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New York Anime Festival 2007
December 7-9, 2007
Jacob Javits Center
New York, NY, USA
*Photo Gallery*
The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) is an event that many anime fans and members of the press have been waiting for for months. In an attempt to make up for the lack of the Big Apple Anime Fest as the major New York City anime con, NYAF has tried in its inaugural year to create a convention of large scope and credibility. I was only able to attend the con for one day due to my personal schedule, but even in only one Saturday, I was convinced of the potential of this startup convention.
First things first, the New York Anime Festival is a breeze when it comes to transportation, but a horror when it comes to lodging. Once you're in the New York City area, all you need is a quick train into New York Penn Station and a quick walk down a few blocks to the Jacob Javits Center. I came from New Jersey, and had no problems with public transportation. (My friend took the bus, and also did not run into trouble) However, finding a cheap New York hotel is not easy. Luckily, I only went for one day and live in NJ, or I would have faced major problems.
As soon as you catch sight of the Javits Center, you'll get a sense of the scale of this convention. While NYAF did not rent out the entire center (only a small part of it as a matter of fact), the building's all-glass architecture is stunning. Registration was easy, and started nice and early for people like me who wanted to get to the front of the line. Everything in registration ran extremely smoothly, to the convention's credit. Once I got on the entrance line and waited a while, it became clear that getting there early had been a good idea. The line stretched completely around the perimeter of a massive, warehouse-sized dealer's room not being used by the convention.
Having only been to two different conventions before (Anime Boston and AnimeNEXT), the show floor at NYAF blew me away. The dealer's room not only had an enormous number of tables, but also happened to be nicely carpeted. While I very rarely buy from the limited and predictable dealers at AnimeNEXT, I ended up purchasing a lot from the NYAF dealer's room. Before departing for my first panel, I had already bought the classic 80's anime film Golgo 13 and three awesome posters (from Death Note, One Piece, and Serial Experiments Lain).
Reviewing is an Art To top of pageThe first panel of the day was conveniently my personal highlight of the convention as well. In "The Art of Reviewing Anime," Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy (Hey, Answerman!) and Bamboo Dong (Shelf Life), and Otaku USA/Anime World Order's Daryl Surat quite simply gave tips on reviewing anime and manga. The panel--which I obviously attended so I could improve my review-writing skills for Ani-Gamers--was really pretty informative, and it was made even more exciting because Zac, Bamboo, and Daryl are three of my favorite figures in the anime press scene. (If you're reading this, guys: "hi!") For those interested, here is a summary of the tips given by the trio:
- Saying something is cliched is, in itself, a cliche.
- Write with your own voice, but don't make the review about you.
- Don't get bothered by people who say you're biased.
- Always write subjectively.
- Make your review timeless, and very importantly don't use internet memes. (Daryl refuted this claim later in the day during Dave and Joel's NYAF podcast)
- Daryl prefers to review whole series, but Zac and Bamboo go the ANN way with separate DVDs. They almost got in a real argument about this topic.
- They did agree that single volume reviews are the current trend, but whole series reviews are the future of the reviewing scene. (That's what we do, so yay!)
- Get a feeling for the Japanese voice acting, but as an English speaker, you shouldn't review the Japanese audio track.
Next up was Anime Outtakes, a panel held by Tom Wayland and Mike Sinterniklaas, two respected voice actors and ADR directors. The way "Anime Outtakes" work is that often, when actors are recording in the studio, they will either mess up their lines, crack a joke, or even engineer a parodical sequence. Tom and Mike spent the entire panel (after running off to buy some technical supplies from a nearby store) showing us clips from various anime and Turkish soap operas (Tom's company did some voicing for it).
The outtakes included such voice talent as Sean Schemmel (Goku, DBZ) and Dan Green (Yami Yugi, Yu-Gi-Oh), and the anime used included Twin Signal, Magic User's Club, and the Cutey Honey live action film. The clips were pretty funny, but Wayland and Sinterklaas had a little trouble stretching what was often the same joke ("blah blah blah I forgot my lines") across an entire hour of panel time. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the panel, and the hosts were very entertaining.
Kobun Shizuno v. Patrick Macias To top of pageThe Guest of Honor at the convention, one Kobun Shizuno, was not the most high-profile guest, but he was definitely interesting, and there sure were a lot of people excited to meet him. My camera decided to run out of batteries right before the event, so I ended up borrowing my friend Jon's for the rest of the day. Kobun Shizuno was a small part in lots of big things. For example, he worked as a storyboarder on Giant Robo, co-directed Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are [Not] Alone, and is directing the new live-action Fist of the North Star movie. Interviewed by Patrick Macias of Otaku USA Magazine, Shizuno divulged his deepest, darkest secrets. (namely just how he got into anime, how he sees himself as a director, etc.)
Shizuno-san went through a few stages in his anime career. Originally he liked anime, but soon lost interest. Then one day, when he was in his 20's or so, Shizuno saw some old show (he doesn't remember the title) on TV, and it clicked--he wanted to make animation. He started off doing production work, and soon realized that he would not be able to become a director easily. When the topic of questions moved to G.I. Joe Sigma 6 (directed by Shizuno), Shizuno let us all know the answer to the age-old question: his favorite G.I. Joe character is Tunnel Rat. Kobun seemed very optimistic about his career and the anime industry in general, saying that he faced no major difficulties in getting where he is today, and that he focuses on fullfilling his visions, never on the problems he might face. Additionally, he was very thrilled about the possibilities that digital animation is opening up to animators.
