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Friday, February 10, 2012

Posted by in Conventions September 25, 2009 at 11:03:57 PM

Summary

Day One for the New York Anime Fest can be easily summed up with four words, "Sales, Sillyness & Sushi Poppers!" Being the first day of the con, many vendors were offering a significant sale on their wares. And being Friday for a small con in a big city, the crowd was spread out enough that you could easily navigate the dealer's hall. The usual anime crowd was full of silliness. And sushi-poppers, man, let me tell you about sushi poppers. Some enterprising vendor is actually handing out their new invention, Sushi Poppers. It's like a push-pop, only full of sushi. Made fresh daily, he assured me they'd be free of preservatives and stored well. On the other hand, I can assure you that they're delicious and freaking awesome. It's a little inappropriate to spend this much of a review focused around a single item, but it's sushi on a stick, I can't help myself! (picture after the jump)

To summarize the rest:
-WCG, lots of sweet alienware towers, but no game room
-Manga Library is full of beautiful dead trees
-Maid Cafe, the upgraded version
-Panels, geared mostly towards the un-initiated
-Webcomics almost MIA

And now, on to the details!

WCG and the Game Room

Okay, seriously, there was a lot more to be had at NYAF this year. They are officially hosting a segment of the World Cyber Games, where 150 US gamers are duking it out for a chance to represent USA in the world championship in China. While the championship itself doesn't appear to be open to general convention goers, there are lots of side sections that let you get your game on. I saw counter-strike, starcraft, guitar hero and someone playing pool.

No, I didn't omit any numbers there. It's starcraft 1 and counterstrike (1.6). The gaming area is outfit with more game-ready alienware towers than I've ever seen in one place, and they play games that are old as sin. For the game-room enthusiasts of other anime cons, be advised: THERE IS NO GAME ROOM. No arcade, no DDR, and no cosole gaming that you can take part in, aside from the WCG xboxes that have gears of war 2 and guitar hero.

No Game Room. Bluh.

Manga Library

On the other hand, Anime Next has brought its manga library for your enjoyment! That's pretty nifty. If there's any manga you can't find there, the dealer's hall has lots of manga vendors and they were all pretty knowledgeable. I was on the hunt for a particularly rare item, and not a single one of the vendors was stumped by questions. I tip my hat to all the helpful folk there.

Maid Cafe

The 'Maid Cafe' was given a nice upgrade from last-year's event, and each time I walked by there the area was literally a-bustling. It's not a true maid cafe, in that there's no actual service. But the maids were all very pleasant and very organized this year. I think I even spotted a male maid (maid-man? butler?) for the female anime fans who wanted to give the place a try.

Sidewalk Drawings!

The sidewalk drawing man is back. He deserves his own paragraph because he's going to spend something like 20+ hours over the course of the weekend working on a 'Soul Eater' image. He's on your left as you walk down the main escalator, go take a peek! It's great to see an artist hard at work. On the note of art, it seems NYAF has made extra room for its artist alley this year, so many more talents are strutting their stuff. There's lots of fan art to be had, and a few individual creations that merit a look-see.

Panels

There were plenty of helpful anime panels to be had, especially geared towards those unfamiliar with anime and its related genres. Please check out the schedule to see if there's something that catches your eye! If you're a new anime fan, I think there probably will be.

Where there be webcomics?

Once again, I noticed almost no "established" webcomics at this convention. Dirk Tiede, of Paradigm Shift WebsiteParadigm Shift fame is in the artist's alley. He's a swell fellow and his stuff has been featured in NBC's Heroes! But he's only one of many, and many webcomics are simply not present here. While walking the floor today, I heard a few folk talking about it. The disappointment in their voices was plain, and I have to say that I agree.

Final Thoughts

That about wraps it up for Friday. If the above piques your interest, I suggest you check out Saturday's events tomorrow! There's a lot more going on, Saturday. More panels, more anime screenings (including Soul Eater, arguably the biggest release at the moment) and the cosplay masquerade! Also, we'll have a gallery up soon to show some of the costumes we saw today. And there a few really creative ones!

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