Alright, fun’s over unfortunately, gotta go back home and gotta make sure I get there in one piece without dying. Just like I came to New York, I am going to use the subway and the Q70 shuttle bus to get to Laguardia airport, it’s so cheap but as I would find out later today, it’s not without it’s difficulties by nature of being public transit.
I checked out of my hotel without issue and just dropped the key cards in the drop box nice. I usually have room cleaning clean my sheets and shit/new towels at least once during my trips to New York but this time, because I would often go back to the hotel to drop off stuff and eat midday, I didn’t allow them to clean my room for all 4 nights lol. Damn, in the garbage bin it’s just empty food containers and plastic bottles, what can you do. I walked with my heavier luggage to 34 Penn station early morning. I left my hotel at like 6am, got up at like 5:30am. I didn’t get much sleep at all because of writing my posts of day 2 of the concert, I think I only got like 2 hours of sleep. Gotta do what you gotta do or else I’ll never write it. It’s pretty empty in this line to the “E” line to the shuttle station.
At least it’s not busy so I can get a seat and hold my bulky ass luggage. Part of me always thinks I bring a too big luggage when I see other travelers get by with like carry on and medium sized ones. Then I remember I am carrying a tube and a skateboard in there aswell and a flat portfolio for art prints, books and merch and other shit yea nevermind.
The subway ride to the station is fine, only about like 25 minutes. Once again at that station in brookyn for the shuttle. It is a ghetto station make no mistake, Jackson Heights rosevelt something and because of that they only have stairs up and down from the subway lines to elsewhere/other transfers. There is no escalator. And of course the one elevator is broken with no sign of it being repaired anytime soon, probably broken for months and just sitting there whatever. Which means I have to carry my heavy ass luggage up several flights of long stairs, fuckk. I was getting flackbacks to Japan 1 trip, my first trip to Japan where alot of luggage has to be manually moved up and down stairs cause there is no other way. Even the gates here are not meant for luggage, you have to lift them up over the gate or else you have to pay for your luggage to enter since that’s the way the gates are designed.
After a much harder struggle than I thought, I made it to the waiting area for the A70 shuttle bus to Laguardia. Damn, I might have strained my back or something but hopefully it’s nothing serious, let’s see how that goes. The bus comes in like 10-15 minute intervals so you have to wait a bit. If it’s busy, well you just have to wait for the next one to come.
The bus itself is fine, they offer storage racks in cause you don’t want to hold your luggage. Once again, I feel that this service and route is meant for small carry on luggage, not the best for fat ass huge luggage that I have but what can you do.
From the station there is no other routes, but you have to wait for your right stop at the right terminal, A, C, B in that order, yea, B is the last stop, dumb what whatever.
Success, I made it alive with my luggage in tack to the airport. Yay, but at what cost tho? Sanity, extra work and slightly longer time than cab, more physical hardship at ghetto stations that really really needs elevators and escalators but don’t because it’s ghetto. I think arriving and going to your hotel using this way is fine but going back? I am not so sure, it’s hard physically and mentally since your carrying shit and have so many other things in your mind while doing all this shit. If you cheap, then this is the only way and it’s fine, suck it up but if you have money willing to spend, I think taxi or uber is better tho the different in price is like $2.75 vs $60-80 at least one way.
Got my shit and as per usual much earlier than normal because I am that way. At least this time I was allowed to check in and drop off my bags at the Air Canada terminal when i got here. Last time I had to like wait outside I think cause too early, I think that was in Boston trip maybe?? Maybe in NY too, forgot.
Inside terminal B after clearing security and shit. The nice fountain is nice.
