, but I had no poster tube and the choice was so big and quality so high I would have had difficulty choosing.
It was very busy. Crowds were dense and the going was at times slow, made slower by the need to always keep an eye out for a cosplay weapon almost (accidentally) hitting you as the wonder walked by! Some booths were very popular and had lengthy lines, and in a couple of cases (Good Smile, Nikke) this prevented me from getting a good look. After about three hours I was tired and overburdened – I’d made the fools error of buying heavy books early – and found a quiet corner to eat my $29 lunch. It was better than I expected, and I enjoyed it while the girl in Miku cosplay sitting next to me detached her pigtails to brush the frizz out of them.
After lunch I made a brief trip to my hotel to empty my bags before immediately returning to the con. It was just after 1 pm by now, and the crowds had multiplied. But I was motivated and soldiered on, and around 4 pm – six hours after the door had opened – I had visited every booth.
And then I discovered the lower level!
I’d walked past these escalators many times, but I didn’t know there was a ‘gaming and community hall’ on the lower level. I went down for a look and quickly decided to pretend I’d never seen it and returned to the main hall. I think the gaming and community hall was mostly dedicated to fan booths related to video/computer/TRPG games as well as various anime or gaming clubs, but it was also quite large and I saw a few professional-looking booths so maybe there was something worth seeing? I’ll never know 🙂
I’ll also add I all but completely ignored the large autograph section, most of whom were either US voice actors or Japanese creators that required a lottery-won ticket to get an autograph from! I wandered close enough to read one price list, which was $70 for a simple autograph from a voice actress I’d never heard of before.
I then spent another couple of hours speedrunning a second pass of all the booths, including a few I’d missed the first time. I bought some more stuff, saw even more impressive cosplay, but eventually was so exhausted it was time to leave. I’d lasted about eight hours since the doors had opened, which I think means I got my moneys worth!
I had a great time – much more than I expected to be honest – and almost wish I could return tomorrow. It was a very full day, and this post only scrapes the surface of what I saw and did. For instance I didn’t mention this:
Or when a vtuber tried to interview me, or when the girl I bought a postcard from couldn’t speak English (she was Korean), or how I used my roguish charm to bag a couple of freebies. Or a dozen other events I’ve forgotten since I’m so tired right now.
I’ll probably follow up in a few days with my haul. I didn’t buy that much, but I think I got a few items you may like to see.