Otaku Surf

New York Anime Festival 2009 – Yoshiyuki Tomino, Yui Makino and Laura Bailey

Posted on 15. Oct, 2009 by admin in Anime Conventions

In Manhattan, Cosplayers take Anime to the streets for the New York Anime Festival 2009.

     The last time I was in New York was with my friends several years ago and I remember there was so much to see and do that it would take days several days to see the best of the Big Apple. Which brings me to the New York Anime Festival held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan. I spend 2 and a half days at the festival and I wish I had spent more time there, because there was a lot to do and see for the three day event.

     Suffice to say, I compiled most of the things I saw in this article that includes brief interview excerpts, a Widescreen HD video I did for a Charleston ABC affiliate and another Widescreen HD video which is more in depth on the festival and includes interviews with Japanese singer/voice actress Yui Makino, American singer/voice actress Laura Bailey, Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino and the man behind the festival Lance Fensterman. 

Cosplayers who had a booth for fans to take pictures with their favorite Anime.

Cool Afro Samurai get up in the dealer's area.

Bumblebee at the festival. Every where he went a large crowd started to form, which is completely understandable. Look at him!

     Like past conventions and festivals I’ve attended, once you walk into the festival you’re just inundated with Anime, Manga, Cosplayers, Merchandise and basically everything Japanese pop culture. 

     One of the things that surprised me was the number of people who attended the festival. On Saturday, in the dealer’s area I got barely move through the massive amount of people. I spoke to New York Anime Festival Show Manager Lance Fensterman and he told me that the festival is only three years old with their first festival getting 14,000 attendees. When I got back I learned that this year’s festival garnered 21,388 participants. 

"The Anime Fest is a celebration of all things Japanese pop culture. It's like a Comic-con for Japan," says NYAF Show Manager Lance Fensterman.

Maid Cosplayers outside of the main venue at the Javits Center.

How did the New York Anime Festival come about and where do most of your attendees come from?

LANCE FENSTERMAN: We actually run New York Comi-con which is a massive, massive pop culture event. And generally Anime is considered a part of the Comicon pop culture world and we really felt like these fans, this community, this whole genre needed its own space.

So we kind of took it out of New York Comic-con and launched it’s own festival three years ago, the New York Anime Fest. The fans are mostly from New York, the metropolitan area. But we’ve actually had fans come from Japan for this every year. 

Some of the types of merchandise found at the dealer's floor at the festival.

Astro Boy at the New York Anime Festival.

What’s the attraction of this festival to so many people each year? 

LANCE FENSTERMAN: I think it’s about discovery of what they don’t know. If they found a new hook, they’re really into one piece of japanese culture, maybe they found some manga that they really loved, and so they’re curious right and they want to see more.

And they want to figure out what the hub bub is about too, because if you’re into anime, in anyway shape or form and you live within a thousand miles of New York City you’re hearing about what’s happening this weekend. 

You’re curious, you want to go check it out man, it’s a spectacle you saw it.

What kind of effect do you think events like the New York Anime Festival does for the economy?

LANCE FENSTERMAN: I run a lot of events and they’re all pop culture based events and run a lot in this building. I joke this is like my vacation at home except I’ve got to work the entire time. You look around at how many people are here and the fact that they’re all spending dollars, and taxi cabs, food in the building, food outside and food outside the building. A lot of people went to Korea town to eat dinner that’s all a boon.

Tonight we have a concert at Webster Hall that’s a boon to that neighborhood. I think it’s important especially in these times that we’re doing what we can to aid the community. 

The New York Anime Festival 2009 Short Documentary featuring – Yoshiyuki Tomino, Laura Bailey, Yui Makino and Lance Fensterman

At the Festival there were various musicians performing and one particularly one stood out. One of my favorite anime and manga titles is Welcome to the NHK and I got the opportunity to see Misako’s voice actress, Yui Makino in concert as well as briefly talk to her.

"I think Japanese pop culture is relatable to many since our culture combines different cultures from outside Japan," says Yui Makino

Yui Makino performs for the festival on Saturday.

