For last year's Anime Fest, I tried really hard to catch up on my anime fandom. I haven't regularly watched anime since high school, so I tried to cram my brain with Bleach and Claymore and all that mess, and I still felt totally lost once I got to the con.
So this year, I just said, sca-rew it, I'm just going to take pictures whether I know who these people are supposed to be or not. And the results were about the same. If any actual anime fans are reading this, feel free to let me know who's who in the comments. And non-anime Gnerd fans will find a lot of videogame costumes as well, so stick around.
Since there are Stormtroopers at every convention anywhere, let's get that out of the way first.
Video game costumes, perv costumes, and so much more, after the jump...
Saw tons of these screw-head guys, this guy wore it pretty well.
Here's the kendo battle area, where participants were assigned random matches. Pretty cool. I wish they did this sort of thing at Star Wars conventions.
This is pretty awesome and expensive looking.
I recognize these guys, but I don't know from where. Someone help me out. UPDATE: Reader arashi points out the cardboard guy is Danbo from Yatsubato.
Monkey from One Piece. Gnerd contributor Bishop told me that.
Very impressive Robot Chicken costume. Despite not being anime-themed, this was a big hit on the floor.
Fantastic 2-D Mr. Game & Watch.
There were tons of Links, but this was the only one from Smash Brothers, as signified by the Player 1.
Team Fortress 2 costumes seem to be a go-to for any convention these days, but I only saw one at Anime Fest - this Blue Solider.
Bishop told me to get a photo of these guys, but I forgot who they are. Can you tell why I'm not the usual gamer correspondent at Gnerd? Shaddup.
I really like costumes that create an outfit based on a character, instead of just a big plush or cardboard suit. This kid has a pretty good look based on Sonic, right down to the red sneaks.
Here's that weird Negaverse Pikachu and um....I want to say Lapras or like, Celadon...I fail at Pokemon. Sorry everyone. Who is it? UPDATE: Reader hermitx kindly points out this is actually Umbreon and Glaceon, the Dark and Ice evolutions of Eevee. Just for the record, I knew that. I did. On the tip of my godddamn tongue.
A very bashful looking Peach, with Luigi and V lurking in the background.
Girl Luigi and Girl Mario, taking a breather.
Hey look, something else from an anime movie! A gigantic No Face!
Uh oh, Pedobear alert. And this brings us to the "perv" section of our photo essay...
Tons of free hugs guys all over the floor, with frequent success.
The most popular event I saw all day wasn't an officially sanctioned con event; it was this studly cosplayer, standing in the middle of a crowd, posing amorously with other people in costume. That's it, all it takes is one slashy photo op to gather a huge crowd for hours on end. I saw this at the beginning of my day on Saturday, and when I came back about three hours later, the crowd was STILL THERE. However, they were right in the midst of a fake(?) blow-job photo op, and security finally broke it up. Good times!
Just when you thought it was safe to ever leave the house...sexy cubone cosplay. Yeah, so this is blurry, but maybe it's for the best. Once you see something, you can never unsee it.
If you woke up this morning aching to find something that would challenge your threshold for Geekanerdiness, today may be your lucky day. This session of Anime Parliament took place at the New York Anime Festival over the weekend, and the main argument of the day concerned the rights of Pokemon. And as if the video alone wasn't enough to make your feeble mainstream mind squirm, hit the jump for resident Pokemon expert AHR's analysis of the argument...
The "Is Pokemon Training Animal Abuse" question is one I can remember debating on the playground. While I'm glad the Parliament saw fit to offer some protection against Pokemon abuse, it seems to me they reached their conclusion through a flawed argument. One reason offered for the establishment of Pokemon rights is that Pokemon can, through no extraordinary circumstances, reach human level intelligence. The only real evidence offered is the existence of Psychic Pokemon, as if innate psychic power could be equated with intellectual capability. Sure Psychic Pokemon can bend spoons with their mind, but can they understand math and science? Can they communicate abstract concepts and feelings, or produce art? Can they create functioning societies? As we've seen numerous times on the series and in the games, when left to their own devices Pokemon pretty much behave like regular animals do. The major difference between animal and Pokemon intelligence is that Pokemon can loosely understand English, and can therefore more or less communicate their wants and needs to humans. However, I don't see any evidence that their desires extend beyond food, shelter, kinship and a vague inclination towards either excitement or passivity. Accepting this, the laws that govern a Pokemon's right to self-determination need to be formulated along the lines of animal rights legislature, as opposed to imagining Pokemon are in some way the intellectual equal of human beings. I mean, people EAT Pokemon in that series. Those burgers and sushi the characters are always stuffing their faces with can't all be made of tofu.
The first annual New York Anime Festival took place in Manhattan this past weekend, and Geekanerd was on the scene. While our allegiances lie more on the Western side of comics and cartoons, I dare say you'd be hard pressed to find a serious geek who hasn't at least dabbled in anime's seductive fandom. And speaking of seductive, how about this Wolverine sketch, hmm? While you can find fanart like this by the pound on DeviantArt, this particular sketch is actual concept art by Anzu for the upcoming Del Ray/Marvel manga series starring the X-Men. They're obviously going for the highly-profitable teen girl market, although I don't know that anyone wants their Wolverine looking that pretty.
