 New
York Anime Festival 2009 Review
Friday, September 25 - Sunday, September 27, 2009
 New
York Anime Festival 2009 was a three-day event held in New York City's
Jacob K. Javits Center. The NY Anime Festival (NYAF) featured a host of
guests from Japan and the United States as well as a range of activities
including an exhibit hall, panel discussions, screenings, art exhibitions,
concert performances, cosplay, meet the guests receptions, and much more.
AsiaFinest was at the NYAF all three days to cover as much as we can.
Technically 4 days if you count the pre-party at Dave and Buster. So much
to cover in so little time. There was always something going on in different
areas. It was hard to decide which event/panel to cover during the anime
festival. We rushed around and tried our best to cover the most popular
events. AsiaFinest took hundreds of pictures
and videos of the NY anime festival 2009, so be sure to check them out.
Thursday September 24th: Pre Party
Jointly produced by NYAF and Del Rey Manga, this special event is both
a celebration of NY Anime Festival as well as a celebration of Del Rey
Manga's Fifth Anniversary. The New York Anime Festival Pre-Party was held
at Dave and Busters in Time Square NYC. It was a free event for anime
fans to partake in food, drink, giveaways, and even a special manga book
shaped cake crafted by Baltimore's famed Charm City Cakes. Cosplay singer
Reni was also there to meet and greet fans. There was a free anime screening
after the cake cutting, but most stayed around Dave and Busters for the
arcade.
Friday September 25th: Day 1
Day 1 was filled with excitement. The festival crowd was hyped and full
of energy. The opening ceremony kicked off around 2pm. It was nice and
short with an introductory speech and the introduction of a special guest,
Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino! He went on stage, cut a red ribbon, and
officially kicked off the NYAF 2009! FUNimation industry panel was one
of the first companies to announce their future plans and video releases.
At the same time the Cosplay Dating Game went on in another panel room.
Other interesting panels throughout the first day was "How to Become
Famous on the Internet", "Zombie Survival", "Voice
Acting 101", and more. People that weren't at the various panels
spent most of their time mingling with fellow anime fans or browsing and
shopping at all the unique merchants in the huge exhibit hall. There you'll
find merchants selling everything from cosplay costumes to many unimaginable
weapons including a medieval mace ball and chain! The last event that
we covered for day 1 is the AMV Contest that lasted from 7:45pm to 10pm.
There were a lot of great anime music videos ranging from action, drama,
comedy, and romance.
Saturday September 26th: Day 2
 Day
2 was the most packed out of the three days. The cosplayers came out in
full force today. Anime characters ranged from old school favorites "Dragon
Ball Z" and "Sailor Moon" to the popular "Naruto"
and "Bleach", and even a gigantic Bumblebee from the Transformer
movie! AKB48 made their NY and USA debut today at the anime festival starting
with a Q&A where fans had a chance to ask questions. AKB48 then gave
a 30 minutes concert preview for a taste of things to come at their Sunday
Webster Hall concert. The exhibit hall today was jam packed. We noticed
that there was a lot of unique things that were sold out from Day 1, so
people who came on Saturday missed out on some unique weaponry. Finally
at around 6:30pm the main event that everyone was waiting for is the Yume
Cosplay Masquerade. A costume showcase that is part fashion show and part
talent show.
Sunday September 27th: Day 3
The final day of the anime festival. We were actually pretty tired from
covering the first two (three counting pre-party) days from opening to
closing time. We didn't get a chance to cover much of the panels that
was going on at the Jacob K. Javits Center on the final day. Instead we
headed over to Webster Hall to cover AKB48
Live USA Concert Debut and Far East To East Showcase. We decided to
give those two events their own write-up. You can read the detailed reviews
and enjoy the pictures and videos on their linked review page.
Conclusion:
AsiaFinest.com had a great time covering the New York Anime Festival!
The exhibit halls were filled with a ton of merchants who had rare and
unique items. We even brought a few things ourselves. We met a lot of
cool people and enjoyed all the guest panels and events that took place.
It's a great experience for people who are new to Anime as well as Anime
veterans. AsiaFinest has covered anime events in the past, and this was
by far one of the best anime festival that we had been to! We are definitely
looking forward to next year New York Anime Festival 2010. The NYAF 2010
will actually be held with New York Comic Con at the same place, Jacob
K. Javits Center, on October 8 - 10, 2010. Two huge events in one. So
be sure to mark it on your calendar and hopefully we'll see you there!
New
York Anime Festival 2009 Pictures || New
York Anime Festival 2009 Videos
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