Reported by Linda Yau
Photographs by Eric M. Chu and Linda Yau

Saturday

First event of the day, Yui Makino’s concert, and this was held in a packed room. A video clip introduced her at the beginning, with some footage from an anime conventions from Paris and Shanghai. Under her credentials, she had roles in Tsubasa Chronicles, Aria, Welcome to NHK among others. Normally the roles she plays are characters who are strong, and with a lot of personal worries. Her personality is of genial frankness, and possibly masochistic. If she were to picture herself as an animal, she would imagine herself to be a bohemian cat. Her goals and dream is to play in the famed Japanese Suntory Hall with a full orchestra as well as wanting to become a more accomplished lyricist/composer with more self accompaniment skills set. She is an accomplished pianist, and likes to be called Yuchi. For this first American appearance/concert, she wanted to “deliver my music to your ears.” Before she appeared though, Monica Rial, the American voice actress for Sakura in the dubbed Tsubasa Chronicles came out. Some people recognized here, and cheered, but a lot of people didn’t. Then Yui Makino came out, and the concert began.

I can only confirm by ears that she sang these songs titles, "Yume no Tsubasa," "You Are My Love" which are songs from Tsubasa Chronicles. "Undine" from Aria the Origination. Her last song was from her newest single. NYAF convention goers were able to purchase her newest single, that is at the time of the convention not released in Japan yet, so that was cool. Originally I took down some notes, and had a list of a possible set that Yuchi did, but apparently not so as I read and research some more. I am going to take a cue from Omo, and include in this Japanese link from an honest Japanese fan who was at the concert, and then blogged about his experience. He confirmed for me the fact that Yuchi appeared in Shanghai as opposed to Taiwan as what I thought. For this concert also he confirms that she sang ten songs. Still later, Omo got back to me via twitter about Japanator’s coverage for the concert so here.

Following the concert there was a long line for autographs, Eric and I quickly went to get autographs, and then went to listen to Samurai Beat Radio’s panel, Japanese Music in the US Market: Opportunities and Obstacles.

This panel was something I really had high interest in, since I listen a lot to Japanese music. Now for the panel, the three panelists backgrounds are listed here via Samurai Beat Radio’s own blog. Megumi, radio personality of Samurai Beat Radio was hosting the event.

The panel began with an introductory video by Yokoso Japan, and there were giveaways.

These were points mentioned during the panel from the panelists:

• Biggest obstacle often is the language barrier and public perception is that artist is foreign.
• Problem also with timing, interest, and exposure, Boa and Utada Hikaru America releases were cited here.
• Becca is an example that Sony is trying to push, an American singing Japanese composed songs. I saw her in person at Otakon this past summer.
• Difficult to bring big and established artists from Japan, management has disinterest in bringing artists overseas, when they can still earn money closer to home.
• Hard to understand the United States market for Japanese people, there is potential in the anime/comic market.
• Easier for indie artists or not established artists to come over, biggest success is seen when an American group pairs with a Japanese artists as an opening act. Shonen Knife with Nirvana, and Boris with Sonic Youth were mentioned as examples.

These were some audience questions toward the end:

What is the process for producers to bring artists over?
The Japanese artist’s music must be already released in the states.
Japanese artists must be notified a year in advance so as to schedule this to happen.

What is the best online portal for Japanese artists to approach American audience?
Not exact science, since Japanese artists has a lot of genres and possibly own fan base. Best way is to have a portal to share various artists, although clumping is not a good idea either, since it will marginalize the artist.

At current time do Japanese artists have more opportunity or any challenges still?
Definitely more opportunity, since interest is growing for audience and artists, but at the same time, people have to be more comfortable, the future looks bright.

As the evening of Saturday approached, the hallway outside of the theater started to fill up with lines of convention goers, VIP’s and Press alike to wait for one of the bigger events that NYAF has. This is the Yume Cosplay Masquerade. This is a cosplay contest for winning the prize of being able to go visit Japan all expenses paid for, and with $1,000. The prize looks mighty tempting. Eric had gone to this segment and these were some shots that Eric took. For others, please check Flickr.

