Books Kinokuniya's flagship New York City store will be crawling with cosplayers, anime and manga fans on Sunday, March 15, 2009 as the folks behind New York Anime Festival will be celebrating Anime Day.
Sure, every day can be anime day if you try, but this particular celebration is especially timely since it's partly to celebrate the opening of KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games at the Japan Society Gallery, an eye-popping, multimedia exhibit featuring the cultural collision of graphic novels, manga, anime, video games and fine art. The exhibit opens on Friday, March 15 and continues through June 14, 2009.
And just to make things a little more "krazy," Del Rey Manga is giving away free copies of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Volume 1 to the first 10 fans who show up dressed up as everyone's favorite depressed educator. Yen Press is giving away Soul Eater key covers (the same key covers that nearly started a riot at New York Comic-Con) to the first 30 fans who arrive at Books Kinokuniya after they open their doors at 11:00 am that Sunday morning.
Don't feel like getting up early on a Sunday? There's more fun and interesting activities planned for the afternoon. If you're extra lucky, you might win one of the raffle prizes that'll be given out at 6:00 pm, including a collection of 50 manga from Del Rey Manga and passes to see KRAZY! at the Japan Society.
Here's the rest of that day's schedule of events:
12:00 pm: Introduction To Cosplay
Cosplayers extraordinaire Renee Gloger, India Davis and Elizabeth Licata discuss the ins and outs of the world of cosplay, time-tested tips and tricks and show off the costumes that earned Gloger a trip to the World Cosplay Summit in 2008 as part of Team USA. Davis and Licata won the title of WCS Team USA at New York Anime Festival 2008, and they'll be headed to Nagoya this summer to show their costuming skills at World Cosplay Summit 2009.1:00 pm: Japan Society Presents KRAZY!
See a preview of this amazing exhibit that brings together over 200 items, including original art by manga creators like Junko Mizuno (Pure Trance), Taiyo Matsumoto (Tekkon Kinkreet), Takashi Okazaki (Afro Samurai), Moyoco Anno (Sugar Sugar Rune) and Yuichi Yokoyama (New Engineering), anime including Akira, Paprika and Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and video games from Pac-Man to Spore.- 2:00 pm: Let's Draw With Misako Rocks!
New York City-based manga artist Misako Rocks! will be on hand to share some tips and how-to's for aspiring artists. - 3:00 pm: Keio Academy Summer Camp
Keio Academy in Purchase, New York is opening its doors to teens interested in creating anime and digital media for Summer Camp. Instead of tents and marshmallow roasting, teens age 13 to 15 will learn the basics of creating anime, complete with guest speakers from some of Japan's top anime and film studios. How "top" you ask? Last year's guest speakers included Yuji Nunokawa, CEO of Studio Pierrot (the anime studio that brought you Naruto, Bleach) and Masakazu Kubo from Shogakukan, the producer of the Pokemon movies. Check out this presentation and see you'll be joining this year's happy "campers." -
4:00 pm: Samurai Beat Radio Introduces Ai Kawashima
Samurai Beat Radio will be showcasing the music of J-pop singer Ai Kawashima prior to her arrival in the U.S. "later this Spring." She'll also have a video message just for the fans gathered for Anime Day. You can also check out Kawashima's Facebook page for more news on her upcoming U.S. debut. -
5:00 pm: Making Music With echostream
Karaterice presents a musical show and tell with NYC-based band echostream as Tony, Tomo, and Ryoko take you through a session, from recording guitars and vocals, to laying down a beat, to perfecting a finished song.
Books Kinokuniya is located at 1073 Avenue of the Americas, (a.k.a. Sixth Avenue), between 40th and 41st Streets. For more information, you can call the store at 212-869-1700, or drop them a line at nyinfo@kinokuniya.com.
Image credit: © Koji Kumeta / KODANSHA
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