While I spent most of Anime NYC watching countless hoolive-related events, I also wanted to convey my thoughts on many other topics.
Join
In previous years, Anime NYC often had trouble attracting attendees to the Jacob Javits Center. This year, I didn’t hear any loud noises, although I don’t know to what extent that was a result of improved planning and how much it was because the weekend was blessed with nice weather.
Crowd
As Anime NYC grows and the COVID-19 pandemic persists, foot traffic and crowd sizes are topics of interest to me. That said, I found the convention center relatively easy to navigate this year. While congestion still occurs from time to time, I never really felt like a canned sardine, even in places where last year it could have been very cramped, such as Artist Alley.
In terms of wearing masks, at the time it was becoming increasingly uncommon in New York City in general, which was unfortunate. I still hold out some hope that conference organizers here and elsewhere might be prepared to be more stringent with mask policies if things get worse again, but for now, I just have may advise you to do so for your own safety.
Dashboard Witches come from Mercury
What a surprise—I actually did something unrelated to hololive this year.
When I went to Anime NYC to attend the Gundam: The Witch from Mercury panel, I was delighted to see how large the crowd was. The line basically stretched from one end of the conference space to the other and had people of all ages and genders. That’s only natural, given G-Witch’s pioneering nature both in animation and anime in general, but it’s still an interesting sight to behold.
WARNING: GUNDAM WITCH FROM MERCURY SPOILERS
The main takeaway from the panel was that everyone involved with the series sought to do something different from GTA and made it clear to what extent G-Witch would chart its own course. Production began in 2019 and they wanted to differentiate themselves with 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 aired.
The producer of G-Witch was there along with the two main actors, Ichinose Kana (Suletta Mercury) and Lynn (Miorine Rembran). I actually interviewed Ichinose a few months ago at Anime Central, but at that time I wasn’t allowed to ask questions related to Gunma. Even though I was just a spectator here, I was happy to at least get some of her perspective as well as everyone else’s.
When asked what they liked about the series, Ichinose and Lynn both expressed agreement. the love for all the different relationships between the characters, and how even the same types of relationships are unique depends on the person involved. The example they give is that of parents and children, and how they each lead to their own interesting conclusions.
Ichinose gets a call about passing the audition after waking up, only to fall back asleep afterwards. Because of this, she thought she might have dreamed it. Lynn was a longtime fan of GTA even before joining the cast, and actually found out about getting the role on her birthday.
Evoking Suletta’s feelings of difficulty interacting with people her own age is something Ichinose worked hard on. As an introvert and a nervous person, she sympathizes with Suletta. Lynn knows Miorine will go through changes, that she will start out bored and prickly but will meet Suletta, start her own company, etc., and become more of herself in the process.
Ichinose had trouble deciding on a favorite scene, but chose one from Episode 21, in which Suletta follows her mother’s mantra “Run, win one. Go ahead, win two” and rethink doing what you can even in difficult circumstances. For Suletta, who always follows her mother and is not her own person, time spent with Miorine and the other students has allowed her to form her own opinions and have her own life and destiny. me.
Lynn’s favorite is the climax of Episode 24, when Suletta gathers the Gundundas and stops Quiet Zero, because it all has the characteristics of “Gundam”: the characters, the music and the mechanics, all of which are expressed. fully displayed. The fact that Suletta actually presents herself as the main character also helps explain why Lynn likes it.
At the end, the two actors did a live reading of a scene from the episode “The Witches from Earth,” which was amazing. Next up is a video about Gundunda sponsoring an F-1 racer, which makes me want to make a joke about the Gundden F-91
Anime NYC 2024 in summer
I want to end by talking about perhaps the biggest news of the con: Anime NYC 2024 will take place in August instead of November. I gave a few thoughts in a previous article, but I I want to clarify my opinion here.
It is rare for conventions to shift dates drastically from one year to the next. Sure, a week or even a month isn’t a problem, but three months is a big difference. It’s helpful that they had plenty of advance warning, but I really feel sorry for those who were planning longer term and may have arranged things under the assumption that Anime NYC would take place in the fall.
I don’t have any inside knowledge as to why LeftField Media made this decision, but I can imagine a number of reasons. First, Anime NYC previously took place the week before Thanksgiving, a holiday where people tend to travel. Second, cold weather can (usually) be difficult to predict: While this year has been pleasant, we’ve seen snowstorms in the past.
August means avoiding such problems. Summer is a time for vacations that don’t necessarily involve seeing family. It makes Anime NYC part of the crowded summer convention circuit, including notably Anime Expo and Otakon. Additionally, Anime NYC mentioned that the entire Javits will be open to the con in 2024, so I doubt that there’s something preventing them from having full access in November.
One problem: While snowstorms aren’t a concern, New York summers are hot and humid, especially in recent years due to climate change. I’m worried that we’re shivering from the cold to the point of passing out in the sun, and if Anime NYC doesn’t get involved, this could become a real problem.
I’m also concerned about Anime NYC trying to compete with Otakon, despite the fact that they’re actually quite different on the anime’s downside: Anime NYC is a very cool product, while Otakon is more grassroots than. That said, this date change could be mutually beneficial since DC and NYC are not far apart. I really hope this is a positive outcome overall.
Regardless, I’ll probably still be attending Anime NYC 2024, and I really won’t know if it will be better or worse until it happens. But I will miss fall in New York City.