While I spent the majority of Anime NYC checking out the plethora of events related to hololive, I also want to broadcast my thoughts on various other topics.
In previous years, Anime NYC would often run into issues with getting attendees into the Jacob Javits Center. This year, I did not hear any major rumblings, though I don’t know to what extent that was the result of improved planning and how much it was because the weekend was blessed by nice weather.
As Anime NYC has grown and the COVID-19 pandemic still lingers, foot traffic and crowd size are topics of concern for me. That said, I found the convention center relatively easy to navigate this year. While bottlenecks did happen on occasion, I never really felt like a canned sardine, even in places where it could get very cramped last year, like the Artist Alley.
In terms of masking, at his point, it’s become increasingly uncommon in New York City as a whole, which is unfortunate. I still hold out a modicum of hope that convention runners here and elsewhere might be willing to get more stringent with a mask policy if things get more dire again, but for now, I can only recommend doing so for your own safety.
Surprise—I actually did something that wasn’t hololive-related this year.
Upon arriving at Anime NYC to attend the Gundam: The Witch from Mercury panel, I was pleased to see how big the turn-out was. The line extended from essentially one end of the convention space to the other, and had people of all ages and genders. It’s only natural, given the pioneering nature of G-Witch both in Gundam and anime as a whole, but it was still a pleasant sight to behold.
WARNING: GUNDAM WITCH FROM MERCURY SPOILERS
The main takeaway from the panel is just how much everyone involved with the series sought to do something different with Gundam and to make it clear that G-Witch would chart its own direction. Production had already begun in 2019, and they had wanted to differentiate it from Iron-Blooded Orphans, even working with the technical director to give the series a different look. A lot of changes happened behind the scenes before the new show even aired.
The producer of G-Witch was there along with the two main actors, Ichinose Kana (Suletta Mercury) and Lynn (Miorine Rembran). I had actually interviewed Ichinose a few months ago at Anime Central, but at the time was not allowed to ask questions pertaining to Gundam. Though I was only an audience member here, I was glad to at least get some of her perspective, as well as the others’.
When asked what they liked about the series, Ichinose and Lynn both expressed a fondness for all the different relationships between characters, and just how even the same types of relationships were unique depending on who was involved. The example they gave was parents and children, and how they all lead to their own interesting conclusions.
Ichinose got the call about passing the audition after waking up, only to fall back asleep after. Because of this, she thought she might have dreamt it. Lynn is a long-time fan of Gundam even before voice acting, and actually found out about landing the role on her birthday.
Evoking Suletta’s sense of difficulty with interacting with people her age was something Ichinose worked hard on. As an introvert who gets anxiety herself, she empathized with Suletta. Lynn was aware Miorine would go through changes, that she would start off bored and prickly but would meet Suletta, get her own company, and so on, and become more of her own person in the process.
Ichinose had a tough time deciding a favorite scene, but chose one from Episode 21, where Suletta takes her mom’s mantra “Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two” and rethinks it to be about doing what you can even in hard circumstances. For Suletta, who always followed her mom and wasn’t her own person, her time with Miorine and the other students allowed her to form her own opinions and have her own life and destiny.
Lynn’s favorite is the climax in Episode 24, when Suletta brings the Gundams together and stops Quiet Zero, due to the sheer Gundam-ness of it all: characters, music, and mecha all on full display. The fact that Suletta truly shows herself as the main character also contributes to why Lynn likes it.
Towards the end, the two actors did a live reading of a scene from the episode “The Witches from Earth,” which was excellent. Following that was a video about how Gundam is sponsoring an F-1 racer, which just made me want to make Gundam F-91 jokes
I want to end by talking about what’s maybe the biggest news of the con: Anime NYC 2024 will be in August instead of November. I already gave a few thoughts in a previous post, but would like to elaborate on my opinion here.
It is uncommon for conventions to move dates so drastically from one year to the next. Sure, a week or even a month isn’t out of the question, but three months is a hell of a difference. The fact that they have a lot of advance warning is helpful, but I do feel for the people who plan longer-term and might have arranged things with the assumption that Anime NYC would be in the fall.
I do not have any insider knowledge about why LeftField Media made this decision, but I can imagine a number of reasons. First, Anime NYC has previously been the week before Thanksgiving, a holiday when people tend to travel. Second, the (typically) cold weather can be unpredictable: While this year was pleasant, we’ve also seen snowstorms in the past.
August means avoiding such issues. The summer is the time for vacations that don’t necessarily involve seeing family. It makes Anime NYC part of the packed summer convention circuit, which includes notably Anime Expo and Otakon. Also, Anime NYC has mentioned that the entire Javits will be open for the con in 2024, so I suspect that there is something preventing them from having full access in November.
One problem: While blizzards won’t be a concern, New York summers are very hot and humid, especially in recent years due to climate change. I worry that we’re trading shivering in the cold to passing out in the sun, and if Anime NYC isn’t on the ball, this can become a real issue.
I also have concerns about Anime NYC trying to compete with Otakon, despite the fact that they’re actually quite different from each other as anime cons: Anime NYC is a very slick product, while Otakon is more grassroots. That said, this date change might be mutually beneficial for them, as DC and NYC aren’t far from each other. I really hope this is a net positive overall.
I will likely attend Anime NYC 2024 regardless, and I really won’t know if it ends up being better or worse until it happens. But I will miss having a fall con season in New York City.
