Despite the initial rejection of my press pass, the very kind staff let me in without a problem on Sunday morning, which was good, since Noah and I were to give the first panel of the day. Due to a variety of circumstances we were only able to attend AnimeNext on Sunday.

Although I have been to AnimeNext several times since it began in 2002, I have only ever attended on Saturday. I was surprised to find a relatively high number of attendees still there on Sunday. Overall I had a good time, despite getting up at 6 AM and accidentally deleting my PowerPoint presentation the night before.

Usually, AnimeNext is less than a 30 minute commute from New York City, so I have never opted to stay in the con hotel. It is a relatively small convention; in 2007 AnimeNext had around 6,700 attendees. By Sunday afternoon the 2008 convention had exceeded last year’s numbers. According to security staffer Tim Rodriguez, AnimeNext has enjoyed a steady growth. This is in contrast to Anime Boston’s explosive growth over a similar time period. According to Tim, AnimeNext has some of the shortest lines of any east coast convention, largely thanks to Karl Otto, “The best line wrangler in anime fandom.” One guest complained about having to wait for ten minutes.

I know AnimeNext to be primarily a cosplay con and more of a “fan” con than an “industry” con. The field in front of the Holiday Inn typically fills up with a crowd of cosplayers enjoying the nice weather, and two or three years ago, the throng of fans were all Narutards. This year there was no one break-out hit costume (at least not on Sunday), but I did notice a fair number of Akatsuki clan members (from Naruto), Soul Reapers (from Bleach), as well as Final Fantasy Advent Children costumes. The number of Death Note cosplayers had dropped drastically this year.

One great mainstay of AnimeNext is the Manga Library, which originated at AnimeNext in 2003. Since then the Library has gone on tour to nearly every east coast anime convention. I spoke with Erin Siegwarth, who acts as the head of the library when it’s on tour.

Siegwarth and the Library staff keep statistics on which books get checked out and when. As of my visit on Sunday, 400 con attendees had dropped by the Library, with visits lasting from 15 minutes to the entire day. Some con attendees check out only a volume or two, but others manage to read entire series. The most popular series checked out by individual volume in the Library over the weekend were:

1. Death Note
2. Bleach
3. Hellsing

The most popular series to be checked out of the Library were:

1. Bleach
2. Death Note
3. Her Majesty’s Dog

The Library’s selection is limited to what manga companies have donated over the years.

Despite its small size, AnimeNext has attracted big names in the past, like Rintaro (in 2006). This year, however, the Japanese guests canceled at the last minute. Even local voice talent Mike Sinterniklaas (Dean on Venture Brothers, Leonardo on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) canceled for work reasons.

AnimeNext often manages to attract big-name musical guests, like 2006 guest D’espairs Ray. This year’s Rentrer En Soi concert was described by one staff member as “jumping.” The typical AnimeNext attendee is about 16-20, and they really get into the concerts.

AnimeNext is not known as a con where licensing announcements are made. Del Rey and Media Blasters both held panels, as both companies local to New York City, even though they had no announcements. I didn’t notice a Vertical Books booth, but perhaps they were busy as sponsors of the New York Asian Film Festival over the weekend.

ADV had a tiny booth in the dealer’s room selling only anime, mostly at a significant discount. And of course it wouldn’t be an East Coast convention if Erica Friedman wasn’t there promoting ALC Publishing.

In case you haven’t noticed, the anime DVD industry has been collapsing for about a year. Although in the far distant past one attended an anime con primarily to buy anime, those days are behind us. Besides Media Blasters and ADV, very few dealers were selling anime. There were a few manga dealers, but primarily the dealer’s room was filled with toys, swords, cosplay items, Japanese music, and cat ears.

Noah and I gave two panels, “The Japanese Commercial Apocalypse” and “Manga Madness,” in the first and last timeslot of the day respectively. I didn’t expect many people to show up to our panels, but I was pleasantly surprised and slightly terrified to get a rather large turnout for both. A lot more people are interested in watching Japanese commercials than I anticipated–and those people are willing to wake up before 10 AM to see them! During “Manga Madness” I blew a few minds talking about Saint Oniisan (which I mistakenly called Saint Oniisama) and other more unusual manga titles like the Cup Noodle story.
[I really wanted to do the Manga Madness panel at Otakon, but was rejected for the third year in a row. To be fair, Otakon rejected about 40% of its panel applications this year. I keep changing my proposal, but the second year I applied I swear to god in the instructions there was something like, "No one wants to hear your panel on obscure manga genres." Finally I have proof: 35 people at AnimeNext were totally interested. Someday, Otakon, someday...]