Anime NYC is the 7th for me in a series of cons and expos that started back in July. All of these conventions along with one festival, my first multi day festival actually is a return in what has been a missed normal for me. Being able to go outside and be amongst people. The moment I walked back into the Javits Center, the first Anime NYC since 2019, I was home.
The first day of the con started off the same as any other, slow with fans and didn't pick up until later on. I didn't know how much later on it would be though as the lines for both badges and more importantly vaccine wristbands had thousands waiting out in the cold for over 2 hours just to get inside the building. It was a disaster that event organizers rightfully accepted responsibility for and corrected as the weekend went on. Welcome to the new normal for events in 2021.
As I stepped on a show floor I hadn't been on in 2 years I realized several things had changed. There were less cosplayers than I was used to and it was hard to find the ones who were around as the cosplay meet-up area had moved to the second floor atrium area, away from the ground floor where photographers normally gather to do photo shoots. Also, Genshin Impact had been released and gotten really popular over the time we've been gone and it shows. Between the booth traffic and the cosplay, a game seemingly looked at as a BOTW (Breath of the Wild) clone when first previewed had exploded into a beloved property.
The rest of the show floor was very familiar as booths like Crunchyroll were accounted for and would premiere the 1000th episode of One Piece on Saturday night downstairs for those lucky enough to get a wristband for the screening. Elsewhere there was a ton of merchandise on sale as art prints, tees, hoodies, etc dominated more than in previous years. There were also some cool racing cars from Senpai Sqaud decorated with anime decals towards the back of the show floor. Despite all there was to see, the view of the thousands of people outside the Javits Center loomed in the background anytime you got close to a window that showed how many were still waiting to get inside. First day in the books, 2 more to go.
Saturday was more like normal, besides the cosplay photo area as people were able to get into the building much quickly than on Friday. Sunday was more of the same but it looked like less people had come than the previous day. In all it was a fun event as always but the line issues that plagued it as well as it being a return to big crowds had some holding off on attending until 2022. Hopefully things will get back normal for every event next year but for now it was good to be back even if this year feels like a work in progress.
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