New York Anime Festival: Friday Highlights

The first annual New York Anime Festival kicks off today at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The hall opens to press and professionals at 10 am, and general admission hours start at 2 pm and stays open until 10 pm.

What's on tap for Friday? Here are some of the highlights of manga-related events:

• 3:00 - 4:00 pm - Dramacon 3 Launch Party at the TokyoPop booth (#100). TokyoPop celebrates the release of Dramacon Volume 3 with a special reading by creator Svetlana Chmakova.
• 3:00 - 4:00 pm - Gekiga Panel at the Anime Culture Panel Room. Rym and Scott of GeekNights put the spotlight on gekiga, or dramatic, artistically innovative graphic novels that transcend the typical robots and school girl romance manga stories.
• 4:00 - 5:00 pm - Del Rey Manga Panel at the Manga Panel Room. Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh and Del Rey Manga crew preview the coming attractions for 2008 and beyond.
• 5:00 - 6:00 - Go! Comi Panel at the Manga Panel Room. - Go! Comi promises previews of new manga releases for 2008, a Q&A with Guest of Honor Aimee Major Steinberger (author of Japan Ai: A Tall Girl's Adventures in Japan) and "a giant box of Pocky."
• 5:00 - 7:00 pm - Love*Com Movie Premiere at the Live Action Screening Room - The first of three new live action films based on popular shojo manga titles released by VIZ Media, Love*Com (Lovely Complex) is a romantic comedy starring Ema Fujisawa as too-tall girl Risa and Teppei Koike as too-short boy Atsushi. This U.S. premiere gives fans an early peek at this feature film from VIZ Pictures before its release on DVD in Spring 2008.
• 6:00 - 7:00 pm - DramaQueen: Boys Love and Yaoi Panel at the Manga Panel Room. DramaQueen's publisher and editors reveal their new boys love and yaoi manga releases for 2008, plus lots of schwag and giveaways.
• 7:30 - 10:00 pm Anime Insider and World Cosplay Summit Masquerade at the TokyoPop Stage - This is the biggie! For the first time ever, teams are competing to be the U.S. representatives at the 2008 World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan. Look for the participating cosplayers to bring their "A-game" and their most dazzling costume creations as they go toe-to-toe to present the most crowd-pleasing skits.

I'll be there to take in the fun, take a few photos and get the scoop from the manga publishers panels (and do some shopping, of course). Stay tuned for more soon! If you'd like to get the update on this weekend's events in one shot or simply stay up to date on recent events in the wide world of manga, sign up for the weekly About.com Manga newsletter and get it in your inbox every Tuesday morning.