Uncle Yo the the host of Masquerade gets into the act.

A Vampire Hunter D cosplay!

These are the winners of the masquerade.

So while Eric was at the Masquerade, I made my way over to the Japanese and Korean MMO Games Panel. I know the panelist team personally as JP and Hinano. Hinano also runs a gaming blog. This panel was about introducing audience to various Japanese and Korean game titles as well as the pits that can befall players. The turnout for this panel as mentioned by the panelist was pretty good, in spite of the masquerade across the hall. Knowledge and experience in playing games were somewhat needed, but listening to this panel definitely gave an idea of what games there are, and would be of interest for fans of all that is cute in another language.

These were points brought up:

Benefits – socializing with friends, have fun, enjoy possibly stunning graphics, and expand your imagination.
Downsides – Free to pay vs Pay to play – (Game companies have to be supplemented by some finance), so would you want to have free to play, where you may consistently crave objects being sold in game stores- thus creating addiction and money debts? Or would you pay a monthly sum, and consistently feel the need to play in order of making your money worth the price of payment?

Many games suggested in this panel are Japanese, but these are in the works of being introduced in the United States. Games titles suggested:

• Bright Shadow – Licensed by Gamepot USA
• Shin Megami Tenshi Imagine -English version available from Aeria Games
• Prius Online – Licensed by Global.Netmarble
• Pangya -Avaliabe by NtreevUSA
• aisp@ce (beta)
• Party Castle (beta)

Blogger Roundtable

Yes this year’s specialize blogging panel had ten bloggers. AnimeVice, Ani-Gamers, Reverse Thieves, About.com: Manga, Ogiue Maniax, Comics Worth Reading, Subatomic Brainfreeze, Anime Almanac, The Gaming Dungeon, and Super Amazing Number One From what I saw, the crowd for this panel, wasn’t as big, but with the panel there was a lot of opinionated and interesting people to make friends. with. This is a consistent personal interest of mine, but because of hunger pangs – had to leave early. I am right now waiting, as with probably other bloggers on perhaps a video going to be up. Moritheil was there to take video, and he did confirm to me later that the video he had was shaky, crossing my fingers so that I can link it here, for people who blog and has an interest in anime. Here it is.. slightly delayed, but here is Anime Diet’s video for the Anime Blogger RT. Yes, there is a lot of perspectives, but with the variety of bloggers, it should be an interesting video to watch.

Sunday

Last day at NYAF, and it was a pretty damp day, still didn’t deter people from going to the convention though. I was only able to go for half a day, and so when I went to the panel, I went around the Dealers room and picked up two titles for my own book collection from Vertical Press. Bumped into Frank from Media Blasters and he was able to share that Crimson Spell Vol 3, was going to out by Feb/March 2010.

Eric was also around taking images of cosplayers, and here is an image of one of the winners from the masquerade in green.

Now for Sunday panels.

Briefly stopped by the panel for Anime Name That Tune to the 3rd. This was a Triva panel, overseen by Youtube podcastor Fu-Sung E. Cookye where two members from the audience were chosen, and then were tested with active participation from the audience for naming an unknown anime tune.

Then went onto the Viz Media industry panel. Practically this was an entire panel that spoke about titles upcoming in the 2010 year. Many of these titles would appeal to the YA, fantasy, Shoujo, Shonen audience.About.com has a partial listing of titles that were mentioned with synopsis. Anime Vice also did a live blog. Listed below are some titles that were mentioned that might be in the interest of JLHLS:

