AnimeNYC 2019, Part 1

November 13, 2019

Shizuka and Michi, who had chosen to share a room, arrived at a rather well-furnished hotel room in Midtown Manhattan, located on the tenth floor of a large luxury hotel. As they walked in and a bellhop dropped their luggage off, Shizuka remarked, “Wow, this place is amazing.”

“Shimizu really pulled out all the stops this time,” Michi said as he looked around. “This room must have cost a fortune.” He then turned to the bellhop and handed him a tip, telling him in English, “Thank you very much. Have a good day.”

“You’re welcome,” replied the bellhop, who left the room right after with a wide smile upon seeing that Michi had tipped him thirty dollars, well above what he normally got. “Thank you for your generosity.”

Shizuka then set down her pocket book on the counter, yawning as she did. “Man, the time zone difference is really getting to me. I could fall asleep right now.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen to you. New York is fourteen hours behind Tokyo when America doesn’t have Daylight Savings Time, after all.”

“What's Daylight Savings Time anyway? Why don’t we have it?”

“It’s something we used to have a long time ago,” Michi explained. “Basically, countries that have it shift their clocks back an hour when it starts and shift them forward an hour when it ends. I guess it was done to benefit farmers or something back in the day. I don’t know the exact details besides that America and a few other places still do it, but Japan hasn’t done it since the 1950s.” He then set down a small bag he carried onto his bed. “I’ll open my actual luggage later. I’m gonna take a nap.”

“I think I will, too,” Shizuka replied with a smile as she hugged him from behind. “In fact, I think we should take it together.”

Michi chuckled, “You’re already horny this early into the trip?”

“We haven’t had sex in a week,” she pointed out. “Give me a break. Besides, why don’t we break in the room with a little fun?” She then split from her hug and closed the blinds, darkening the room a bit. “What do you say? We got plenty of privacy here.”

“Alright, fine,” he replied as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back in before pushing her down on the bed, earning some laughs from her. “But I won’t be holding back. Not here.”

“I wouldn’t want you to anyway.” The two then shared a deep and passionate kiss before they began to take their clothes off. Once both of them were fully nude and lying on the bed, not even under the covers, Shizuka told him, “I’m ready.”

“Sounds good to me. I think you’re overdue for a nice, hard fucking.” They then shared another kiss that slowly transitioned into full-blown sex, having plenty of fun in their room as a perverted form of christening it. Despite having been together since the summer, the two still had not fully disclosed their relationship to others, with Shizuka still not even having told Akari or Chieko yet.

That, however, would change over the course of this trip to New York City.

…

November 14, 2019

Shizuka and Michi had been attending a meeting of the various guests that Anime NYC had invited for that year, with a translator sitting next to them to make sure they understood what was being said. This translator, a Japanese-American man named Richard Ikuhara, was sitting with them in the food court of the Javits Center after the meeting had ended and many of the guests were talking among themselves. “So,” he asked them. “How did you guys think the meeting went?”

“It was pretty straightforward stuff,” Shizuka replied. “Hagino-san went over most of it in the emails he sent me before I came here. Honestly, at times, it was kinda boring.”

“Get used to it if you go to any more conventions like this one,” Michi replied to her. “This isn’t like Comiket, after all.”

“Oh no, it’s not,” Richard agreed. “I’ve been going to conventions as an attendee for years in America, and yet when I went to my first Comiket a few years ago, I was blown away. It was nothing like what I was used to. I’ve been to all sorts of conventions along the East Coast. New York Comic Con, Anime Boston, Otakon, MAGfest, PAX East, Katsucon, and even some that don’t exist anymore, like Big Apple Anime Fest and New York Anime Fest. For West Coast stuff, I’ve been to Anime Expo, San Diego Comic Con, and PAX West. It’s a lot more fragmented here compared to Japan where the big one is Comiket. There’s really no big one here in America, unless maybe you count Anime Expo as the big one.”

“So you’ve gone to more than just anime conventions,” Michi replied. “You’ve been around the block and then some.”

“You’re right. I’ve been doing this ever since I was a teenager. Now, some twenty years later, I get paid to do it.”

“I don’t even know any of the conventions you just said minus this one and Anime Expo,” Shizuka added, in shock at how many he had been to. “I thought I was nuts just going to Comiket twice per year.”

Realizing Shizuka probably thought he went to every single one of those conventions every year, Richard explained, “Well, I don’t go to every one of those cons every year. Some years I skip out on some and go to others. I do have a life outside of this. Trust me.”

Michi laughed. “It’s okay. Mangaka barely have lives outside of their work. We can’t judge.”

“So aside from Japanese guests,” Shizuka then asked. “Do you manage and help out American ones too, Richard-san?”

“Absolutely,” he nodded. “One of my first jobs at a con when I began volunteering for them was to escort around English voice actors for anime.”

“Speaking of,” Michi then realized, remembering that voice actors for Uncontrollable Battle were here. “The English voice actors for Mary of Truman and Paul are here, actually. I’ve never gotten the chance to meet them before.”

“Oh yeah,” Richard then remembered. “I forgot they’re here! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier! They’re here to promote a different anime, but I’m sure we’ll run int-“

“H- Hello?” All three of them turned to see a Black American woman and a white American man standing nearby, with the woman having said hello to them in nervous Japanese. “Are… Are you Anzai Michi-sensei?”

