In previous years, Anime NYC was held in November during the winter months in New York City. For 2024, the convention was moved from the usual wintertime to August 23-25. One of the major reasons for the change was that the convention was consistently at capacity as they were unable to use the full Javits Center due to other events happening at the same time. Moving to this new date granted them full access to the entire convention center, which allowed for more capacity and more major events.

Of course, no decision is made easily and I'm sure they spent a lot of time over previous years deciding to move the convention. Questions always arise such as: "Will people turn up?", "Will it conflict with other events?", "Isn't August really hot?", and I'm sure many more. So then, how does Anime NYC fare in 2024 in a brand-new season? Read on to find out.

The good news is that the Javits Center is absolutely huge and getting to use even more space meant things were more spread out and gave more space for both the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley, which were both already pretty large to begin with. On top of that, having additional space for panels, main events, and other event halls allowed for more guests and different things that could be placed on the schedule.

Since the convention center also spanned multiple levels and there were a lot more rooms to be used, all the areas felt more spacious even with lineups that were fairly sizable at times. When it came to attendance, we could definitely feel a major increase, as there were certainly more people just out and about around the con.

We quickly went inside and grabbed our Press badges, which were kindly provided to us by Anime NYC. We're always grateful to be able to attend conventions and deal with all the friendly staff.

Given the increased space, you could see the difference in larger walkways and space between booths. The major booths were also larger because of it and the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley were both fuller than ever before. The good thing about Anime NYC was that even though the convention felt corporate at times, there was still a large mix of large companies, small companies, and even indies in the large hall.

One thing that didn't change, though, was the location of the Cover/Hololive booth, which was still situated near the entrance of the Dealers' Hall. It was both a blessing and a curse as people tended to congregate in the area, which created heavy congestion. However, they also had live streams played on screen as well as various events during the week, so it made sense to have them in an area that was accessible and further away from other dealers and companies.

As aforementioned, the newly found space also gave way to more panels from both industry, guests, and fans. During the span of the convention, we visited various panels run by both fans and industry professionals. Each had their own unique charms and content, which felt much more accessible because the schedule was more packed than before.

It's always nice to be able to catch some premieres, hear about the latest releases, and also learn something during the span of a convention. You could definitely feel the benefits of the increased usage of the Javits Center throughout the weekend.

In addition to the usual suspects of Vtubers, such as Phase Connect, Hololive, and various other large corporations, there were some indies present as well. I mean, just look at the cardboard cutout of Mint Fantome. She was one of the guests for the Phase Connect concert and was featured front and center at their booth as well. We got a chance to sit down with her at Otakuthon 2024 and we are working hard to get that interview out.

Walking around the Dealers' Hall and Artist Alley gave us good general vibes for the majority of our time there. I know we said it before, but the increased space made it much easier to get from place to place and the crowds didn't feel as bad even when there was a large amount of people concentrated in specific areas.

Gacha games were also majorly featured at AnimeNYC with both major booths by game publishers and also an assortment of both fan-run and industry 'shrines' to games littered throughout the Dealers' Hall. It might not be as big as Anime Expo, but I can see why people are starting to say Anime NYC is the next big thing in conventions.

Unsurprisingly, since Anime NYC has gotten so big, the guests have also gotten bigger throughout the years. This year was no exception. Three guests from Love Live! Superstar!! were in attendance and that was the subunit CatChu. They also had a fairly sizable booth with different events happening throughout the weekend there. It's crazy to think how far we've come over the years in getting major Japanese guests to attend conventions in North America.

As one might expect, due to the appearance of CatChu, a lot of idol goods and fan art were posted everywhere to allow attendees to leave messages for their oshis. It was a nice touch for fans and I'm sure the idols themselves appreciated it as well.

On top of the Phase Connect and Creepy Nuts concerts, there was also a Hololive concert at Anime NYC this year. It also wasn't the only Hololive concert during the weekend, as there was another Hololive concert also happening at the King's Theatre. Talk about an impressive double-header of Vtuber riches.

How did Anime NYC 2024 fare in their new summer timeslot? It certainly felt like a rousing success. Even though it was moved to an entirely different part of the year, the increased usage of the entire convention center increased both participation and allowed for more events. The fact that there were also increased major events such as 3 onsite concerts and even another Hololive concert going on in the city shows how much bigger Anime NYC has become. It might not be the size of Anime Expo yet, but people are starting to call it the Anime Expo of the East Coast for a reason. Pretty apt description if we do say so ourselves.

So, would we attend again next year even in the summer heat?

Almost certainly. The vibes were great and the availability of the entire convention center increased both attendance and the events that surround it. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to attend again in 2025.

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