T his year’s New York Anime Festival takes place September 26-28 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City with the lure of Japanese talent like TV cooking celebrity Iron Chef Morimoto and the Lolita-fashionista boutique clothing chain Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. But it’s still an anime and manga show, right? To find out, PW Comics Week called up Lance Fensterman, v-p of New York Anime Festival and NYAF program manager Peter Tartara, who tell us they expect attendance at this year’s show to rise; they also discuss how the exhibition floor and stage have been reconfigured and compare the New York Anime festival with its sister show, New York Comic-Con. [Publishers Weekly is a sister company to Reed Exhibitions, organizer of NYAF.]
PW Comics Week : Last year, the NYAF took place in December. This year it’s scheduled for September. Why the change in date?
Lance Fensterman : When we originally launched, December was our only option. This year, we had the choice—September or December. We asked the customers and fans when they wanted the festival and a common thread was that September was preferred to December. Last year was hard for some fans with finals and school, and it was freaking cold.
Peter Tartara : The week after last year’s show, it snowed. I didn’t want to risk snow during the event.
PWCW: What was the attendance last year?
LF : Right around 16,000. [This year] we’re trending ahead by 10%-15% from ticket sales, and we’re 25% ahead in three-day passes. Ticket sales balloon at the end, so for the next two weeks and onsite. It’s a nerve racking business.
PWCW : Describe the configuration of the exhibition floor—where will the stage be? Will there be room on the floor for the kids to dance?
LF : We wanted to combine it a little more with more flow from the exhibitor hall into the panel rooms. We needed [last year’s] stage area for exhibitors [this year], so the stage was moved into the big auditorium with the panel and screening rooms.
PT : For dances, we’re doing a pirate vs. ninja dance-off on Friday, and we have a second stage for live events like dances.
LF : A lot of our exhibitors have built space that’s communal. We encourage that for fans to hang out and be together. The show floor has a nice feel to it.
PWCW: You’re also bringing designers from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright [a boutique in Tokyo that draws upon Victorian-era style].
PT : If you look at NYAF, we’re approaching it differently from other anime shows. Just as New York Comic-Con encompasses pop culture, we want to encompass everything hot in Japanese pop culture. Lolita fashion is huge. It’s been in Japan for years and years, and now it’s catching on here. Tokyopop has its Lolita Bible, and fans are starting brands in the U.S. as well. We asked [fans], “Who do you want to see?” and they said, “Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.” We’ve been working on this since the first day of last year’s NYAF, pushing to bring them here. They typically appear at Japan Expo in France, but typically, they don’t tour. But [New York] is the fashion capital of the world. They’re going to have a boutique on the floor, and we’ve got a nice full weekend for them.
PWCW : You’re also bringing Iron Chef Morimoto, star of the Food Network’s quirky, popular cooking show Iron Chef.
PT : Iron Chef [Morimoto] also ties into pop culture. We’re not just bringing manga creators, we’re bringing what’s hot, what’s popular and whatever aspect of Japanese pop culture is hot in the U.S. Through his restaurants in Philly and New York City, he has done more to open the minds, eyes and bellies to Japanese cuisine than any other [Japanese] chef in America. He’ll be doing an hourlong panel q&a and book signing. He’s doing an event at Foxwoods the same weekend, but he’ll be spending Friday with us.
LF: Plus, the after party will be at his restaurant, Morimoto. It’s after the show and it’s for everybody. It was important for Morimoto that we do this. Anyone that attends the anime show can come. It’s a great appearance for anime fans to experience and not just hear about.
PT : He may be at the after party, making sushi. We’re hoping we’ll have him back with more iron chefs.
PWCW : I may be looking at a partial listing, but it looks like there are fewer publishers and anime companies exhibiting this year.
L F : There’s probably less exhibiting, but it’s not dramatically different, a different mix. It’s been a challenging year for the anime community—and for the manga community as well. Companies are struggling a bit to adapt to a changing market. We will have some panels about the changing market, where the state of the industry will be analyzed a bit. [Manga and anime companies] are making tough choices across the board. Tokyopop [which will not exhibit at this year’s show] is supportive, interested, and wants to come back [to NYAF] when business allows them to.
PT : On the other hand, animation companies like Funimation and Bandai—their exhibition space this year will be larger.
LF: We’re still pleased to be working with companies like Tokyopop and helping them have a presence even when they’re having a tough time.
PWCW: Lance, you’re also v-p of New York Comic-Con, which will be held February 6-8 next year. How does NYAF compare?
LF : The reason we launched NYAF is that there’s a great anime presence at New York Comic-Con, but we saw this as its own entity. The fans were [different] enough and the wants of the fans were [different] enough, and the fans wanted their own place, not just a few booths. We thought they would be served best with their own event. It’s not as much an industry event as New York Comic-Con, which is about business the first day; the [anime] industry is smaller. What’s exciting is that the fan base is rabid. They’re there to have fun and we want to provide a safe, fun community where they can do what they love to do. We’ve created a great event for them.
