New York Comic-Con and New York Anime Festival - DAY ONE!

I was gonna write a post announcing the event, but was busy with other stuff that I completely forgot. Sorry to all of our readers (at least the few that care).

This year, ReedPOP, who exhibit both New York Comic-Con (NYCC) and New York Anime Festival (NYAF), decided to combine (for lack of a better term) the two. The reason behind it was because the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) was held in April, and ReedPOP couldn't find a consistent date for that or NYCC. To my surprise, NYCC and NYAF took over the entire main hall (hall 3A, 3B, and 3E), and hall 1E of Jacob Javits Convention Center. Not to my surprise, however, is the fact that NYCC pretty much took over most (about 85%) of the place, leaving NYAF to a few scattered areas across the main floor and their Artists' Alley (there were separate NYCC and NYAF Artists' Alleys) being located in part of hall 1E.

Friday began with the usual ceremony to commemorate the opening of the Cons. Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Mega Man Universe were playable at Capcom's booth, while Final Fantasy XIV, complete with its controller (not required) was playable as well. Unfortunately, I ended up missing shows and panels because of scheduling conflicts. There was a Steampunk 101 panel, but I was willing to give it up in favor of a presentation of "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya," with NYAF Guest of Honor Minori Chihara ("Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Lucky Star", "Minami-ke", "Tenjho Tenge") Good god that film was awesome. I've read scanlations of the light novel of the same name, but the film brought that book to life. Holy f***ing s*** I wants the DVD...no, I wants the Blu-Ray now. Sucks that the Japanese are getting the film on Region 2 DVD and Blu-Ray in December.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of yesterday due to my camera running out of power before I realized it, and had no money (due to a mishap beyond my control) for fresh ones. Sorry, but my survival is more important than pictures.