Anime NYC 2025 - Post-Show Field Report

While the prices have risen pretty dramatically, Anime NYC 2025 was larger than previous years and had a lot more events and big name guests. The prices might be a bit hard to stomach for some but again, it was kind of unavoidable.

“Anime NYC is a creation of LeftField Media, an event company made of dedicated fans and convention organizers. Anime NYC is built with tremendous support from Crunchyroll and publishers across the Japanese pop culture industry.”

In comparison to 2024, Anime NYC 2025 had a lot more to explore. There were plenty of booths, from VTUBERS such as Hololive, where fans of various VTUBERs could join together, sing with them, listen to their randomness, and just enjoy a dedicated gaming hall where various tournaments were being held, like Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, and even Super Smash Bros! Famous YouTubers like IronMouse and CDAWG VA were there too (sadly, we couldn’t watch them due to time constraints), and that was pretty neat!

There were also a slew of popular voice actors out there for meetups, interviews, and fan questions. Needless to say, this Anime NYC was without a doubt the most varied one to date. Regardless of what type of otaku you are, Anime NYC 2025 had you covered!

There were plenty of booths this year, ensuring a bit more variety than past outings. There was the Hololive stage, where fans of various VTUBERs could join their favorites, sing with them—they performed numerous anime and popular English songs—listen to them talk about silly topics, and even join in as if they were part of the group! Almost every day, Hololive was the loudest event by far, showing just how passionate those fans are.

Those who wanted a more typical anime con affair could scour the floors for merchandise from numerous vendors, like Yen Press, Good Smile Company, Viz Media, and plenty of others. But with how pricey Anime NYC 2025 was, this certainly would stretch your savings a bit. We’d be lying if we didn’t admit we got a ton of figures ourselves, but it was well worth it to show our support to our favorite vendors.

Gaming otaku weren’t left in the dark at Anime NYC 2025! There was a big emphasis on games this year, with an entire floor dedicated to hosting gaming events. Con-goers could play against others in their favorite fighting games like Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, and even Super Smash Bros! There were also card game tables for all the favorites, like Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and so on. We even heard that some popular YouTubers like IronMouse and CDawgVA were playing games with the crowd! Due to time constraints, we couldn’t see them ourselves, but from the fan roars, we know they were enjoying the event!

Lastly, there were quite a few panels and voice actor meetups available! Famous voice talent like Kaiji Tang, Christopher Sabat, Aleks Le, AMALEE, and others were there to talk to con-goers, sign merch, or take photos! There were also plenty of panels where con-goers could learn more about numerous industry themes and/or upcoming projects. It would be impossible to see and experience everything in one day, let alone four, but at the very least, you couldn’t say there was nothing to do at Anime NYC 2025!

Unfortunately, Anime NYC 2025 wasn’t without its drawbacks. The first—and most glaring—was overcrowding. We here at Honey’s Anime have been to our fair share of conventions, large and small, and Anime NYC 2025 is a medium-sized one compared to the titan that is Anime Expo. Nevertheless, it was clear that there was either no limit on how many could attend or a false expectation of how many would show up. Lines affected almost everything at the con, from food stalls and vendors to meeting some of the guests. The lines for food stalls were so long at times that they spilled into the non-food vendor areas, which was just terrible. Equally, seeing some of the guests was a nightmare, as lines could go on so long that it would be either impossible to meet them—unless you were there early enough—or by the time you worked your way up to the guest, they were on break or done with their time slot. Seriously, Anime NYC 2026 needs to consider capping ticket amounts or opening more of the Javits Center so there’s more room.

Another issue was the lack of big gaming vendors. Despite scouring the floor, we really only saw a few minor ones. Don’t get us wrong—we were more than thrilled to see Honor of Kings with their Detective Conan collaboration and Kaiju No.8, which we could play briefly—it looks and plays incredibly well for a mobile/Steam game. Yet, we were expecting some bigger gaming panels, maybe from Capcom or even SEGA. We get that this is an anime convention, but it does have a lot of gamers who attend, and we would have liked some more gaming content.

As you can see, there was a lot of cosplay, but we always try to look for the more unique ones. In our gallery, there are the usual cosplayers, but we are very happy to include some funny and stylish ones from Anime NYC 2025! All cosplayers who had individual photos taken were asked for permission beforehand, so thank you all for posing for Honey’s Anime! Hopefully next year we’ll see even more from newer anime airing!