Feeling need for food early in morning, go to this place cause it’s not busy. Didn’t order crepes, just a breakfast sandwich because I dunno, I am still half asleep. The time is like just past 7am I think
I had a choice between bagel, croissant or brioche bun for my sandwhich. I chose brioche bread, yea, I don’t think it would help or make that much of a difference but this breakfast sandwich was shit. Ale of the ingredients, from egg, bacon and even the cheese, did not have enough salt or seasonings. It tasted like nothing. How could you fuck up bacon? It was the worst bland bacon I had ever tasted before. The eggs were shit, probably from carton and the cheese didn’t do nothing, no salt. Brioche bun was also shit, feels to empty and hollow, like it’s old or something. Worst non-franchise breakfast sandwhich since me trying tim hortons breakfast sandwhich like 10 years ago. Man, bad choice of food this time. Worst part is is that this shit was like $12, fuck that’s expensive and it’s not even good
What’s new is that they installed like sensors and screens in front of each garbage area, it by default has a face like this that looks around and blinks. When you go and place garbage in it, the screen changes and tells you in more detail what goes where. I mean, it’s nice at all but it doesn’t prevent me from just ignoring it, like putting my food waste in recycling and etc.
Not a meal deal, pass.
Proof of lack of sleep airport edition. The lack of sleep and rest has caught up to me and I’m barely keeping it awake while I bide my time before my flight.
That guy in the back wearing a black blazer with yellow and purple things on it? Hololive Irys fan, you know why? Cause I have this same jacket blazer, it was her birthday or anniversary merch I think last year.
To try and keep myself awake/waste time looks like it’s time for an early lunch. It’s been like 3/4 hours since I ate my breakfast, so like around 10:30am ish I think. Even tho we have shake shack at home now, I can’t resist when this is the og place i’ve had it and especially if there is minimal line.
Solid, pretty good shit still. Single shake shack burger, I normally get the double version with two patties but since still feeling a bit full from shit breakfast sandwich, i downgraded to basic, which is still very good but the double just hits better I think overall. Got the strawberry lemonade thing again, should have known better as they put too much ice and it’s actually only like half full full of drink, waste.
From a distance, long distance zoom edition, hololive Ina fan based off ita bag. I should buy one of these bags too, I certainly have enough shit to put and display stuff in them. Looks like he visited the nintendo store too in NYC hmm. The person on the right is also an anime fan it seems, look at the book, the cover art; it most certainly is manga. Colorful shirt also too a give away.
On the plane now after a long wait. Even tho I am the lowest tier, Zone 6, the system put my seat in the business or slightly better area, not pure economy that allows for more legroom and slightly better seats and such. Not bad, but not worth paying extra money for. When I was boarding and getting to my seat, I noticed Pjun was also aboard the same plane, he was just sitting there lol. If you hadn’t forgotten, he is one of the Toronto based artists that I tend to point out when I go to conventions and had brought art from him before. Noice, being mini stalker because I have decent face recognition and remember the artists that I brought from, some from many many years ago and had spoken too.
Early on in the flight this guy on the left opens up his laptop and begins photo retouching some girl’s cosplay photos or something. I can tell because he is using light-room and zooming in closely to remove like blemishes and other shit. Interesting. He most definitely was at AnimeNYC for cosplay purposes I suppose.
Once again after a super quick flight I am back in Toronto without much incident. I saw some bonus hololive fans at the airport and pjun on the plane but this time some other random guy came up to me and asked me if I went to the concert, and I said of course, since I was wearing a related hololive event t shirt, the breaking dimensions shirt. As we walked to get our luggage and clear customs, we chatted for a bit and how the concert was good and shit, how Toronto sucks at getting hololive events and conventions, asking me if he knew if there was any Toronto based discord or fan communities in Ontario/Toronto that he could get involved in which I unfortunately said not to my knowledge.
We didn’t talk long, just maybe 5-10 minutes but while I went to get wait for my luggage, he had a carry on and went about his way to exist. This guy in the red jacket is him, dude is from Barrie so he definitely is further away from most. Wonder how he is going to get back home.
Once I got my luggage, all that was left was to wait for lift home from my dad. Looks like I made it back alive, what a journey. Good shit.
Once I got back home, I swifting took a shower and had a nice long nap, by the time I woke up it was almost 8pm. I was too lazy to cook or go out to pick up some food so I ubered some sushi from my local favorite spot. Pretty solid shit, all rolls tho since it’s a combo roll deal thing. Well, that pretty much ends my trip this time, let’s take a look a some of the notable merch and items I got during this time from NYC and AnimeNYC.
