When it comes to panels AnimeNEXT has its own draw as a mid-sized convention. While they will not accept any darn panel they are pretty fast and loose with what they accept as long as you make a convincing argument. It makes it the perfect place to test out new panels, play with old ones, or try radially unusual topics. All four panels we ran were either new panels or majorly overhauled from the last time we ran them. At the same time the convention is big enough that most panels get a good draw no matter how esoteric. But don’t let me fool you into thinking AnimeNEXT is the amateur hour. There are some great high-level panels as well as wildly popular clip show presentations. AnimeNEXT has a solid enough panel lineup so that you always have something do.

AnimeNEXT is a place of familiar faces, even if you’ve never spoken to them directly. This is never more true than when attending panels. You get a variety of veterans who run a number of panels old and new. I like to think we are included in that bunch by this point as well. But there are also new people throwing their hats into the ring.

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 In the last few years, many conventions’ fan artwork sections have become a little dull; there has been a sameness creeping into the works where I found myself wondering where the personality of the artist was in it. I wasn’t originally planning to do a special post on AnimeNEXT’s artist alley, but once I got to take a look around the quality and diversity made me need to do one. Artist Alley ended up being one of my favorite parts of this year’s convention and helped restore my desire to see what people were doing with fan-art again.

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