Anime NYC 2024 Recap: Bigger, Not Necessarily Better

Anime NYC, New York City’s premiere anime convention, has been in November since its inception in 2017. But this year, for the first time, the event took place in August. Held August 23-25, this move allowed them to take up the entire Javits Center (except the extension), which promised a larger offering for fans – and the increased attendance to go along with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice that much of a difference.

For the first time in over a decade, I went to a convention as a regular, non-press attendee. After last year’s stressful, last-minute confirmations, I decided to just buy my tickets for Anime NYC this year. And while I missed the press lounge (and the dedicated press entrance!), it was nice to be able to sit in a panel without trying to live tweet, or having to plan my schedule around what would get the most traffic on social media. However, having to come through the fan entrance made me realize that Anime NYC did not seem to have prepared for a larger crowd at all.

Line management continues to be a problem for Anime NYC. Each day, I showed up well after open and found myself confronted with a line. A line to get in, two and a half hours after the exhibit floor opened? That’s because they were funneling the entire crowd into two bag scanners, and once you went through the scanners, everyone was directed to one entrance. Let me tell you how annoying it is, to have to walk past at least a dozen perfectly functional doors just to get to the designated entrance. That makes sense first thing in the morning, when you’re trying to corral the line before there is anywhere for people to go. But at 12:30 on a Saturday, I should be able to just walk right into the building.

Other issues with line management involved the Sakura Stage. With the entirety of the Javits open to them, they used the opportunity to turn 1E, one of the lower halls, into a giant panel room that seated well over 1000 people. Sadly, they did not seem to have planned on how to manage a line for it. I only attended one panel there – the Toho Animation official Haikyu!!  panel on Saturday (which except for the line issues was awesome, 10/10 no notes) – but they struggled to manage the crowd lining up for the panel. There was a lot of confusion and a lot of line-cutting.

The thing about a bigger convention is that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. Yes, there were some obvious pros to having the entire Javits. Being able to use 1E as a panel room allowed them to have multiple big panels at once, rather than only having the Main Stage. But there were a lot of people upset that they weren’t able to get bigger names to fill out those panel rooms and that there was too much focus on VTubers. Previous years definitely seemed to have more oomph – more screenings and premieres, more concerts, more industry panels, more guests from Japan. 

I personally liked the panel schedule, but that’s because I went for the smaller panels. Most of the panels I attended had a queer slant to them (“The Rise of Queer Manga”, “Queer Themes in Haikyu!!“, “Gender, Genre, and Games in Sports Anime”, etc.), which I really loved. Nonetheless, I did miss the huge draws – like Hajime Isayama in 2022. And in previous years, I almost always came away with a handful of new anime that I wanted to check out. This year, I just left with a sudden urge to rewatch Haikyu!!. (Which I am, by the way. It’s been ages.)

There were some concerns that moving the con to August would affect the guest list. There are at least three major anime conventions over the summer, which could have been why they were unable to get some bigger names to attend. But it also could be that they had three less months to plan than usual, as they normally would have had until November to put a schedule together. Next year will be the true test.

Another plus was that they were able to move gaming – tabletop, console, and arcade – to its own area in 1B, which made it a nice little oasis. But they still had autographing and Artist Alley on the show floor, and honestly, Artist Alley at the very least should be off on its own to help thin the crowd – particularly on Saturday, which was the only day that sold out. Not to mention that many people were confused by the layout – Artist Alley bled into the show floor but didn’t use the same aisle designations.

A complaint that I heard a lot last year was that it felt very much like a purchase con – you buy a ticket just to come in and buy stuff. This year there were a lot of similar complaints. Actually, this year’s show floor seemed even less than last year’s, which is honestly saying something. There was a distinct lack of, shall we say, corporate presence. There were a number of anime mainstays – such as Kodansha, HIDIVE, TOKYOPOP, Toei – that were either absent or had a much smaller booth than usual. As long as major companies continue to not have a presence on the exhibit floor, it’s going to be filled with small-time vendors who are selling the same figures at a markup.

Plus, the show floor felt super lackluster this year. Without the corporate presence, there just isn’t much to do. Even Crunchyroll had a massively reduced presence this year. Last year there were at least photo ops. This year, even those were few and far between. VIZ had a Naruto photo op, and Bandai brought back the My Neighbor Totoro photo op (always a favorite!), but Crunchyroll only had the Solo Leveling experience and no photo ops at all. Last year, when they were in the River Pavilion, they had, like, five.

The River Pavilion was home to everything cosplay this year. Including, after multiple years of me suggesting it, little photo op stations! This was something they started doing at New York Comic Con a couple of years ago that I thought would be perfect for Anime NYC. Last year, they had backdrops but nothing else. This year, there were small sets with props and everything for cosplayers (or anyone) to take photos. That was a nice addition, even if I didn’t take advantage.

As usual, I had a good time, but I do think that they can do better. Next year, I hope that they are able to utilize some of the extension as well. I think if they have the panels in the extension, the way that NYCC does, they can use both 1A and 1E for other purposes. Like, for example, autographing and Artist Alley. I also hope that they can draw some bigger names – not just as guests but as exhibitors as well – so that they can have a more robust schedule and just have more things to do. I miss the activations and all of the photo ops.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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