Forum - View topicTales Of The Industry - Big Apple Anime Fest
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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If I remember correctly, the first con scheduled after Sep. 11 was that year's Anime Weekend Atlanta. And, yeah, their program guide - and the entire con - were definitely *something*. Our write-up |
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ColonelYao47
Posts: 274 |
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It seems ridiculous that Paris can have Japan Expo and there are other premiere events around the world while New York City has no presence whatsoever. Knowing the logistics, what do you believe an anime convention has to do to crack the NYC code? Waku Waku is the new challenger this year and I'm curious to hear your take with your experience.
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WashuTakahashi
 Posts: 415 Location: Chicago, IL |
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Sad to see these columns won't be regular anymore, but better to have quality posts than ones that are lacking. Looking forward to the future releases
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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Quality over quantity.
Perhaps not a lot of people in relevant positions felt that their stories were interesting enough to be featured in a column. I think it would be interesting to receive stories from 'common folk' but it would be more difficult to source those stories. |
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SpacemanHardy
Posts: 2511 |
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Here's an idea Justin: Have you ever thought of asking any voice actors about any interesting stories they might have? I know Eric Vale told a very detailed, creepy one the last time he came to our local con.
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Supermutant
 Posts: 377 |
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I actually went to 2002 that was the Anime Expo/BAAF one for day. It was my first anime con. I had fun though I wish I had stayed around and done more. I actually still have the program. I was sad that there wasn't a forth one cause I went to philly comic con in 03 and was looking to go back. Hey things worked out cause I found animenext and been going to it since 04. I will always remember that first one. Glad to finally know what happen to it. Web site never updated that I remember. So pretty much left fans always wondering.
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Lumicite
 Posts: 30 |
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All other subsequent conventions pale by comparison to The Big Apple Con.
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DangerMouse
Posts: 4006 |
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Seeing Blood the Last Vampire there was awesome. And the Cowboy Bebop movie premiere at the later one was legendary, it was fantastic seeing that on the big screen.
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nechronius
 Posts: 275 Location: So Cal, USA |
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Too bad I only have stories from the days of the PC gaming industry at the dawn of internet gaming. Quake and John Carmack's Ferrari, Blizzard and Diablo, the dawn of professional gaming as a thing.
Those were the days... |
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Hunter Sopko
 Posts: 259 |
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Despite that, the plaque stating that it was the office for BAAF never came off the door to that conference room. Not until they completely cleared out of the offices.
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Raneth
Posts: 271 |
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Big Apple Anime Fest was my first anime con, back when I was in high school. I'm having a lot of trouble remembering which year I went--I want to say I went to the first one, but I feel like I would remember going to an anime con that close to the Sept 11 attacks, so it must have been the second or third.
Either way, the con was a great experience. I remember standing in line to get into the dealer's room, and catching a screening of Alien Nine (such a confusing, but great, work, like a sci fi Madoka Magica). I also remember seeing really good cosplay for the first time, including an amazing Kilala and an Inu-Yasha who was walking around the con without shoes on. It was also one of the few cons where I met and hung out with new people, and compared notes about anime while we sat around in the hotel lobby. I checked back for years to see if there would be another once I got into college and had more money to go to cons. Sadly it never happened, but I'm happy to be able to remember my first con being in the big apple. 
