There’s something in the air at AnimeNYC; it’s obsession.

AnimeNYC is your FYP embodied. The comments you’d scroll past on anime discourse are suddenly standing next to you in the back row at Artist Alley. Around you, it isn’t just prints and stickers and merch of cute waifus. In the dizzying smell of popcorn (did everyone smell that?) and the surge of cosplayers brushing past you, you realize that fandom has spilled off the screen and into real life.

Online, pop culture thrives behind the safety of anime profile pictures and curated feeds. In person, everything has been stripped away and it’s different. There are odd smells and cosplay props poking in your face; it’s messy, crowded, and your feet hurt from walking. There’s a long line to use the bathroom, but at least you can wait behind Geto Suguru. Down that alley, you see an artist selling provocative body pillows. You won’t go up to that booth, but seeing it in person alone is a thrill. 

The real world is uncurated and weird, and events like these remind us of that. The FYP, in contrast, has been algorithmically curated to perfection, data point by data point, everything served to us with intention.

And in that same vein of technical perfection, there has been endless, unproductive discourse about AI making artists obsolete. But standing in the middle of Artists Alley, it’s obvious why that idea is off base; AI can mimic style, it can mimic strokes and color theory, but it cannot capture obsession. 

AnimeNYC was a little weird. I loved it.