It is still going to be a little while before I get used to the fact that AnimeNEXT can get a packed room for anime production guests. It would be easy to assume that the hype around Kill la Kill lead to an unsustainable turn out for Studio Trigger last year. But the fact that the room for the Trigger panel was completely filled this year proves that if you properly bill the Japanese guests you can a full house in a big room. It was amazingly heartwarming. People WILL attend Japanese guests panels. I would love to see Otakon up their game and get a similar turn out with their Japanese guests.

But in turn Trigger brought their A game this year. Last year that really wowed the audience with never seen before Kill la Kill production sketches, great commentary, and a lively Q&A. This year they went one step beyond. They had a lot of hard to see or exclusive video. When they pulled out the big guns I think everyone was sufficiently blown away. If anything they had much less Q&A despite the panel being two hours because they had so much to show everyone. That alone made AnimeNEXT 2015 worth the price of admission. Everything past that was just a bonus.

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 Moving is rarely an easy choice. Sometimes life gives you no options and it can be a very beneficial in the long run but that does not make it something you do lightly. First of all you have to find a new place to live which can be herculean task in of itself as you have to find something that fits in your budget while possibly accommodating the circumstances that made you move in the first place. Moving also throws off your whole routine as all you have to relearn where to do all your daily tasks in a new location. Also the number of people who visit you change radically because  of your new neighborhood. Some people might visit you more because your closer but others might be more hesitant to come by now that it is an inconvenience. On top of that the move it self just takes time, money, and energy which is usually in precious short supply because you are moving in the first place.

All of what I mentioned above for an individual moving is doubly true for a convention. So when AnimeNEXT announced it was moving this year it clearly was not simple choice but the fact of the mater was it was one that needed to be made. It is not a case where their current rate of growth indicated that they would need to move in a few years. AnimeNEXT is currently bursting at the seems. Little patches like the using the Hotel Somerset-Bridgewater to help alleviate some of the crowding created a whole different array of problems in turn. While using three different buildings helped a bit it also made everything far more complicated. The fact of the matter is that AnimeNEXT needed to move last year. You can debate if the location the convention is moving to is the best choice fairly convincingly. The fact you can’t debate was if the move was needed in the first place.

But the move is not until 2016. There was a very exciting and vibrant convention at the Garden State Exhibit Center this year to talk about.

 AnimeNEXT is a big con on the East Coast with an attendance of more than 14,500 over the weekend. It lauds big creators, voice actors, and musical guests. It has an outstanding panel selection. And yet, it still feels like a relatively unknown con in nearby New Jersey. All that is about to change in 2016, but for 2015 it still remained the best kept secret.

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