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xchampion
 Posts: 370 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho |
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Its because Japan and France have a history that goes back to the 17th Century. Go to the France-Japan Relations Wikipedia page and you'll understand. Plus the French love manga/anime more than America by a large margin. As an example of the popularity Japan Expo had an attendance of 240,000 people in 2014. Anime Expo for example had an attendance of 90,500 this year. How would Anime Expo do in New York City? I have no idea and won't speculate on that just because my guess would not be educated in any aspect. I just know that conventions don't do as well in New York because of the facts Justin Stated. New York Comic Con would obviously be the exception to that rule. |
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GhostStalkerSA
 Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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I've heard through the New York Comic Con Crew member grapevine that Waku Waku is turning into a real trainwreck. Peter Tatara, the guy who used to run New York Anime Fest for ReedPop, left that company earlier this year to join the one that was running Waku Waku, and recently left a couple months ago. Another friend of a friend named Brent who was also formerly at ReedPop recently left the company behind Waku Waku as well, while warning us off of working it on the NYCC Crew Facebook page, which was a huge red flag, since previously, he was advertising it a lot on that page. There was a lot of confusion earlier when Brent posted applications to work Waku Waku on our NYCC Crew Facebook page, whether or not it was going to be a paid position like NYCC is now. After he left the company, they posted all new applications, saying that Brent was the one who worked with the old ones and they needed a new set, which was pretty sketch. My boss at Artist Alley at NYCC told me that he offered to help both Peter and the other guy with Waku Waku if they needed the help, even if it wasn't his scene, and they declined, leaving the company shortly thereafter. I was kinda interested in working Waku Waku when the applications were first posted and was thinking of filling one out, then the whole management change thing went down and we found out about it via Facebook. Some Crew members were still interested, as a job's a job, but I'm not too sure about it. I guess I'll wait to see what the ones who worked it say and maybe look into it for next year... Also, there's apparently a new con starting up in White Plains called Liberty City Anime Con. It's gonna be held at the end of August. Kinda small right now, but looking to move into NYC some time in the future. Some of my friends that I've made from NYCC are gonna be performing there, so I'm thinking of attending. It's probably gonna be pretty tiny, maybe the size of Castle Point Anime Con, but it is their first year, so I guess I'll check it out and keep an open mind. Working NYCC for the past 5 years, I've kinda grown used to the size of that con (150k attendees the entire weekend, last I heard). Anyway, I think the last anime show I attended in NY was NYAF before they merged with NYCC in 2009. Honestly, it kinda makes sense for ReedPop to merge the two shows, since then they don't have to rent the Javits for two pop culture events that have some of the same overlap twice a year, but I do admit the merger was rough the first two years before Reed finally got rid of the NYAF signage for good in 2012, whereupon it was gone for good... At least the merger solidified the weekend which the resulting con was to be held for good, the second weekend of October, instead of NYCC bouncing around in February, by grabbing the timeframe from NYAF... In 2010, right after the merger with NYCC, they sectioned off the anime Artist Alley, but it was placed in the basement of one of the halls, right by some panel rooms, so it was kinda claustrophobic, working that section... Still, that was the year Minori Chihara was there for a concert, which packed the main stage room. Still remember being right up against the stage for that show, facing outward with my volunteer shirt on, my first year working the con. The synchronized glowstick work by the Japanese fans that flew in for the concert and the American ones who aped them was a sight to watch. Best year was probably 2011 right before they got rid of the NYAF marquee, since they gave the anime stuff the entire 4th floor Galleria of the Javits Center, again with their own Artist Alley and a stage as well, along with some maids that used to be a part of NYAF, great lighting thanks to the glassed in roof of the hall, and access to a outdoor balcony that had great views of the Hudson River, perfect for some photo shoots. It was a great place to work that year, but kinda removed from everything else at the con... That was also the year they showed the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie in one of the larger panel rooms, and I made sure I had the chance to see that. I remember there was also some Hatsune Miku stuff that year, including a screening of a Vocaloid concert DVD from the previous 39's Giving Day which had to be given an encore showing later on, since it was so popular and they couldn't handle the capacity even after screening it in one of the larger panel rooms. Probably didn't help that Hiroyuki Ito was also in attendance, and signed some things afterwards. The next year, all the anime stuff was folded in with the rest of everything else, and their presence has been shrinking ever since, swallowed up by the massive pop culture stuff going on at NYCC nowadays. The only major anime related things I remember from then after were a screening of Evangelion 3.0 with Spike Spencer in attendance back in 2012 or so. Some anime artists are still around in Artist Alley, which is why I like working that area so much, plus the requisite anime industry panels, but those tend to get overshadowed a lot by all the other stuff going on at the con... NYCC doesn't even have a masquerade anymore, that standby of anime cons, after the Charlie Foxtrot that developed back in 2012 at the main stage, what with massive overcrowding during that event as people tried to push into the theater. The show was already running late, and this was probably the straw that broke the camel's back... |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14896 |
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Free BAAF dvd swag:
It takes one with deep pockets like Reed Exhibitions' NYAF to stay in NYC.
NYCC was in spring with NYAF in autumn, then Reed started C2E2 in Chicago also in spring, so obviously they can't have 2 cons both in spring, so they moved NYCC to autumn by combining it with NYAF. |
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GhostStalkerSA
Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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Yeah, that makes sense. I've got a whole bunch of friends who work as Crew at both, not to mention my boss at NYCC's Artist Alley also runs the same area for C2E2. If ReedPop didn't move NYCC to the Fall after starting the Chicago show, it would burn all of them out even more than working both shows already does. |
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