Oh shitttt, you didn’t think I would leave the 9/11 ruin site without merch? You didn’t think it existed? Of course it does, this is America we are talking about. Never Forget. Hat, tote bag, 2 keychains and a wristband you get for donating some extra money. Noice, I will never forget indeed my visit.
Couldn’t leave Katzs without a hat too and a shirt as well. I tend to get red shirts if I plan to wear them at home for home clothes. This shirt comes in different colors but I got red, I know this is going to be a home shirt already so might as well.
Collection of the standees I got, from the dokibird one from Noms, Saba and Gigi from that popular artist with an online queue system, the Shiina one on the bottom left that just came in from the Phase connect booth, Zeta and Kanade hololive meet standees that cost way too much from Kinokuniya. Noice.
Initial d keychain from kinokuniya store, couldn’t resist it. Top row are horses from uma musame, the rest are FGO keychains of servants I like. FGO is an old ass game now you know, gotta buy merch from vendors and artists that still have it you know, especially for new servants that just came out this year on global like Drako and Tiamat. Melusine was the display one, it was the last one from the artist, I got the last one again, heh. Oh and edgelord chuni Ina on the bottom left.
Guilty gear pins from Wave-chan, which was also at EVO I think. Pin of Koyori from hololive from Kamaniki, aka the Noms artist who is also a vtuber.
Free shit from Brown Dust II both and other things. Those free keychains are not bad you know, quite large. I got two brown dust II tote bags too. To think some places you have to pay for tote bags. Also two brown dust II pens. The amiami mask is nice too and the fan which I think I got from elsewhere.
Stuff I brought for my sister, only thing requested from her was the guilty gear mart longsleeve shirt. I would have brought one myself it if was a tshirt man. Some other random things and another surprise shirt on the bottom.
Sample of some of free paper that I got. Not bad, the goodsmile one is stickers while the holo advent and suisei ones are from hyte.
The big one oh shit, the skateboard I brought on Friday to get my omocat stamp rally stamp lol. Certainly much more bigger and expensive than what I wanted but this is what happens when omocat has no new holo merch for this year and has new saba merch which is all sold out anyways. Gonna try and hang this one besides my Nekopara skateboard I hung up years ago that I got from AX, yea boi. My luggage gets mvp award here, I manged to fit it in diagonally without issue, good shit.
An official hololive Koyori wallscroll that I brought from the store that sold official merch for much higher prices. Yea, I brought something from them. I believe this wall scroll was from one of her birthday or anniversary sets but I missed it/didn’t know about it. Drawn by her original artist, her design and art is so good, shitt. I think it cost like $30-50? Can’t remember, but not bad considering if you brought from a reseller online, you would have to deal with the shipping cost, which for something like this is pretty bad.
The fruits of my labor for doing that dumb hololive stamp rally. Just sticker post cards with some additional shit on them and some sticker writing from the talents. Yea, not worth it at all. You didn’t need to complete all of the rally, every 2 stamps you got 1 of these sticker sheets at random. If you collected all, you get all 6 of them guaranteed. Of course the free PR card game card too. I wish that the stamp rally prize was an acrylic stand of the key art or maybe even just a badge or pin something. I didn’t expect to get more stickers/paper, ah-well.
Some fanbook I brought from an artist in artist alley. I am sucker for self published books so I got this. Despite it’s appearance, it’s not a lewd doujinshi, it’s just a collection of this artist’s hololive illustrations. Noice.
New prints from Robocat, Saba, Nimi and Shiori. I am surprised he didn’t manage to draw any of council/promise, I guess he didn’t care for them. I am also surprised he didn’t draw a Nerissa one or anybody from Justice yet I guess. Must take a long time. So many artists this year I saw were betting on Saba and Nimi artwork and merch, whether that pays off over doing more hololive stuff only time will tell.
