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Meadowlands Exposition Center and Holiday Inn Meadowlands<br>Secaucus, NJ
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2002 to present
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http://wwwanimenextorg
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is a
Fan Convention for
Anime and
Manga enthusiasts. It is an annual three-day event held over a weekend in the
New York /
New Jersey metropolitan area. The first event was held in
2002 in October, but later moved to June in
2004 . The event is organized by
Universal Animation , Inc., a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of New York. The official tagline of AnimeNEXT is "the next evolution of anime conventions".
The convention features Japanese creators of anime and manga, voice actors from anime series, artists, vendors and exhibits, panels, workshops, and gaming. Events all focus on aspects of anime, manga, and Japanese culture. With the popularity of anime and manga growing in the 1990's and 2000's, anime conventions have seen great growth in their attendance, and AnimeNEXT is no exception. Organized and financed by a non-profit organization, the event is operated and staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers.
The first AnimeNEXT anime convention was in October 2002 and held at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in
Secaucus , New Jersey. The event's Guest of Honor was
Kia Asamiya , and drew 1071 attendees from the area.
In
October 2003 , AnimeNEXT moved to the Rye Town Hilton of
Rye Brook in
Westchester County, New York . Although the move placed the event in the state of New York, it actually was 30 miles further from New York City than the previous year. Despite the move outside of metropolitan area, AnimeNEXT saw a 50% increase in attendance to 1571. Making his first appearance at an anime convention, the Guest of Honor was
Takehiko Ito , creator of
Outlaw Star . The event also featured was Voice Actor
James Arnold Taylor , who was making his anime convention debut.
For the first time, the event also had musical guests as the Japanese Punk band,
Peelander-Z and Techno-music band, Cosmicity performed.
In 2004, AnimeNEXT returned to the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey. The month of the event also changed to June, allowing for more students to attend the event. As a result, attendance swelled as over 3200 fans descended upon the
Meadowlands . This was the first year that AnimeNEXT did not have a Japanese Guest of Honor in attendance. Fans were excited about the attendance of
Richard Cox and
Moneca Stori , the voices of InuYasha and Kagome respectively for
Cartoon Network 's hit series,
InuYasha . Also in attendance was
Matt K. Miller , the voice of Tenchi Masaki in the popular
Tenchi Muyo! series.
After the event in 2004 AnimeNEXT announced that the event would be relocating to a larger venue in 2005. The organizers targeted the Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey as the site of the next event.
The convention announced 2 Japanese Guests of honor: Director (Roronoa Zolo) and
Kerry Williams (Nami).
An interesting side note: Peelander-Z, a Japanese punk band based out of NYC has been performing at AnimeNEXT for the past three out of four years that the con has been running including AnimeNEXT 2005, and the convention is the band's official sponsor for their Northeast mini-tour, the Mr. "P"-tour.
The fifth incarnation of AnimeNEXT has been scheduled for June 16-18 at the same venue as the previous year, the Meadowlands Exposition Center and nearby Holiday Inn Meadowlands. Confirmed guests at this time are
Vic Mignogna ,
Colleen Clinkenbeard ,
Laura Bailey ,
Lauren Goodnight ,
Bill Rogers ,
Kari Wahlgren , and
Mike Pollock .
AnimeNEXT became the only
Anime Convention in the
New York City area in 2004. The other events that had existed
Big Apple Anime Fest ,
Anime Expo New York ,
Shoujocon ,
Yuricon ) were on hiatus. AnimeNEXT's status among anime conventions in the future will depend somewhat on the status of the other local events in the area. Onna, a joint event by the founders of Shoujocon and Yuricon, was announced in 2005 as a one-time event.