Why do you think there is an interest in Japanese Animation and music especially with a Western audience?

YUI MAKINO: With Japanese animation it’s very well known and well received. For example I went to France and China and saw many different fans all over the world. I think Japanese pop culture is so popular because it combines different cultures from outside of Japan.

Japanese people get inspired by foreign cultures and they integrate that into their work. And I think that’s a reason why everybody can relate to Japanese pop culture. 

I’m very thrilled that Anime is very popular here. I’m glad about it and through japanese animation fans have started to know about me. I’m very happy about that.

Another artist, AKB48, performing at the festival.

How did you go about starting your musical career and is there a favorite song that you like to perform?

YUI MAKINO: Before I became a singer I was playing piano. I’ve been playing piano for a long time. When I was born, my dad was a musician and since I was born his music was all around me. And it was natural for me to become a musician. And I actually started playing piano when I was three.

As for a favorite song. It’s difficult to pick one…My song called Amorita, this was a song for the Tsubasa Chronicles theme song for the theatrical release and this is actually my first debut single with my singing in it. And whenever I play this song, it’s really well received and the audience gets excited and it makes me really happy to play the song.

Yui Makino waving at fans after her performance.

Speaking of which, I saw your peformance yesterday and it must have been something for you to see how enthusiastic the audience was.

YUI MAKINO: It was very surprising for me. Because when I was performing during the concert everybody was conservative, focused and weren’t screaming in the middle of the concert.

I was thinking, “Was my concert boring?” But at the end of the concert they just ran to the front and they welcomed me so warmly and it was amazing! It was like a dream, it was amazing.

This is the ABC NEWS 4 version of the video package I did at the festival.

Soul Eater Cosplayer at the festival.

     An advantage to coming to an Anime convention is that you get to see Anime that’s about to hit the U.S. and meet with the directors and voice actors. The big premiere at the festival was Soul Eater. I had some exposure to it reading the very first part of the manga in an anthology, but after watching the premiere, I’m hooked!

    I got to speak to one of the actors, Laura Bailey about Soul Eater and her take on the Anime industry as it stands now.

Why do you think so many people are turning out for events like the New York Anime Festival and watching more Anime?

LAURA BAILEY: I think so many people come to these things because it gives them the opportunity to really be with people that enjoy the same thing they do. Maybe not everybody at their school enjoys the same thing but when you come to a convention like this you get to see an entire culture of people that really feels like that you fit in and you identify with it gives you a chance to be yourself.

With Anime, people love fantasy and being able to view a world that doesn’t exist. And here in America we don’t neccessarily have the same outlet that’s animated. 

In Japan so much more is animated, every story you could think of can be animated it doesn’t have to be for kids. I think a lot of American audiences are identifying with that and going ‘ I still love animation and would love to be able to watch stories for me that are animated.’ 

"It's a cool storyline and all the characters are so much fun and I think this is the most fun I've had on a show and I'm so proud of it and I really hope it turns out well because it's so beautiful to look at," says Laura Bailey talking about Soul Eater.

A Soul Eater poster at the festival.

What’s Soul Eater all about and who do you play?

LAURA BAILEY: Soul Eater is a show that’s more popular than I thought it was and New York Anime Fest is the big premiere for it.  I play a character named Maka, who is really girly but at the same time really tough. so it’s a really fun character

Zach the director, he kind of gives you a little idea of what the show might be about.  And he said it was kind of Tim Burton meets anime

So when I watched the show, it’s dark and the animation is amazing. And it’s a cool storyline and all the characters are so much fun and I think this is the most fun I’ve had on a show and I’m so proud of it and I really hope it turns out well because it’s so beautiful to look at.

I like the character design, I like the comedy in the show in combination with the action just the little background things that happen that you might not notice if you’re watching, that if you pay more attention you can see all these crazy things that are happening behind it, it’s pretty cool.

What are your thoughts on the longevity of Anime here in the United States?

