|
| |
New York City, New York
|
| |
2001 to 2003
|
| |
12,832
|
The is an
Anime Convention which was held annually between 2001 and 2003. The event was organized by
Central Park Media , a company that licenses
Anime and
Manga and translates it for resale in the
United States . It was the first industry-organized anime convention to be held, and was reportedly supported by a consortium of anime companies. Big Apple Anime Fest is usually referred to by the acronym BAAF, pronounced "baff" rhyming with "laugh".
The event was held at the Directors Guild Theater in
New York City , with a dealers room at the Park Central hotel. A symposium was held on Saturday at the
Japan Society . Guests at the first Big Apple Anime Fest included
Kunihiko Ikuhara ,
Mitsuhisa Ishikawa ,
Tetsuya Ikeda , and
Toshio Maeda .
In 2002, the Big Apple Anime Fest relocated to Times Square at the Marriot Marquis, and the Virgin Megastore and its Loews State Theater located within. Anime events of this size and scope were unprecedented in the area. One of the notable events in 2002 was the world premiere of the
Cowboy Bebop movie. Guests included
Akitaroh Daichi ,
Taro Maki ,
Yoshiyuki Tomino ,
Tommy Ohtsuka ,
Yoshihiro Komada ,
Shinichiro Watanabe ,
Toshihiro Kawamoto , and
Yoko Kanno .
After the event in 2002, it was announced that the Marriott Marquis venue dates had been confirmed for the next three years according to this post on the website:
"The Big Apple Anime Fest will return to Times Square over Labor Day Weekend, next year, and thereafter, and will once again supervise both the film festival and the fan convention activities under one umbrella!
2003: August 29th - August 31st
2004: September 3rd - September 5th
2005: September 2nd - September 4th."
2003 marked the second time that events were held in Times Square. Originally, a partnership was announced with the .
Guests at both events included
Tsukasa Hojo ,
Yasuhiro Irie ,
Takeshi Koike ,
Satoshi Kon ,
Hyun Se Lee ,
Masao Maruyama ,
Taka Nagasawa ,
Takashi Nakamura ,
Tomoko Taniguchi ,
Ren Usami ,
Tasumi Yoda , and
Keith Giffen
Despite confirmed dates for 2004, BAAF announced on it's website that it would skip it's event in 2004 due to the
Republican National Convention , which would be held in New York City over
Labor Day weekend. According to their website:
"Following a series of meetings in New York and Tokyo over the past weeks, BAAF has decided to skip a 2004 event due to the overlap with the Republican National Convention at the same time, in the same venues. As announced previously, the Convention has reserved almost all of the available hotel rooms in New York City over the Labor Day timeframe, making it impossible for BAAF to mount the same sort of event as in previous years."
"Rather than change the timing of the event, which would result in conflicts with other trade and consumer events, or limit the scope of the activities, BAAF decided the best approach would be to skip 2004 completely, and focus on 2005."
Again in 2005, despite confirmed dates, the website displayed the following words:
"Thank you for visiting. There are currently no plans to hold BAAF 2005."
With cancellations in 2004 and 2005, it seems unlikely that there will be any future events. The closest
Anime Convention to New York City is currently
AnimeNEXT . Large anime conventions in New York City are difficult to organize due to the limited space and the high costs involved.
