We were told there were shuttles to and from the convention hotels to the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Apparantly, according to the bell boy, he had no idea when the shuttles were running or where the shuttles would pick up. Instead of waiting, we found out that we can walk up a few streets to get to the convention center. It is not a bad walk if you are in a simple, casual costume like Baccano!, but I cannot imagine the pain if you were wearing something much more intricate. It was funny because we were seeing cosplayers getting out of the 34th Street station footing it along 34th street to the convention center. Talk about shared pain!

The Jacob Javits Convention Center looked very much like an airport. There was plenty of potential space for cosplay gatherings. We were able to pick up our press badges without any hassle. The registration line did not exist. For a major East Coast event, it seemed like you just pick up your badge and go.

I liked how this event was set up to prevent con crashers (people who go to cons without buying a badge). All of the main events were downstairs. Security checked badges at the escalator at all times preventing any freeloaders.

For one thing, Jared and I were hungry. Panels were already in session, so we decided to hit a random panel to munch on Jared's homemade sandwiches. We ended up watching a very education panel about copyright, trademarks, and legalities behind any creative.

After attending the panel, we went around the dealer's room. It was practically the heart of New York Anime Fest - a huge dealer's room surrounded by panel and programming rooms with World Cyber Games (WCG) on one side with a main stage (Apple Kissa Stage) on the other side that entertained attendees perusing through the dealer's room. This was a very nice and interactive set up. Panel rooms were labled and you had a good idea where everything was.

Funimation had their Soul Eater English voice over cast to sign autographs. They also had an artist do a chalk drawing of the characters from Soul Eater to be done before the convention ends. It was scheduled to be unveiled at the Soul Eater gathering on Sunday. I also have to give Funimation some brownie points for recognizing my Chane LaForet cosplay. One of the Funimation vendors tried to sell me Baccano! (but I have the whole series already).

New York Anime Fest 2009 also hosted World Cyber Games. Though NYAF had a pretty sweet set up for this main event, there was no gaming room for casual gamers.

New York Anime Fest 2009 also had their maid team (with the occasional male servant), the Apple Kissa Maids. There was not a formal cafe set up because Jacob Javits does not allow the sale of outside food. They just performed on stage throughout the con and cleaned up after the attendees.

There was not much else going on for the rest of Friday. Jared and I had a good idea what to pick up in the dealer's hall. We were impressed to see cosplayers from series that you would not typically see at Anime Expo, Anime Los Angeles, or Fanime. Can you spot the Sharon Apple?

Since we were in New York, we took a few more pictures of our Baccano! cosplay at Jacob Javits.

We would have stayed for the Anime Music Video (AMV) contest had Jared's video got into the contest. Yet, after hearing a few Nightwish amvs made it into contest, we had no hope for this one. We decided we were better off watching a Broadway show instead. Unfortunately, the last shuttle out of Jacob Javits leaves around 8PM. Even if we did stay for the contest, we would have to find other means getting back to our hotel during the evening hours.

While waiting for the shuttle we ran into the Green Light Anti-Zombie Squad outside the convention center. We boarded our shuttle at around 6:30PM and went back to our hotel to figure out what we were going to do in lieu of the Anime Music Video contest.

We went back to Times Square to figure out what Broadway show to see that evening. We did not mind trying to standing room only (SRO) tickets for Jersey Boys. However, the show already sold out the entire theater and all SRO by 6PM. To play it safe, we bought tickets for the Sunday matinee. Mamma Mia! was playing not too far from us. Though, Jared has not seen the show, I already seen it twice in San Francisco. We thought it would be an interesting adventure watching a show that both of us have not seen yet. A few blocks down was Chicago.

We ended up getting SRO tickets for Chicago. As I was watching the show, a flood of memories came back to me when we did a few numbers from Chicago when I took a musical theatre class ("All That Jazz," "All I Care About," etc). Overall, it was a really fun show. It was really fun seeing Chicago while wearing our Baccano! outfits since this is all the same era.

For the most part, we spent the rest of our night enjoying the New York nightlife followed by cosmoplitans.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody . If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Milton Burlesque. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.