LAURA BAILEY: I think if they find a way to keep it from being illegally downloaded I think it can only keep getting more popular. Because it’s universal and everybody can enjoy it and I think more people that see it, anybody that sees it really starts to enjoy it and they keep watching it, keep watching it and show it to more people. And I’ve watched these conventions rise in the last 10 years from very small to huge and I hope it continues to grow.

Giant Lucky Star poster at the festival.

Yoko Cosplayer wielding a pretty long range rifle.

Zeon officer looking for new recruits to kick some Gundam butt.

     When I first created this blog my first post was dedicated to Gundam, so it was a huge thrill for me to meet and interview the mecha series creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino.  Although I didn’t really have that much time with him, he was busy throughout the weekend, I learned a lot and was pretty glad to have met him.

Yoshiyuki Tomino at the New York Anime Festival

     A few tidbits from the interview, he doesn’t think too highly of mecha robots in Hollywood, like Iron Man and Transformers and  says it’s “quite nonsense, almost less than anime and manga.” When I asked him what makes a great robot design, he said he wasn’t sure but he does like the new and old Macross designs. 

     He also says that he’s open to a live action movie interpretation of Gundam saying, “If there were a good enough story I would probably give my permission.”

Gundam was one of the first series to show the real consequences of war in a very raw fashion. How integral was that factor?

YOSHIYUKI TOMINO: I really didn’t want to lie to the audience, I mean the audience is intelligent and if I were to make a war story, there are no wars where no one dies. And therefore I could not do a story about a war where no one dies. Because it’s not realistic. 

In fact there are prominent American politicians that tried to make euphemisms for the casualties of war, but casualties are casualties, mortalities are mortalities and we must not hide that fact. 

In reality there are no such ideal wars, that’s an oxymoron. So no matter who participates in war, if such battles were to occur there is no such thing as no casualties. 

A Gundam plastic model kit based on Tomino's first Gundam series.

When asked about the NY Festival Tomino says, "I find it encouraging to see that the East Coast seems to finally catching up with the West Coast in its acceptance and enthusiasm towards manga and anime."

Do you consider any of your Gundam works a favorite?

YOSHIYUKI TOMINO: As a creator moreso than any one that I could say as a favorite, because there really isn’t a particular work I like the most. What always strikes me are the failures.

It’s always the failures that call back to me.

And in particular, Victory Gundam is a series that I truly regard as one rife with errors. 

One of my favorite aspects of your series is the evolution of man. What made you decide to integrate that subject into the series?

YOSHIYUKI TOMINO: So I know it’s a giant robot series but I wanted to make Gundam even more science fiction. The robots are more mechanical. There is more of an engineering factor than there is a science fiction one with them.

In order to truly instill the science and the science fiction, I introduced this concept of evolution and of this new type of human being. 

What’s interesting is that we are actually now facing the evolution of the human race. 

Why do you think there is a growing popularity of Anime in the United States?

YOSHIYUKI TOMINO: I’m not too sure myself, please ask the fans…it’s a curiousity to me.

There is one thing as a Japanese person that strikes my curiousity. What I find particularly curious is that there already exists a medium, the cartoon, which is a western medium. One can even possibly say a Judeo-Christian one.

So why when something already exists in this culture, why do they seek , accept and like so much anime and manga which obviously comes from Japan. 

But I will say that actually pleases me that people don’t actually like one anime or say like Disney and they can expand beyond that and enjoy all types of different anime from Japan. 

Gundam robot displayed at the festival by Anime Force.

     And there you have it on my experience at the festival. The New York Anime Festival was a great experience and one that I will not forget. My only regret was not staying longer and forgetting to get some merchandise! There was a lot to see and do and a lot of great people that I met it was well worth the trip to the Big Apple.

     I’d like to thank the staff at the New York Anime Festival, Laura Bailey, Lance Fensterman, Yui Makino, Peter Tatara and Yoshiyuki Tomino.

Tags: gundam, laura bailey, new york anime festival 2009, yoshiyuki tomino, yui makino