In case you didn’t know: Yeah, NYCC was packed.
New York Comic Con has come and gone. You know what means? Announcements have been made, panels have come and gone, and exhibitors have impressed or not impressed me! I shall rate them the only way I know how: Good (+), Bad (-), and Invalid (=).
I dunno if this is a shocking announcement, and, if I normally read US comics I might have figured this out (because I had zero clue what they could announce that was shocking with Attack on Titan), but this will at least get mainstream press to consider covering it, since a lot of comic artists they know will be drawing comics of Attack on Titan.
Kishimoto by the way was very ordinary while his editor actually looked stylish. More on stylish editors later, but Christopher Butcher asked some questions about Naruto, its serialization, and then Kishimoto did a live drawing of Naruto and Jiraiya. Thank goodness for Kishimoto that there was a Jiraiya cosplayer in the audience it seemed, since he forgot how to draw him!
That said, there’s no need to keep saying that people don’t know about Crunchyroll manga. I mean, it’s been around for 2 years now right? How long are we gonna keep saying that? I think it’s unnecessary.
Viz Media Panel (+): This was probably the clear “winner” out of everyone at NYCC. It was also a very good trick at the end, which I’ll get to later, but the bloodbath of licenses as follows:
Seventh Garden
Yona of The Dawn
Haikyuu
Everyone’s Getting Married
Black Clover
Kuroko’s Basketball
And there was Monster Hunter I believe, but whatever the case, some of these are A licenses, licenses that we weren’t sure was gonna happen for a good amount of reasons. But Viz is kind of big, so I guess they thought now was time to take the plunge with two sports titles.
Of course, the A+ announcement was at the end of the panel, where they announced they were licensing Hunter x Hunter, the anime. Side note: I keep saying Hunter X Hunter, when generally you just say Hunter Hunter. I dunno guys, it’s weird.
But that was the best announcement of the weekend for me. Gonna have to save some cash, and prepare myself to look at that series again.
Vertical Panel (+): I’m being generous with this one. There was no new manga or LN announcements, though it looks as though some people learned Nichijou was licensed by Vertical in the panel. Kizumonogatari got pushed back into December. There wasn’t much of note at the panel except one thing.
That one thing actually took me by surprise.
Not the fact that audio LNs would be a thing — I suspected this would be something that would happen down the road — but from Vertical? They would be the first to do it? That caught me off guard. This only opens up more questions I think, but it’ll be interesting to see how Kizumonogatari and Attack on Titan: Harsh Mistress will be portrayed next year.
Yen Press (+): I’m just glad they didn’t announce a lot of stuff like they did at AX. That was nuts. This was not so nuts, but the actual panelists (Kurt, JuYoun, Paul, Wendy) were, I guess. Anyways, I think Overlord was the big announcement, though getting Beast in The Boy novel and manga rights is a good thing since that’ll be the big title to look out for in the US next year anime wise.
Also should give them some credit for answering some interesting questions from the attendees.
Kodansha Comics (-): Maybe if I was more of a Noragami reader, I would have rated this higher. Actually, the part where Yohei Takami, the editor of Adachitoka, explained the process of Noragami, was neat. It’s also surprising to see just how popular the series has become since it came out…last year no? The progress has been staggering.
But yeah, only two announcements were made, and while the digital initiative is nice, it’s only titles that have been on Crunchyroll, and we can only get them in eBook form. I can only guess it’ll go up from here, but not all that enthused by Kodansha’s panel at NYCC.
Aniplex (-): Normally I would give an invalid to a panel I didn’t attend, and in my case, I tried to go get a hot dog instead of head over to the line, and that turned out to be my undoing as I got shut out of the room, so it’s my fault I didn’t experience the panel. But not surprisingly, not much in the way of announcements, just a lot of reminders of stuff you would expect. But it is Aniplex. It’s not too much of a surprise.
FUNimation (–): Another panel that should also be an invalid since I couldn’t go, but once again, they announce a few things too late (Eva being the big announcement) and there’s no word on what’s happening with titles they licensed way back when (Banner of the Stars anyone?). In this case, gonna have to let that stew as we go another year without hearing about some of the Bandai titles they licensed, for not better, for worse.
Viewster (=): I actually came to this panel, but came late! And when I was there, they had went into the FAQ part of the panel, then a raffle, which I missed. Overall when I was there the energy seemed kind of low, that may be because there wasn’t a lot of people in the room (they were in Kodansha’s room, which was packed. Yen Press, conversely, had a small room), but all in all, for first time attendance, I’ll call it a wash.
Manga de Japanese (=): After I failed last year, here’s a video that I shot with Manga de Japanese this year:
The people seem kind of nice, but I think they need to get out of that section they’re in — I would call it a deadzone, and that just leaves no one to really go and check it out. I don’t know if it is appealing to try it out. They might have to get a native speaker or volunteer to sell the idea of learning Japanese with manga, because I don’t think it’s going to work specifically the way it is now.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones/Daredevil Panel (+): I can certainly try going to more non-anime/manga events more often! This was a lot of fun. It started out by getting a glimpse at 3/4 of The Defenders (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage), then got a good chunk of the S1 cast of Daredevil to talk about how playing in the show changed them (for Elden Henson, he’s no longer the guy from Mighty Ducks, he’s just the guy that’s hated now), then they showed a trailer that showed S1, then clips from S2. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, they showed this a second time before the actors got on stage. A fan requested they show it again.
Then after the Daredevil team exited, in walked Jessica Jones and her crew. It was fun getting their perspective even though with the show not coming out until November, they couldn’t say much. After their spiel, they then showed the first episode of Jessica Jones.
…SPOILERS–ok, not really.
I thought the episode went too slow for my taste. It definitely is more mature than Daredevil, at least when it comes to sex and the like. If Daredevil went all punching and kicking, Jessica Jones is gonna be more raunchiness, but not wasted raunchiness. There’s also some romance in there that takes advantage of the cast they have, which makes it sort of refreshing.
As I haven’t read the comics, I’m definitely trying to see where Luke Cage fits in this — does he have his powers or not yet? — and maybe there were hints dropped in, but where exactly does this pick up after Daredevil? Or is this taking place during Daredevil? Too hard to say at the moment, though I may have missed some moments that hinted at it.
Still, there were a lot of teasing moments, including appearances by The Purple Man, and all of that deserves more explanation, which we will get when it all comes out in November.
So yeah, that’s about it. NYCC is done. I’ve met a lot of people, saw familiar faces, attended good panels, and did new stuff. As always, can’t wait to see where NYCC goes from here.