If you spend at least $100 at Robocat’s booth, he gives you a free nimi bag, similar to last year’s myth summer bag more or less. I was short so I brought also the Saba racing sticker which I think was $15, which got me to $95 my total order. He was like, well I don’t really have anything else less than $15, so you can just ‘buy’ the bag from me for $5 he laughed. Yes, yes I did ‘buy’ the bag for the $5 for a total of $100 to get all of his shit, sure I guess lol.
From Oimo, that artist that has a big line. Her artwork is like kinda lewd but not as she draws bodies nice that just hits all the fetishes I suppose like feet/legs/thighs/butts as it can be seen in her Teio print lol.
I may not have brought the guilty mart shirt for myself, but I did buy this prints. Good shit. But I wonder what happens when they release more characters? Does he reprint them with new chars? He should label them like 2025 edition so people know if he does.
Really nice foil prints for Frerin and maid Kronii and Irys. Foil shit is expensive. I asked the artist if she had non-foil prints available and to see them side by side for comparisons sake since they were cheaper. She did and brought out the frerin one. The foil one was far superior, she was going to bring out the others I selected in regular but then I said, never mind, I’ll get the foil ones, it’s worth it, they are so much better. She laughed, then commented that yea, she made/designed them with the foil in mind so yea, that’s why they are so good. Good shit.
Last print available of this in the show from this artist, this artist drew her own rendition of the world tour synchronize tour key visual art, pretty good shit. Also foil which also pricy but worth it. A great memento since I’m surprised not more people were drawing something like this. Good shit.
Some more random free paper. Notable are the brown dust II stickers which they also gave and the Advent stickers which I think came from hyte as well. The free chainsaw man poster is nice, but super bait. Still, not bad paper game.
Well then how was AnimeNYC in general this year? Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown, it was alot less stuff to do than previous years and the panels/guests they had while good, was impossible to get since they were limited reservations only. I didn’t get any autographs either since they are lottery system, didn’t win anything. They had EVA yoko Takahasi too on concert tickets but why do that when I am going to see her in Toronto concert. The only thing good was the hololive booth itself and it’s world tour holo concert at animeNYC, the only event that I attended for the entirely of this years AnimeNYC, I didn’t attend any other panel or shit. Their artist alley has improved in quality and layout and so has the vendors selling as well including food area. The industry area was a bit lacking especially since there was no FGO/Fate events or panels/booths, they just rolled it up into Aniplex booth which is kinda lame. So yea, this year’s con was a mid year if you were not there for Hololive, if you were for Hololive, then it’s base good.
Outside of AnimeNYC, the Hololive All for one concert day 1 and 2 were great, the main reason why I even bothered to come to New York, and my bet paid off. Good shit. So yea, some final thoughts, throughout my times talking to holofans in various places, I’ve spoken to many people that come from all across more rural areas of America, like some remote town close to Chicago which is all farmland to one guy from west Virginia and another from Florida which all expressed desire for Hololive to have a concert in the South, but know that is highly unlikely. I suppose traveling to New York or LA is not ideal for many people due to the costs and time required but what can you do, if you gotta support your favorite vtuber oshi, you gotta do what you gotta do I guess. I personally don’t think it’s going to happen in the South but you never know, if anything the next EN concert will probably be in LA or NYC again. Cali post concert on twitter was reflecting on her own journey and how big hololive has gotten and how she locked in to stay with the company as a talent and hinted that their next goal maybe is to have a concert in Europe, oh boi. Canada might happen again, probably world tour visit in Vancouver but the big EN yearly concert? Highly unlikely.
But aside from the future, I consider this trip a great success once again. It was was my first time going to a full blown hololive concert with MCs and full production, an event that is also streamed online for cost that is. Would I do it again? Of course, granted I get the tickets and the timing is right. Would I go to New York again for it? Yep, no question if they do it again next year in NYC. Am I tired of New York? This is the third time I visited this city and I am still not tired of it, there is still so much more to explore and visit that I want to see, especially since only my day 1/0 was the only day I used for mainstream bait tourism. I am glad I visited the 9/11 museum and ground zero and ate all the good hype food that people have been hyping for years online/youtube. Good shit, a great successful trip with lots of goals and lots of goods/merch, would do it again.