Anime NYC 2017 Retrospective

By Alfred Campbell

Anime NYC, It happened about a week ago and I still feel a little excitement for what is to come for the next year convention. This little tidbit that I am about to write is going to be more of a commemorative piece so it may come off as a bit all over the place-- but that is basically how my experience was. I was everywhere and there was so much going on and so much to see yet not enough time to really experience it all if you went for one day (Or two days, like me.) So I will give you a rundown on what my overall experience was like.

First thing first, it was smooth. The lines moved fairly well and organized, there was little crowding and when there was everyone was respectful. No one skipped in line or tried to from what I saw, and even when people were engrossed in a conversation (Me and random individuals mostly.), the patience was there and no one really pushed along. So the environment that could have easily been hectic was chill.  And that's always a good thing.

Crunchyroll did a good job and did well by the premium members of their streaming services, little gifts here and there, Like this cool Crunchyroll bag you could get after waiting on a line for roughly ten minutes and for some events you could get on a premium line. Which means less waiting.

So after that, there was the stroll through the main exhibition floor. Of course, being an anime convention you could bet there was merchandise galore. One that caught my eye in particular was the Bluefin booth. The reason being a bit biased on my part, seen a few figures that had some pretty good detail I could absolutely not let me fly by without taking a closer look.
 

Look at Vegeta, Chilling. 

So after my walk around, I found my way from the merchandise area to the arcade corner; Yes you read that correctly-- there was an arcade. The arcade had a nice variety of things, mostly competitive based game. One section was based on dance step games, one side had rhythm based games which relied on your reflexes with her hands; be it tapping or drumming. Then there was a racing game (Which I was good at), and a sniping game (Not so good at) that was extremely interesting. Then of course there was the fighting game corner, which stemmed from Tekken 7, Street Fighter 5 and Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite. So there was a good amount of options to change your pace up. There was even a section to where you could play board games (I'm sure someone crafted a DND campaign as well, little jealous about that.)
 

Feels like you're a real sniper.

Board games Galore 

So, after my wandering I took a look in a handy dandy guide book I received and looked up the panels and the times they were going to be displayed. There was a grand total of three panel rooms and one main stage room. And each panel room held a different type of event, some tackling anime reveals, some social issues and stigmas with cosplayers and otaku culture, some even workshops on assisting in improving people who post an interest in cosplay. . Among other stuff. .
 

Sorry Jay, It was canceled. 

Anime Diva Concert, Snuck a Pic.

I only made it to three panels, which I shall give each an individual review because quite frankly they were pretty interesting-- Especially the Funimation Peep Show. . . That one was, yea. Just to give you a sample, google front tail anime (18+ Only, don't get in trouble guys.) So all and all, thinking back on it all-- This anime convention for a first was pretty damn amazing I say. The people and vibes were clean and collected, the cosplayers were awesome and friendly, people all seemed to respect each other and even the staff were lively. I honestly cannot wait to see what next year will provide.

 

 

See ya later, Space Cowboy.