Crazy cosplayers and more after the jump...
So many kids were dressed as Naruto it hardly seemed worth documenting, and we quickly learned other Naruto-related characters could be spotted by their belt buckle head band thingies. At least 45 percent of the people at the festival had to bewearing them, and if they weren't they were wearing a hat with animal ears.
Many impromptu fights could be witnessed in the halls of the Javits Center, but thankfully no one was killed. Most of the cosplay was obviously anime stuff, but video games were getting some love, too, as evidenced by this shockingly accurate Travis Touchdown (an otaku assassin from the unreleased No More Heroes) and a full on Smash Bros. Brawl:Also, those damn Star Wars nuts show up everywhere, but this one made a strong effort to be relevant to the Japanamaniacs: Awesome! Those expecting to fill their backpacks with free manga and swag were sorely disappointed, as almost all of the booths were occupied by sellers with nothing particularly exciting to promote, and hardly a freebie to be seen. In the last hour of the last day, however, the Central Park Media booth abruptly started throwing their books and DVDs at passerby, quickly attracting a massive, uncontrollable crowd that was probably still there by the time the Javits Center people turned the lights off. I managed to snag one book, and here it is:This is one them there sci-fi romantic comedy mangas, with a plotline that concerns a schoolgirl who is also an alien, and her light-hearted junior high adventures. My favorite story mostly involved the main characters chasing after a mouse. I also enjoyed this disclaimer that came at the end of the book. Way to stop those continuity hounds in their tracks!
Some shots from the the title sequence of the upcoming Domo stop-motion series, to be broadcast on Nicktoons Network.... A gang of Citibank vultures camped out in the middle of the sellers floor, presumably to prey on any desperate otaku who needed a quick credit card to buy another giant sword.
8pm @ The Green Room, 45 Bleecker Street, Manhattan
Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting you actually go to this event, but the geek snob credibility is undeniably through the roof; mad filmmaker Vincent Gallo and Hole's Eric Eriandson perform some sort of pseudo-musical improvised display. It "may be inappropriate for those under 18", so I can only imagine someone will be blowing Gallo on stage. $26 dollars.
6:30pm @ Giant Robot, 437 East 9th Street, Manhattan
An exhibition of illustrations by Adrian Tomine, who'll also be on hand to sign copies of Shortcomings, his quietly brilliant new graphic novel. Seriously, it's the book of the year. Plus this is technically an art opening so, you know. Say it with me now. Free booze.
10am - 6pm @ The Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street, Manhattan
This thing is actually going on all weekend, but there's some particularly neat stuff going on on Sunday. Manga/Sci Fi published Del Ray and Marvel Comics are making a special announcement...Avengers: The Super Deformed Initiative? I'd buy it. Plus Kaiju Big Battel, a Tokyopop special event, the Who Wants To Be A Voice Actor contest/exercise in public humiliation, and....a panel on Japanese Woodblock Prints? Li'l something for everyone...with really specific tastes. $30 for a day pass, $55 for the whole weekend.
Get your hands on the first piece of Will Wright's new masterpiece, and make some creatures that'll put Jim Henson to shame. Well, not really. But you can dream.
Since there are Stormtroopers at every convention anywhere, let's get that out of the way first.
Saw tons of these screw-head guys, this guy wore it pretty well.
Here's the kendo battle area, where participants were assigned random matches. Pretty cool. I wish they did this sort of thing at Star Wars conventions.
This is pretty awesome and expensive looking.
I recognize these guys, but I don't know from where. Someone help me out. UPDATE: Reader arashi points out the cardboard guy is Danbo from Yatsubato.
Monkey from One Piece. Gnerd contributor Bishop told me that.
Very impressive Robot Chicken costume. Despite not being anime-themed, this was a big hit on the floor.
Fantastic 2-D Mr. Game & Watch.
There were tons of Links, but this was the only one from Smash Brothers, as signified by the Player 1.
Team Fortress 2 costumes seem to be a go-to for any convention these days, but I only saw one at Anime Fest - this Blue Solider.
Bishop told me to get a photo of these guys, but I forgot who they are. Can you tell why I'm not the usual gamer correspondent at Gnerd? Shaddup.
I really like costumes that create an outfit based on a character, instead of just a big plush or cardboard suit. This kid has a pretty good look based on Sonic, right down to the red sneaks.
Here's that weird Negaverse Pikachu and um....I want to say Lapras or like, Celadon...I fail at Pokemon. Sorry everyone. Who is it? UPDATE: Reader hermitx kindly points out this is actually Umbreon and Glaceon, the Dark and Ice evolutions of Eevee. Just for the record, I knew that. I did. On the tip of my godddamn tongue.
A very bashful looking Peach, with Luigi and V lurking in the background.
Girl Luigi and Girl Mario, taking a breather.
Hey look, something else from an anime movie! A gigantic No Face!
Uh oh, Pedobear alert. And this brings us to the "perv" section of our photo essay...
Tons of free hugs guys all over the floor, with frequent success.
Just when you thought it was safe to ever leave the house...sexy cubone cosplay. Yeah, so this is blurry, but maybe it's for the best. Once you see something, you can never unsee it.