Then...the conversation turned to Evangelion. You knew it had to happen. As co-director, Shizuno helped with additional filming and editing, so his position is not as crucial as the title makes it sound. According to Shizuno, the staff of Rebuild was unbelievably excited to be participating in such an influential project, and they all put in an incredible effort. When asked about his feelings on meeting legendary Gainax director Hideaki Anno, Kobun simply stated that he was a "brilliant...hard-to-forget person" and an "exceptional individual."
Finally, the lucky audience was shown a world-premiere of the trailer for Shizuno's first original work: a new anime series called Cross Climb. The somewhat cheesily narrated trailer showed the story of an English woman who enters an MMORPG-like program called Cross Climb. It is a world of dreams where she can "find a new her," but there is, as always, something sinister beneath the surface. While I will commend the series for it's high production values and noble attempts at 3-D animation, the trailer left me with nothing but disappointment. With all of it's flashiness, Cross Climb looks like just another overhyped, unoriginal action show. We'll have to wait and see if Shizuno's largely successful career will continue into Cross Climb.
FREE STUFF! Also Anime News Network To top of pageThe Anime News Network panel was interesting, if a little uneventful. Nothing particularly interesting was announced, and it was really just some Q&A with some of the minds behind the website. These included founder Justin Sevakis, editor-in-chief Chris MacDonald, executive editor Zac Bertschy, and managing editor Bamboo Dong. And making the panel completely awesome, they also gave out free anime to anyone who asked a good question. (After asking what anime got each of them truly interested in the genre, I got my hands on a Spiral boxset, which so far looks like it's worth how much I payed for it)
Geek Nights and Midget Hookers To top of pageThe next hour I split between the Geek Nights live podcast, some random anime screenings, and the Protoculture Addicts panel. At the beginning of Geek Nights (the only part I saw), they talked about their first time at a convention, which was OhioCon. During a bout of drunkenness at the convention, the two ended up playing some Settlers of Catan in the lobby of the hotel. Suddenly, some people came up and started playing with them. As Rym and Scott said, "We were 90% sure they were hookers, but we were 100% sure they were midgets."
The Longest Running Anime and Manga--Yeah, Yeah, We Get It Already To top of pageJust like the Anime News Network panel, this one was not particularly thrilling, but was still fairly informative. Chris, Zac, Bamboo, and another guy I don't know from Protoculture Addicts were running the panel, in which they mainly just answered questions about the direction the magazine was going. As was to be expected, there was much mention of Protoculture Addicts being the longest running anime and manga magazine.
We've Got Naruto On the Cover! To top of pageNext up was yet another magazine panel. This time it was the brand-new magazine Otaku USA, and a panel of 4 writers for the magazine, as well as editor-in-chief Patrick Macias. First they introduced themselves: Daryl Surat from Anime World Order, Dave Riley from Dave and Joel's Fast Karate for the Gentleman, Ed Chavez from MangaCast, and Erin F. from the Ninja Consultants. (Yes, they all have podcasts) Soon, Patrick was reminding us to buy the newest issue, which has Naruto on the cover! "Maybe a few of you have heard of it," remarked Patrick.
Then we were introduced to how their magazine runs. As Mr. Macias reminded us, "It's not that we're better. We're just different." Of course, Dave chimed in with the makeshift Otaku USA catchphrase of the day: "Differently better. Or, perhaps, betterly different?" In no time, though, the audience was able to eat up half of the panel's time with what could have been an interesting topic: the use of the word "otaku." Regarded in Japan as a derogatory term, people wondered about the implications of using the word otaku on a magazine cover. Soon, Patrick had satisfactorily answered the question, but that wasn't enough for the masses. The questions kept coming, each a slightly changed version of the last, like some sort of carousel of pain.
Eventually, we trudged through the crap to the good part, where the writers discussed what it's like working for Otaku USA, and their attitudes towards their work. According to Patrick, "[Our writers] write about what they want, not what they have to." For example, they had a large segment on the classic anime Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato), which is clearly not the kind of mainstream stuff Newtype talks about. (Daryl tells me that he's writing a Golgo 13 article for next issue, too!) Overall, the panel was pretty fun. The atmosphere was much more laid back than the more professional (not always a good thing) mood of the Protoculture Addicts panel. And at the end I stepped up and had a brief chat with Ed Chavez and Patrick Macias, congratulating Patrick on a job well done at all of his events, and receiving a pin and poster from him.
The train ride back on Saturday night was relatively quick and painless, up until I missed my stop by about 2 seconds, and had to walk twice the distance to get home. The New York Anime Festival was a great experience, especially for someone who has not really attended a bigger, more corporate convention before. The guests of honor were not as famous as the ones that usually appear at places like Otakon, but the minor guests, like Patrick Macias, Daryl Surat, Rym and Scott, and Justin Sevakis, are rare treats for those who keep up with the anime internet scene. There were a whole lot of people in attendance, so I hope to see an even bigger and better installment of NYAF in 2008, when I will surely attend again.
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