Rice Digital at Anime NYC
We’re more than a week removed from Anime NYC, but I’ve just now gotten back to reality after my long trip abroad, so it’s time for me to sort through some of my thoughts on what has become one of the largest anime conventions in the English-speaking world.
Set in the midst of one of the most populous and diverse cities on the planet, Anime NYC continues to do many things right while making baffling decisions that threaten to derail an otherwise vibrant and enticing event.
With tens of thousands of anime fans descending upon the Javits Centre in the heart of Manhattan, here is what happened during my time at this confusing and exciting convention.
What Anime NYC got right
When you put your convention in the middle of New York City, it raises certain expectations. It also attracts artists and talent from across the US, which quickly became the highlight of Anime NYC for me. Anime voice actors lined the back of the main hall, offering fans the chance to engage directly with some of their favourite figures in the community. However, the biggest attraction for me was the huge range of artists that filled Artists Alley.
After spending years seeing the same handful of artists at UK conventions, it was exciting to see so many new-to-me artists with their work on display. I spent the bulk of my time on the convention floor walking up and down these stalls, marvelling at the breadth of styles on offer. I picked up multiple new prints to adorn my walls, something that I’ve been eager to do for a while now.
Between shopping trips, I filled my time with the multiple panels that the event had scheduled. The most exciting of these was the Trigun Stampede panel, which gave a sneak peek at the first episode of the upcoming anime. With so many people in attendance, many panels opted for a lottery system that gave fans a fair shot at getting into the audience without having to wait in line on the day. While the system wasn’t entirely fool-proof – the convention’s first attempt at implementing it overloaded their servers – it did have the appearance of fairness and freed us up for more time on the convention floor.
What went wrong
The biggest problem at Anime NYC was something that has plagued conventions for years and always brings out the English in me – improper queuing. Upon first entry, fans were corralled into waiting areas within a huge, empty space within the Javits Centre. This was clearly done to prevent fans from having to wait outside in the cold New York air, but it seemed rather contrary to multiple COVID protections that organisers put into place. Why bother doing vaccine checks and posting mask requirements if you are then going to force attendees into a tight group indoors for what ended up being at least an hour?
However, the worst queuing failure that I witnessed on the day happened as a result of the Distant Worlds concert on Friday. Fans paid extra for the opportunity to see this event, which sees Final Fantasy music performed by some of the best classical musicians in the world. With Yoko Shimomura in attendance, it promised to be a special event, but getting in was a nightmare.
Despite sending out tickets via email ahead of time, fans needed to wait in line to trade their tickets for wristbands. This line moved disastrously slowly, forcing many to wait for well over two hours only for the organisers to ditch the system at the last moment for the sake of speed. Even though they delayed the start of the concert by more than half an hour, I ended up missing the start waiting in this unnecessary queue which ate up a huge chunk of my precious time at the convention.
Anime NYC offers a great time for anime fans, despite these baffling choices by the event organisers. With several rows of artists to fawn over and some fascinating panels to check out, it is well worth attending if you have the opportunity. Hopefully the next time I’m able to make an appearance they’ll have sorted the frustrating organisational issues that brought the day to a grinding halt. This isn’t a new convention by any stretch, so these are the sorts of problems that should have been solved well before the 2022 event took place.
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