Anime NYC 2025 Friday Gallery And Writeup
Anime NYC returned to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City for its eighth annual convention on August 21 – 24, 2025. According to a press release there were “over 148,000 in attendance” this year, which is a marked increase from the approximately 101,000 the quickly growing convention drew in 2024.
The convention expanded to four days this year, with abbreviated hours on the first day, running 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. One major highlight of Thursday’s programming was the panel presented by Netflix, which featured exclusive debuts and sneak peeks of footage from upcoming seasons of shows including Devil May Cry, Blue Eye Samurai, Record of Ragnarok, and Sakamoto Days.
One of the marquee events of Anime NYC this year was the hololive STAGE World Tour ’25 -Synchronize! concert held on the main stage on Friday night. This separately ticketed event featured VTubers Momosuzu Nene, Kureiji Ollie, Mori Calliope, IRyS, Nerissa Ravencroft, and special guests Akai Haato and Natsuiro Matsuri. Also on Friday, Anime NYC hosted Yoko Takahashi in a special concert (which was also separately ticketed) celebrating 30 years of Evangelion.
Voice actors in attendance this year included Christopher Sabat, Natalie Rial, Zach Aguilar, Aleks Le, Zeno Robinson, Sandy Fox, Brandon Rogers, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Lisa Reimold, and many more.
Cosplay is a huge part of any anime convention, and Anime NYC had nearly an entire floor specifically dedicated to the wildly popular hobby, with “Destination Cosplay” located in the River Pavilion on level 4 of the convention center. Anime NYC dedicated even more space to cosplay meetup/photoshoots this year, with three separate spots on the level 4 set aside for them, as the total number of meetups rose to over 75 across the event.
Cosplay photo sets designed and provided by Abi Candi were present in Destination Cosplay once again this year. I took more than a few of the photos you’ll see in my photo galleries from this event in front of said sets, so I must offer my personal thanks for their services. These sets have been a great addition to the convention, and I hope to see them there for years to come.
Anime NYC partnered with the Paladins of Cosplay for a cosplay repair area in Destination Cosplay, where cosplayers could seek assistance in mending any damage their outfits incurred on the jam packed show floor. Cosplayer meet & greets were also held in the area with cosplay guests including Hoku Props, Plexi Cosplay, Raisin Cosplay, and Stella Chuu.
The Gaming & Community Hall located on the lower level of the Javits was the place to be for attendees looking to get their game on.
Console gaming was provided by Citi Gaming, which featured tournaments in fighting games including Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Oh, and also children’s party game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (I will under no circumstances ever call Smash a fighting game, FITE ME IRL).
Arcade cabinets were provided by Psychich Drive, with titles including StepManiaX, Taiko no Tatsujin HD, Initial D: Arcade Stage 8, Dance Dance Revolution: X3 VS 2nd Mix, House of the Dead 4, Puzzle Bobble 3, Marvel VS Capcom 2, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
The vast dealer’s room and artist alley occupied a majority of the floor space on level 3 of the Javits, where attendees could spend many hours shopping for artwork, figures, apparel, games, cosplay accessories, and a multitude of different collectibles.
The Japanese food court presented by Dream Asia, also located on level 3, featured food vendors with offerings including bento boxes, onigiri, takoyaki, karaage, and ramen. The Javits’ food court on the lower level was also open during the convention, giving hungry attendees even more options for sustenance.
Anime NYC has seen a meteoric rise in attendance since its inception in 2017 and is showing no signs of slowing down. Anime NYC will return to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on August 20-23, 2026.
Cosplayers in this first of two galleries and writeups include petricor_and_rain, weeboburrito, 42takunai, craziecrissiecosplay, sillyghostcosplay, ghoulishbats, k1m08, empressjasmine, destinyfomo, drunken_sheep_, kgphoto23, clovercaked, ney_valdez, sakura_rose_cosplay, shaunwithoutfathom, strawberryshortcos, permian_polaris, avasb1zarreadventure, just_another_cosplayer96, starlightgoddess_cosplay, bella_ella_cosplay and many more.
We now use Smugmug to present cosplay photo galleries and will post all photos there, with a link to each gallery in its own gallery article. This will allow us to give you higher resolution images to download — still for free.
To view the entire gallery, just click on the image below. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.
If you like our work and want to show your appreciation, feel free to tip us at Ko-fi or become a patron on Patreon.