• Book of Heros by Miyuki Miyabe (New release from Brave Story’s author, a mix of Fantasy and high stake reality.) (Jan 2010)
• Loups Garous by Natsukiko Kyogoku – Werewolves are the new paranormal draw. (Jan 2010)
• CTRL+ALT+DEL Your Life by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. (March 2010)
• The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa. (May 2010)
• Bakuman by Tsugumi Ooba and Takeshi Obata (This details behind the scenes looks of a Japanese manga production company.) (Aug 2010)
• Toriko by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (This is a food manga.) (Feb 2010)
• Ultimo by Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei (This was also announced at New York Comic Con this year.) (Feb 2010)
• Gente by Natsume Ono (Manga follow up to Ristorante Paradiso, a title also set to be released by Viz.) (July 2010)
• Library Wars: Love & War by Hiro Arikawa (June 2010)
• Vampire Knight Official Fanbook (Sept 2010)
• Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki (Oct 2010)
• Nice To Meet You Kamisama by Julie Hasuzuki
• Rin-Ne by Rumiko Takahashi (Oct 2009)

So this concludes my convention coverage of NYAF 2009. Now it is post con period, as I spent several days, going over images, and researching for various links from people who went to the con and what not. Lance Fensterman confirmed the conventions attendance as being 21,388 on Saturday. It was a 16% increase from last year’s 18,399 attendees. As I went throughout this convention,, yes turn out were good everywhere, but many people complained size of the convention as an issue. NYAF is getting to be bigger and bigger. With the merging of NYCC and NYAF in 2010, who knows what will next year be like? JLHLS plans to be there.

Relevant posts of interest:

Flickr link of images
I-hsiu’s coverage of NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2
Jilly and my coverage with NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2

This past weekend on September 25-27, was the third annual New York Anime Festival also abbreviated NYAF by regular con goers, and Twittter alike. As a tool of instant communication, Twitter was referred to countless times this weekend. With many of the conventions this past year that I have been able to attend, it has became the norm to see people possibly on their cell phones, tweeting if you must know. Now If you look on the right side column, you will see the Twitter widget that JLHLS has. For following any NYAF news, type in #nyaf, and many of twitter responses will pop up. Personally I was able to twitter some updates via text, but if you were willing to have money for the Wi-fi service at Jacob Javits, then many live blogging updates have reach fans and interested people. This is a report on what I was able to see and take back.


What did I experience this year at NYAF? What was different and what was similar?

Different- I-hsiu and Jilly weren’t able to make it this year, so I was solo with the assistance of Eric, who has since New York Comic Con joined up with JLHLS as a photographer for New York events. West coast has Tom and Gregor, so I can safely assume that this is the East coast reps. I also bumped into fellow reviewer Lauren. Useful, and on the spot tweets were available from @NY_Anime_Fest

Similar – lines policy was similar – there were ticketed events, industry driven. Fans yes, guests of honor yes, events yes, cosplayers yes, and so, the groove was on.

Thursday

Del Rey Cake

My experience begins at a pre-official con event, on Thursday at Time Square’s Dave & Busters Restaurant. NYAF was co-sponsoring with Del Rey Manga a public event for a night of cake, giveaways, and fun. Del-Rey was celebrating its fifth year in production and this was a 21+ event, but minors can enter with adults accompaniment. An attraction of this event was the cake creation by Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, and the fact that the cake was cut with a katana. As a fan of Japanese culture, I was thinking sacrilegious for a killing weapon to be used in such a manner, but someone mentioned later that it was thus killing the cake. Check out this article from Japanator about the cutting of the cake. There was a special drink menu specifically created for the pre party, and let’s just say that it was an interesting mix to say the least. I happen to take a few shots of those concocted drinks and the cake etc. Check out this Flickr for images from the pre-party. At the party, I met up with Omo from Japanator and Moritheil from Anime Diet. The cake was really sweet from a bite I tried, and mobbed quickly. Morithel mentioned that the waiter had several times gone a back way route. Oh well.

