I think this picture sums how I feel about this year’s Anime NYC. It was a mix of everything (anime, manga, cosplay, music, gaming, and education) all in one place.

First off, I will say that having the entire Jacob Javits Center was a boon for the convention. Every section of the building was utilized to almost full capacity. Gaming has its own huge section with extended hours alongside panels to 10:00pm. Educators had their shine in one section dedicated to them and librarians. Cosplay had a huge section up above on the 3rd floor.

I didn’t really attend any panels to be honest. Regarding Friday, I was swamped with work and stressed. So I mostly stuck around to doing fun things I wanted to check out, like the Yakuza/Like a Dragon cosplay meetup.

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This meetup was a LOT better than the meetup from 2 years ago. The amount of fans who love this franchise is insane and it’s amazing how far Yakuza/LaD has come. I will forever love RGG Studio for getting me into Yakuza/LaD as it got me into mahjong.

Now here’s the bummer part. I didn’t come Saturday as I suddenly had a health scare. I had really high blood pressure and a hypertension headache. I went to the doctor and thankfully, they said I didn’t need to take medicine. But I do need rest and loosen up my shoulder and neck muscles. I thought about going after seeing the doctor, but I really needed to rest.

I did read up on all the manga announcements. To be fair, there wasn’t anything that had a super “wow” factor with few exceptions. It also didn’t help that publishers would prefer to announce new stuff in the Fall compared to late summer and after announcements from earlier summer cons. But the big one is Hisashi Eguchi’s Stop!! Hibari-kun! by Peow2, a small manga publisher. For those who don’t know, this was a Shonen Jump manga published back in the ‘1980s. What’s significant about this manga is that it starred a queer, transgender character. What’s even more interesting is the idea that Akira Toriyama almost ended Dr. Slump because of Hibari-kun! due to the latter being more popular. There was also a 35-episode anime series by Toei Animation.

Speaking of manga, the inaugural American Manga Awards happened. I wasn’t there as I wasn’t invited and it was open to a small amount of people with significant ties to the manga industry. However, from what I heard from people who attended, it was a nice event. I can’t comment on all the winners, but I will say everyone one of you should read Witch Hat Atelier if you haven’t already. Yes, the anime will possibly help the manga explode with even more popularity. But this is a good time to get into a series that’s full of gorgeous art and relevant to readers of ALL ages.

And oh yeah, Delicious in Dungeon is great and I’m only halfway through the series. And Neighborhood Story is still so good even though it’s an old manga.

Long story short, this isn’t the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. And thank god for that.

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Since I missed out on all the Press-worthy stuff on Saturday and was feeling a lot better, I decided to come play mahjong almost all day on Sunday and help out the Riichi Nomi NYC crew with teaching and freeplay. I did check out a K-Pop random dance play performance during my lunch break and it’s incredible to see how many anime fans are into K-Pop. 2024 has been an amazing year for K-Pop as there were A LOT of great songs to listen to.

Even though I didn’t get to check out a whole lot due to being somewhat sick, Anime NYC 2024 was a blast. It also got me thinking about how I want to attend conventions going forward. As some of you may know, riichi mahjong has been a part of my life the last 3 years. This month marked my 3rd year being a part of Riichi Nomi NYC. While last year I felt that there was still a place for me in the manga world, I feel a bit different about that opinion this time around. I think it’s strongly because of this photo of me and two of my club’s OG members.

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That’s a photo of me with the head of teaching and recruitment and the president of the club. I first met them 3 years ago back when the club was so small and we were playing in a food court. And to still be here with them today, I wonder if this is what it’s like to have kids. I’ve watched the two of them grow to become amazing people. I’m happy I’ve gotten a chance to witness their growth.

While I will say that I do love talking to people in the manga blogging community, I really think having people in my immediate vicinity to be around was what kept me alive. I know a lot of the manga blogging community are spread apart. And let’s not get started about the manga industry freelancers. They are so damn isolated and they don’t get to see one another all the much because of their work. It’s a damn shame. Though I am happy to see that all of them had a fun time meeting up at Anime NYC and just focus on connecting with one another.

I’m so lucky to have that some people in the manga blogging world don’t have at times. Maybe that’s why sometimes I don’t feel as connected to the manga scene as much as I used to. Because I found an accessible and offline group of people I enjoy being around combined with my own friends. I think that’s why I rebelled a bit and decided to just play mahjong because I was just so tired of the Press stuff especially after dealing with my Saturday health scare.

I’ll still talk about manga and mental health, but I think it’s okay that if the time comes for me to stop, I will happily walk away.

In any case, Anime NYC was a lot of fun. Moving it to the summer was for the best. I have heard complaints about certain things (mostly related to the prominence of VTubers), but there’s literally something for everyone at this con to be honest. I don’t understand the complaints at times. I do think the guest list on the Japanese side of things could be a bit better, but it’s a start.

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Shout-outs go to Leftfield Media and everyone involved to help out for an amazing convention and here’s to next summer!