Monday, April 2, 2007

New York is totally different from the Big Apple

Anime Expo is sometimes derided as having become an industry event, but here comes Reed Exhibitions to show fans what "industry" really means: enter the New York Anime Festival at the Jacob Javits Center this December. Says breathless show manager John McGeary in the press release: "New York finally has an anime event of its own!"

Yes. Because there's never been a recurring anime event, much less one organized by industry, in New York City, with "Anime" and "Fest" in its name. Ever.

Given the NYAF's organization and backing, it seems unlikely that it'll meet the same swift fate as its predecessors (if it had any, which it totally doesn't). The sponsor list should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with New York Comic Con and the American Anime Awards, either--hello, ADV!

With a day dedicated to the trade and Artist Alley prices of $350 a table, it's a far cry from anime conventions as "FANS/Consumers" know them. It's not exactly the death knell of said conventions, which offer some experiences that consumer/trade shows can't and vice versa, but it'll be interesting indeed to see if this signals the start of any larger changes on the anime event scene...

3 comments:

P. Delahanty said...

You totally need to do editorials for AnimeCons.com. Seriously...because what you just typed is what I was thinking when I posted that stupid press release.

I almost didn't post it since the site went up over a month ago and everyone already knew about it. ...so JUST NOW they decide it's news?

Whatever, I posted the press release because it was so f'n rediculous.

Here's a cool tidbit... Whenever the main page of AnimeCons.com says "has issued a press release", it means that I'm annoyed. I do that when I don't think it's news and feel the need to point out that it's only a stupid press release...even though most of the stuff on that page is press releases. I don't really do it consciously, but noticed it a while back. :)

Kalmarova said...

By "editorial" you mean "thinly-disguised skepticism", right? Yeah, I checked the usual news sites and it didn't seem like recent news - but hey! Today's the press release day! So there you go.

Be curious to see how AnimeNext's involvement in this turns out. Interesting opportunity for an established convention that's midsize but not exactly shooting up the charts.

P. Delahanty said...

From what I understand, they were surprised to be listed as a sponsor. They ran the manga library at NYCC, so I assume the same thing is happening at NYAF. ...or at least Reed Expo thinks so.

I'm curious to see if the American Anime Awards move to NYAF or stay with NYCC. (I'd put my money on NYAF.)