ANIME NYC 2025 has concluded another amazing year. From the panels, to the exhibit hall, merch, interactive booths, cosplays, and more; it was another STACKED year at Anime NYC. And four days at that: For the first time, Anime NYC was a four-day show con and what a time it was.
The con was open from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday for attendees to get a preview of the con, with previews of the Exhibit Hall, events, and panels. The most stacked panel was the Netflix panel that showed previews to returning anime/animation shows such as “Sakamoto Days” and “Blue Eye Samurai” and including announcements from Netflix and their time partner, Lucasfilm with Star Wars Visions Volume 3. Truly a way to kick in Anime NYC weekend. In total there were 148,000 in attendance this year compared to last year’s 101,000 attendees.
While Thursday was a chill preview and didn’t reflect those numbers as much, Friday through Sunday heavily reflected them. Friday, opened from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., was a jampacked exciting day. I had the opportunity of witnessing amazing panels and being a part of some fun cosplay meetups. The anime SPYxFAMILY had a special panel on Friday at the main stage. This panel included Kenichiro Matsuda, the voice actor for Bond Forger and Emiri Kato, the voice actor of Becky Blackwell. Both very nervous but very excited. They also included translators, both English & Japanese translators as well as ASL translators. This is the Japanese VAs first time in New York ever as panelist but very happy to be with the fans. They talked about the upcoming season 3 while also sharing their favorite moments about the show so far. We even got a special video from the JP voice actor for Anya. She answered some questions and talked about her experience in New York and how she loved the scene with Bond where “he becomes a part of the family” and with Becky where “they go shopping and have a good time.” She enthusiastically let the fans know that season 3 is going to be jam packed, and “ … even a certain mother is gonna appear again.” She had some questions for her castmates who were there in person. She asked them which character they would pick from the show, and Matsunda said “Loid. No, the handler.” And Kato picked Becky because “She’s the rich character and New York is expensive.” Overall the panel was amazing and had a lot of fun moments. I got to be a part of the Fairy Tail cosplay meetup which was really cool and nostalgic. I also witnessed the Love and Deepspace Cosplay meetup with my lover which was Chaotically fun. Just some of the many cosplay meetups that took place as well as the different wonderful cosplays that were showcased.
There were a range of cosplays from animes, games, and different media like Sailor moon, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Love and Deepspace, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, DanDaDan, Bleach, Monster High, Jujustu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Alien Stage, Pokemon, My Hero Academia, and so many more wonderful cosplays. Speaking of DanDaDan, there was an awesome panel held on Saturday with all 4 voice actors, Abby Trott who voices Momo, A.J. Beckles who voices Okarun, Aleks Le who voices Jiji, and Lisa Reimold who voices Aira. The panel consisted of a special behind the scenes look for the continuing season of DanDaDan and also gave us different surprises throughout the panel. It was electrifying and lively. There were so many places to shop in the Exhibit Hall. The exhibit hall and artist alley were filled with so much exclusive and nonexclusive merch and opportunities to shop from all different fandoms of anime, cartoon, and more. Places like pin central, Oh my Senpai shop, different anime and game artists selling their art and interacting with fans. Merch for media like Soul Eater, Sailor Moon, Studio Ghibli, Love and Deepspace, Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Apothecary Diaries, and SO MUCH MORE. After observing and having a time in the Exhibit hall, I went to meet with some friends for the One Piece Cosplay meetup. Some cosplay meetups were fun while the others were a bit crazy. I would definitely recommend mics for the cosplay meetups in the future because it was hard to hear but besides that seeing all the lovely fans and lovers in one collective place was beautiful. It was very lively.
Sunday, the last day of Anime NYC was lively and chill, and very bittersweet because it was the end but what a way to end it: A nice day to get any last-minute shopping done, and check out any remaining booths and events that you might not yet have seen. That’s exactly what I did. I do hope that they continue to work on the wi-fi situation with Javitis because that was another struggle that I noticed a lot of people dealt with this year, me being one of those people. Besides that, another amazing year at Anime NYC 2025. For all of my Anime lovers who live in New York, if you want to experience Anime NYC for yourself, make sure to mark your calendars for next year — Aug. 20-23, 2026 — for four full days. I hope to see you there next year.