It's that time of year again! New York Anime Festival (NYAF) has come around and this time it doesn't fail to please! Unfortunately, this is the last of this young convention we will be seeing. At least I had the opportunity to attend this wonderful convention this year. But don't worry! At least New York Comic Con (NYCC) will be making it's return next year. [hidepost]
All NYAF woes aside, the convention was a huge success! I've been to this convention once before. It was pretty large considering how new it was then but this year, it was even larger! There were a tremendous amount of aisles and places to buy all sorts of merchandise from a sushi maker, corsets, kimonos, posters, and of course manga and anime. At every convention, I try to save my money up during these hard times. Unfortunately, there's always something for everyone to buy. Although this was an anime convention, I saw Korean CD's from Big Bang to SNSD being sold! Like I said, something for everyone.
But the booths weren't the only attractions. This convention showed many panels and booths featuring the hit anime and manga, Soul Eater! The American cast of Soul Eater showed up at the convention speaking with fans and signing autographs. Even illustrator and cartoonist, Eric Maruscak, made an amazing chalk mural of the main cast of Soul Eater. It was definitely one of the main attractions of the convention as many people came to watch as Maruscak completed his illustration.
Of course that wasn't the only attraction! There were so many guests, it was difficult to choose where to go! To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino was invited to NYAF. His most famous work is Mobile Suit Gundam, which was first aired in 1979. This was considered a major part of animation history since it was the first realistic portrayal of robots in an animation series. Of course with the success of the first series, there have been many spin-offs of the series including Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Of course, this wasn't Tomino's only ground breaking work. Tomino's first work in the animation field started with Mushi Productions where he scripted and storyboarded the original Astro Boy! In honor of the new Astro Boy movie being released soon, Astro Boy himself had been walking about and taking pictures with the con-goers as well.
With all this excitement, we haven't even gotten through everything! Musical guests this year included one of Japan's most famous girl groups AKB48! This girl group was created in 2005 by Yasushi Akimoto with a phenomenal 48 members! Of course with so many members, they are split up into several sub-groups. This year at NYAF, a select few members of the group were here to make their first US performance!
Our good friends and dance group ichiP! were also musical guests at this convention! They taught and performed several popular anime dances including "Hare Hare Yukai" and the dance from the infamous Legend of Zelda commercial (which they also performed at AnimeNext 2009 with us)! Unfortunately, I wasn't around to see them but I heard great things from their panels at NYAF! We're always cheering for all four of you here at AMIN!
There were many demonstrations and performances that were simply amazing including a demonstration from the Byakokan Dojo! They taught everyone how to really use a sword by showing the Toyama Ryu Batto Jutsu style. Of course a cardboard sword made to look like Ichigo's oversized zanpakuto isn't exactly going to protect oneself but this is definitely an eye opener for those who are interested in studying an art of swordsmanship.
I also had the pleasure of attending a panel called Japanese Music in the US Market: Opportunities and Obstacles. This panel touched on the many different aspects of the music market. Music artists such as BoA and Utada Hikaru were discussed as they both had made attempts in breaking into the US music market. Also, Sony Music Japan has made a new approach into the music market. Singer and songwriter BECCA has already made her Japan debut in which she released her single "Perfect Me," which was used for the Japanese TV show "Damages." Now, BECCA has just released her EP today titled "Kickin’ & Screamin’," which includes her song "I'm ALIVE!," the ending theme for the popular anime series "Kuroshitsuji." Her album "ALIVE!!" is preparing for it's US release in 2010!
This convention was definitely worth going to this year. Unfortunately, there will be no New York Anime Festival next year but there will be another New York Comic Con. As a regular con-goer, it's a shame to see such an amazing convention come to an end but I do expect great things from New York Comic Con next year.
Check out the photos from the New York Anime Festival! [/hidepost]
Related posts:
