NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Minori Chihara

hisuiconWhile there were several Japanese industry people at NYAF most of them were only present for the what they were presenting and never appeared in any formal panel where you could ask them questions about anything outside of what they were there to present. But voice actress and singer Minori Chihara not only had a panel but she also had a concert to promote her appearance in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I would assume almost everyone who went to see her was there because of her work as Yuki unless Sakutarou has a huge fan following I was unaware of. And a lot of fans were very thrilled to see her at the convention because of that.

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NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Panels

Getting to see your favorite comic creators speak and answer questions is one of the great highlights of big events like New York Comic Con and Anime Fest. But not only do they have the people behind comics, but plenty of knowledge professionals in my fields giving talks as well. There is much promotion and celebration but also you just might learn something by checking out the myriad of panels at this convention.

hisuiconBig conventions mean equally big panels and panelists. NYCC had some big names in the comics industry talking about what they are doing alongside television and video games properties having high-profile panels as well. Despite all this I tried to stick NYAF side of the convention for panels this year considering the fact we are an anime and manga blog. More than any other aspect of the show it was the panels were I felt I missed out the most due to conflicted schedules. You can see a premiere later down the road but a panel is sometimes a once only opportunity. So here are the once only opportunities I got to see.

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NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Premieres

I was blown away by the amount of premieres and showings announced for NYAF. This was the first convention I have been to in a long time where I spent a good deal of my days actually watching anime. And it was not from a lack of having other things to do. There were things here that literally couldn’t be seen anywhere else not even in Japan yet, like Mardock Scramble, or things that only recently hit Japanese theaters, like Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, plus all manner of things in between. These were the biggest draws for me this year, and from the crowds that packed in for most of these showings it seems I wasn’t the only one.

hisuiconNYAF was the Cannes Film Festival for anime films this year. I saw part of three anime films you cannot see in English even with less that legitimate means. I have been to some awesome premieres but there were three major coups this year. The Gundam 00 movie and the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya were being shown before they made it to DVD in Japan and we got to see Mardock Scramble before audiences in Japan. Any one of the three would have been amazing but all three in one place was simply breathtaking. Being able to see the first episode of Star Driver and talk to the producer was merely icing on the cake.

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