NYAF 2009 was a good time. There were plenty of cool panels going on, a decent dealers room, and plenty of concerts & performances by guests. Here’s an outline of my experiences.

• Panels:
  • FUNimation Industry Panel – A little bit disappointing. There were some new license announcements, including the 4th season of Initial D and X (TV and OVA). They also plan to re-dub Initial D with its original music, which is a very good thing. They spoke a little bit about their current and upcoming releases, and some new plans for Blu-Ray. Nothing majorly exciting though.
  • Aniplex Industry Panel – This was similar to the one at Otakon. The Japanese anime production company showed previews of some of their latest and upcoming series, including Kuroshitsuji, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kannagi, Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~, and Cencoroll.
  • Games from Japan vs. Games from the US – This panel was perfect for me, since I’m constantly getting myself involved in this debate. The panelists talked about how games from Japan compare against Western games. Overall it was a very informative panel. They did not rip apart Japanese games, as I was afraid they might. Instead, they gave mature and valid reasons for why they feel Japanese games are losing their touch, which according to them, is largely due to cultural differences preventing the Japanese market from understanding the US market.
  • Bandai Industry Panel – Disappointing as expected. No new license announcements. All they did was talk about their current and upcoming releases and show some previews. Boooring. Hey Bandai, if you wanna get yourselves back on your feet, you need to (1) be more lively at your panels and connect to your fans more, and (2) actually do something, you know, like, license new shows!
  • Japanese Music in the US Market – An interesting and informative panel. The panelists included representatives from Sony Music Japan and Samurai Beat Radio. They talked about how some Japanese artists including Hikaru Utada and BoA (yes I know she’s Korean) are breaking into the US market. They also said that they are focusing on bringing over some indie Japanese artists overseas in the near future.
    

    Reps from Sony Music Japan and Samurai Beat Radio running the panel

  • Anime Press Your Luck – They never fail to have technical difficulties at this panel. It was fun, despite several hiccups with their computer system. Also, the host who does this panel needs to learn how to pronounce Japanese words & names.
  • Spoiler: The Panel, Part 3 – As always, this panel was an absolute riot. They made fun of a bunch of anime series, some video games, and even Twilight. NYAF was kind enough to let them run the panel for nearly an hour longer than it was supposed to. The only problem was that the room was way too small. Dear NYAF: Panels that have a high attendance usually require bigger rooms. It’s not exactly rocket science.
    

    Disorganization XIII prepares for the panel

  • Japanese Seiyuu and US Voice Actors – Guests Yui Makino, Veronica Taylor, Rachel Lillis, and Tom Wayland ran this panel. They discussed various differences between voice acting in the US and in Japan.
    

    The voice actors interviewed each other

• Concert:
  • AKB48 – The popular all-girl Japanese idol group was by far the highlight of the con. This very lively group of girls put on one hell of a show with their catchy pop tunes and dances. They even did two encores! I bought a poster from the show.

    

• Video Programming:
  • Cencoroll – The very… interesting mini-movie about a boy that meets a blob-like creature that can change form into virtually anything. All of it is entirely hand-drawn, no CG, and yet the visuals are still quite impressive. I’ll definitely be picking this up if it gets released on DVD.
• Autographs:
  • Laura Bailey – I got Laura to sign Persona 4, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Disgaea 3, and a Soul Eater poster than FUNimation was kind enough to be giving out.
  • Soul Eater cast – In addition to Laura Bailey, I also got the rest of the Soul Eater cast to sign the poster.
• Con Swag:
  • Dealers Room – Some disappointments here. There certainly were not enough booths selling figures, which is what I primarily buy at cons. However, Kinokuniya books was there selling a plethora of anime art books, so I spent a large wad of cash there. I also picked up some DVDs. Details below.
• Surroundings:
  • Soul Eater mural – On the Dealers Room floor there was aritist Eric Maruscak making a very impressive chalk mural. He spent the whole weekend making it.
    
  • World Cyber Games – A very lively event taking place within NYAF. I watched several tournaments that were going on including Virtua Fighter 4, CounterStrike, and Starcraft.
  • The City – I actually didn’t spend much time outside the convention center. However, on Saturday night me and the gang went to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. in Times Square, which is always a good time.
• Staff & Press Relations:
  • Nothing to complain about here. NYAF always does a great job in catering to their guests, press or non-press. Some other cons (*cough* Otakon *cough*) could learn a few things from them.

And here’s what I spent all my money on…

OVERHEAD

Admission – $55 (I bought a regular pass because I wasn’t sure if I was gonna get a press pass at the time)
Train – About $45
Food – about $80

DEALERS ROOM

Persona 3 art book – $28
Persona 4 art book – $28
2x Headphone Girls art books – $50
KEY art book – $70
Sola DVD box set – $30
True Tears DVD box set – $35
AKB48 poster – $18
Mami Futami iDOLM@STER figure – $15

AND THE GRAND TOTAL IS…

$454

Not nearly as bad as other cons I’ve been to, but still a lot of money.