One More AFNYCC 2018 Update Before the Con

“In Asian Spaces, are you really writing about the doomed Anime Expo x NYCC Collab that is AFNYCC 2018? Even when you specifically said you would not in your last post until convention time?”

Yes, I absolutely am. As a concerned citizen who has made up their mind to no longer attend NYCC after this year, I may as well give it my all on critiquing this hastily-thrown together sham of a festival.

So, I am not sure about everyone else, but I am subscribed to Comic Con’s newsletter. I am not sure if the Anime Festival has its own newsletter yet. Aside from emails begging me to purchase a Thursday ticket or raising awareness about pre-festival events to attend I really haven’t received much concerning AFNYCC. I haven’t even received my ticket yet.

Except…one email I opened which detailed the lineup…that I hope will actualize more talent as we creep closer to October.

Aside from lamenting the delay of my Book 3 Earth Kingdom Korra ‘Alone’ cosplay once again (it seems to be a yearly ritual at this point), I am still kind of ticked off that I was never able to contact New York Comic Con’s support team concerning the ticket glitch I received when purchasing for Saturday. I just cannot seem to get through to the email address, and I feel deep within me that Sunday might be a wasteland in terms of worthwhile events and activities.

Anime Guests of Honor for the Main Con include:

Kawamoto Toshihiro, Nobumoto Keiko, Yamane Kimitoshi and Sato Dai for a Cowboy Bebop panel on Thursday.

This should come as no surprise, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie rescreened in movie theatres this summer and the 20-year-old classic series has garnered contemporary buzz once again.

We then have Nozawa Masako and Nagamine Tatsuya for a Friday Dragon Ball Super: Broly panel. I am not a personal DBZ fan (could never get into it and heard various nerd debates about characters growing up. This also applies to Yu Yu Hakusho) but I recognize its importance and it should be a treat for the fans.

I have no problem with this lineup, even if it is a bit thin.

Other guests at the main con include a handful of combined English Dub voice actors for My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Boruto, and Sailor Moon. The author of Radiant will also be in attendance, to presumably discuss the October premiering anime adaptation of his work.

As of right now, this is the lineup for announced guests.

Turning our attention to Anime Fest @ NYCC….our Guests of Honor for Friday are as followed:

Kawamoto Toshihiro, Nobumoto Keiko, Yamane Kimitoshi and Sato Dai.

Yes, this is the Main Con’s Thursday lineup a day later. I understand that since the talent is still here from Japan they could make another appearance, but as this is literally the same as the main con…it offers no value to a purchased AFNYCC ticket.

Again, it is early and the festival could end up being a lot of fun.

Let’s continue to look at the other Anime Guests, shall we?

A few VA’s for Overwatch, tired but seemingly obligatory appearances by Rooster Teeth for RWBY & gen:LOCK, More VA by way of The Dragon Prince, a reprise of Boruto, Sailor Moon and Radiant.

Something of personal interest is the appearance of VA and production staff for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Jack De Sena (Sokka), Giancarlo Volpe (Writer/Director) and Aaron Ehasz (Head Writer/Exec Producer/Fellow Zutara Shipper).

Janet Varney (Korra, LOK) and Grey DeLisle (Azula, ATLA) will be holding separate autograph sessions.

This has to be said: I do not care that it has been over ten years. I still support and ship Zutara in the deepest crevices of my heart.

It didn’t happen in ATLA or American Dragon: Jake Long, but one of these days Dante Basco and Mae Whitman will have lead characters who end up together. Even if it takes an eternity.

I am rooting for them!

Aaron Ehasz and Elizabeth Welch Ehasz deserve more credit concerning the success of the original show. Not to bring up age-old resentment and bitterness, but they really were great in steering the story down its most…’natural’ paths concerning characters and their motives.

These expressed opinions arose from years of being extremely active on Tumblr and hearing stories directly from production on their accounts, offsite blogs and fandom gossip that proved true over the years.

Actually, I may now check out The Dragon Prince on Netflix because of Ehasz and Volpe’s involvement.

Aside from this Saturday silver lining that I most likely will not see, it doesn’t seem that there will be an abundance of unique guests attending the festivities.

Just one more interesting tidbit before wrapping this post up, I urge all attending to keep checking out the Anime Fest at NYCC homepage via the comic con website.

As of right now, there are three offsite venue panels your pass gives you access to. If you have a valid AFNYCC Friday badge, you can attend the DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender panel that is accessible to NYCC attendees with that day’s pass. In similar fashion, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is on Friday and RWBY & gen:LOCK Mega have a panel on Sunday.

I don’t remember seeing this in an email, but I simply could have missed this information.

In conclusion, as if I’m writing some sort of thesis paper, Anime Fest is looking quite grim.

Hopefully, the quality of the creators, guests and industry panels make up for this.

Also, I am really still upset about my Sunday ticket but I’ll be damned if I try to contact the Con again.

Signing off on this topic, you’ll hear more about this from me in sixteen days when the convention starts.

Are you attending the Anime Festival? What enjoyable anime conventions have you attended in the past? Any recommendations for guests you would like to see? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us on WordPress and email to receive updates in the future regarding this topic!