Anime NYC 2024 was truly a time! From cosplays to panels, to all the creativity thriving in one place, it was absolutely beautiful. From the moment I walked into the Jacob Javits Convention Center, I felt the community and creativity flowing around me. This year, there were 101,000 attendees — compared to the 65,000 attendees last year, this is a huge jump!
There were cosplay meetups throughout the entire weekend in the river pavilion, including from Soul Eater, JJK, Jojo Bizarre Adventures, one piece, demon slayer, genshin impact, and many, many more. I had the opportunity of participating in the Soul Eater cosplay meetup, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary since its first release on television. It was an amazing time, celebrating Soul Eater with all the cosplayers and fans.
Crunchyroll gave us anime premieres, including “Tower of God” Season 2 and Episode 1 of “Goodbye, Dragon Life.”
The exhibit hall and artist alley had so much going on, from anime merch and art to interactive spaces. Play NYC was a new partner this year and the gaming floor was a massive hit. My friends and I checked it out and let me just say, we were there for hours.
Saturday was the busiest and most fun day. I checked out the Haikyu! panel FLY & CONNECT, hosted by Toho Animation at Sakura Stage. Haikyu fans got some behind-the-scenes insight about the haikyu movie being made, with clips and pre-animated artworks from the movie itself and a Q&A with panelists Keiko Matsushita and Shoichiro Taguchi Matsushita. Taguchi said they very surprised that so many fans supported Haikyu, and specifically the movie. “From the U.S., Asia, Europe, and all over the world, there has been such an overwhelming amount of support.”
When asked what it was like to work on the fourth season of Haikyu as well as the movie, Matsushita responded, “I build the team when going from animator to producers. From production team to music team, I pick the best to bring Haikyu to life. That’s my job!”
I found it interesting when both panelists were talking about the role of a director: “The director is the type of person who has to experience it before he animates it and produces it.”
We got to see more Crunchyroll premieres of shows, including “Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li,” Season 2 of “MF Ghost,” and “Mashle: Magic and Muscles.” A special event panel presented by Aniplex of America featured special guest Aleks Le (from the English cast of “Mash Burnedead”); director Tomonari Tanaka; composer Masaru Yokoyama; producer Sota Furuhashi; and a special music performance from the second season opening theme artist, Creepy Nuts. It was absolutely an amazing time!
Sunday was the chillest day. Some of the day’s cosplay meets included My Hero Academia, Danganronpa, Sonic the Hedgehog, and many more.
There was such a bittersweet sensation in the air as Anime NYC came to an end. While it was fun, there is still a need for some improvements: For example, the WiFi wasn’t the best this year. It was very hard to get online to pay for merchandise in the exhibit hall, and it was also hard to locate and meet up with friends and family because of how bad the WiFi situation was. For the future, I would recommend a stronger WiFi setup to help handle the high volume of attendees, and for the con to bring back the program booklets so people can have them in hand as well. From the community to the events, what a weekend! Whether you are a fan of anime, manga, gaming, etc., Anime NYC is the con for you. There is something for everybody to love and enjoy.
Anime NYC 2025 will take place August 22–24 of next year, so be on the lookout for that badge drop. I hope to see all of you there next year!