I attended the first and second day of New York Anime Festival this past weekend and I must say, I highly suggest this con for anime and manga fans. While it isn’t very old, it was attended by locals, people on the Northeast Coast and even some from Ohio, Virginia and further west! The convention hosted international, big name guests including the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino and singer, Yui Makino. The event had musical groups from both Japan and America, the most anticipated was AKB48, a pop band from Japan having their first show in the United States happen as part of NYAF, with ticket lines beginning at two in the morning on Saturday!

The festival had a terrific exhibition floor, dozens and dozens of tables full of anime, manga, j-rock, costumes, imported Lolita clothing, swords, food and an enormous array of toys for every show imaginable. Many of the sellers were having great sales and discounts, which could also be found in the artist alley, where some of the featured work included, posters, clothing, key chains, and jewelry.

The most fantastic part of an anime convention however, is the cosplay. I was simply out of energy by day three and combined with rain and poor subway service, I wasn’t able to gather photos on Sunday, but I did from the previous two days and there were some amazing costumes. Some of my favorites were the White Mage from Final Fantasy, Pain from Naruto, Sir Integra and Seras Victoria from Hellsing, and Kadaj and Yazoo from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Everyone was very friendly and always happy to stop and pose for photos, Pain especially popular on Friday and Seras Victoria on Saturday.

There was a hilarious dance competition on Friday, which starred, oddly enough, Spider-man, the Predator and the Chicken from Family Guy. They were all back the next day to continue the spontaneous dance tradition that seems to follow anime crowds, Chicken walking around with a boom box, playing Caramelldansen. Later in the day, when there was a wait between shows and panels, attendees decided to entertain themselves by starting a conga line. It began with only seven or eight people and the next time it ran by me, it was at least 100 people long with every sort of cosplay mixed in.

The masquerade skits featured characters from Death Note, Chobits, Vampire Hunter D, and Slayers, while some of the shows and movies screened at the event included, Eureka Seven, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, St. Frog, Gravitation, Gurren Lagann: The Movie, and the 20th Century Boys trilogy.

Who else attended the convention? Did you dress up, because there is a chance I saw or took a photo of you! With New York Anime Festival being combined with Comic Con next year, who’s looking to go?