Friday

Early fans

Moving onto the next day when the convention is slated to be opening at 1pm. However, people have been lining up since 7:00 AM to enter. One reason, Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of the ground breaking Gundam series in the late 1970’s that defined the concept of mecha up to now. Mecha is a genre within Japanese animation for machine operated robots type works. So autograph tickets were in great demand on first come first serve basics. After getting my badge at around 10-ish am, I stood with Eric, Moritheil, and Tony from Samurai Beat Radio waiting. There’s a picture of the line on Friday to the dealer’s room. Eric was taking some picture of some interesting cosplayers. This is one of the cosplayers he took, not necessarily on Friday.

Recognize Air Gear?

The convention opened up promptly, and I was on my way to the first panel. Some time was spent trying to figure out the layout of the convention. Eric and I missed the Opening Ceremony, which I found out later, that it was quite a quick event.

So the first official panel I saw was “How To Become Famous On The Internet.” The panel had Michael Pinto from Fanboy.com, Adam Ghahramani from TheOtaku.com, and Gia from Anime Vice.

These points were discussed:

• Have a goal, what makes you unique or stand out, because there would be thousands of you.
• Michael mentioned that the keyword to remember is “Reciprocal” you have to give back, and at times be useful to others. (Twitter RT is good) It is good to have a reputation as a go to person. Liaison and network.
• It takes a great deal of time, and be honest.
• Always have a hub you own… website domain.
• Seize current trends, but build for the future – meaning that you can spin on current topics, but be able to resynthesize into another topic at a later time. (Adam used Kayne West as part of his powerpoint. There was a Kayne West moment…and that was pretty amusing.)
• Promote at almost every opportunity. Don’t be afraid of negative feedback and of people stealing ideas.
• Keep your head high.
• Have a unique angle.
• Hang out with super friends – made through networking, you help them out, and they will help you.
• Keep doing things like blogging, drawing, writing and opportunity will come.
• Be consistent in tone, and there is an audience reading.
• “Find a need and fill it” as what Gia mentioned.

Vertical Inc. Panel

This was a panel that I had always missed since I started to cover New York conventions since last year, I saw Vertical at NYAF 2008, and perhaps NYCC 2009. So I made my way to the panel, where Ed Chavez, editor of Vetical presented the panel. I met Ed through Rachel at the Brooklyn Book Festival, and was pleased to learn more about this publication. This panel was at the same time as Tomino’s keynote time, so the room was filled with press members as Ed confirms before he began his presentation. Vertical didn’t start out as a graphic novels pubication, it began with prose books, and has expanded into novels, cookbooks, dietbooks, and manga titles. It has recently outperformed Random House, mainly fort its reason of range and flexibility.

Ed Chavez at the podium.

Readers can check Vertical for their publications. Anime Vice also did a live blog of this panel. This is what I heard that is going to be released from Vertical in the upcoming year 2010 year:

• Nintendo Magic: How the Video Game Wars Were Won by Osamu Inoue. (April 2010)
• Black Jack Vol 11 to 12 by Osamu Tezuka (There is 17+ manga volumes planned, so this is on the main agenda with Vertical to finishing this title.) (May/July 2010)
• City of Refuge by Kenzo Kitakata. (Aug 2010)
• New Cute Stuff by Arazi Aranzo (This is a really tentative title, and that is the title for the moment.) (June 2010)
• Flowers of Edo by Micahel Kennedy (This is the third English title released by Vertical who mainly works with translating Japanese titles.) (May 2010)
• Peepochoo by Felipe Smith. (July 2010)
• Twin Spica Vol 1-2 by Kou Yaginuma. (Spring/Summer 2010)
• Needle by Nobuaki Tadano (This is a possible crossover title with appeal to comic readers.) (Spring/Summer 2010)
• Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Kanata (This is one of the more exciting news for me, a personal fan of the series about the livelihood of a kitten.) This title is going to be in full color and going to be read from left to right. (Summer 2010)

That ended Friday panels for me, as I waited with Moritheil and Eric for Tomino’s autograph. Moritheil even blogged about this aspect with the signing. That was a success!

Relevant posts of interest:

Flickr link of images
I-hsiu’s coverage of NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2
Jilly and my coverage with NYAF 2008 – Part 1, Part 2