Michi then asked in heavily accented but correct English, “Are you two Alexis Chambers and Josh Perez?”

“Yes,” said the man in English. “We are.”

Richard remarked in English, “Speak of the Devil. We were just talking about you guys.”

“No way,” Alexis replied, excited that she had met the creator of her character. “This is so cool!”

Shizuka asked Michi, “Are these the voice actors you mentioned?”

“Correct,” he nodded. “I’ve seen them in pictures and heard their voices, but I haven’t seen them in person until now.” He then got up and shook both of their hands, switching back to English. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Alexis replied. “I never thought this day would come.”

Richard then said to the two, “If you guys need me to translate something, just let me know. I’m Michi’s guide, and I’m also the guide for Shizuka Hiratai, his fellow mangaka who works on Break The Ice.”

“Wait, really?”

Josh asked Alexis, “Wait, what’s Break The Ice?”

“It’s that manga I told you about a few weeks ago. There’s no anime of it, but I’d love to play Ichigo if it ever got made into one.”

Shizuka heard them talk about Break The Ice, but did not fully understand since she could not speak English. She asked Richard, “What are they saying about Break The Ice?”

“Alexis says she’s a fan of it and she would love to play Ichigo if it got made into an anime,” he replied to her.

Her eyes lighting up with joy, she told him, “Wow! That’s really nice of her! Tell her I’d love to hear her as Ichigo in English one day.”

Richard nodded and told Alexis, “Hiratai-sensei really appreciates your kind words. She says she’d like to hear you as Ichigo one day.”

Alexis was overjoyed. “Really?! That’s incredible!”

Josh then said to Michi, “How much English can you speak?”

“I’m good,” he replied. “Can you understand me?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Paul was my fourth ever role in voice acting, and my first major character. Mary was Alexis’s first ever role in anime, actually.”

Surprised, Michi replied, “Really? You were new?”

“We were.”

“Woah. I’m shocked. In Japan, their seiyuu were very experienced. I thought both of you were, too.”

“Nope, I was pretty new.”

Michi nodded. “I’m impressed. Your director did a good job.”

Richard then asked all of them as he pulled out a camera from his bag, “Actually, I got an idea. Do you guys all want to take a picture together?”

“I’d love to,” Alexis replied, jumping at the idea.

“Yes,” Michi nodded. He then told Shizuka in Japanese, “We’re gonna take a picture together.”

“Count me in,” she replied as she got up from her seat. “I’d love to take a picture.”

“Alright,” Richard then said as everyone got together. “Squeeze in as much as you can! There we go! Three, two, one!” He then took several photos of the group. “There we go. I’ll send all of you pictures later.”

Michi asked him in Japanese, “Can we post this on social media? I’d like to.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. He then told Alexis and Josh in English, “You guys can post this online, by the way. Anzai-sensei is going to post it on his social media.”

“Sure thing,” Josh replied. “I’d love to.” He and Michi then shook hands. “Man, it’s so cool I got to finally meet you, Anzai-sensei.”

“It’s good to meet you too, Josh.” He then turned to Alexis and shook her hand as well, “Same to you, Alexis. I heard Mary was your first anime voice.”

“She was,” Alexis confirmed with a nod. “She holds a special place in my heart because of that. I’d love to play her again if the anime comes back.”

“We are talking,” Michi explained. “We only stopped because it, uh… It reached the manga?”

“It caught up to the manga.”

“Yes, yes. It caught up to the manga. I think… In a year or two, we may start again.”

“I’d love to do that.” She then turned and told him, “We gotta go back to our hotel. It was really nice meeting you, Anzai-sensei.”

“Goodbye,” he said with a wave and a smile. “I am sure we will meet again.”

“Absolutely,” Josh replied as the two of them walked away. “Have a good night, guys!”

Shizuka then remarked to Michi, “Wow, my manga’s really taking off here, huh?”

“It would take off more if it were made into an anime,” he pointed out. “Any word on that TV drama?”

“It’ll start shooting in May of 2020, with a projected airing date of October of 2020 for the first episode,” Shizuka replied. “We did a lot of negotiating before my trip here, but we pulled it off. Now here’s hoping nothing crazy happens next year.”

“Tell me about it,” Michi agreed. “This year’s been something, huh?”

“You can say that again. Let’s hope 2020 isn’t as wild and runs more smoothly for me.”

…

Later that night, after returning to their hotel room, Shizuka asked Michi, “By the way, why can’t we take photos with the attendees anyway?”

“For the autographs?”

“Yeah,” she replied, curious. “Apparently, a lot of the other guests are charging extra for selfies with the attendees. Why can’t we do that?”

“Honestly,” he shrugged as he set down a bag. “There’s really not a good reason for it.”

“Then why do they ban it?”

“Shimizu wants to control who has access to your image. Japanese companies are more anal about that. None of the American voice acting studios give a shit if their voice actors get selfies with fans. Hell, almost all the money they charge for autographs and selfies goes to them, not the studio. It’s a common way they make more money since the pay isn’t as high here as it is back in Japan. For us, half goes to us and half goes to Shimizu. It’s kinda bullshit, but there’s not much we can do about it. At least we make some money, and being a mangaka pays more at a base level.”

Shizuka sighed, having gotten used to Michi’s long-winded explanations by now. “Of course you go on a long rant about my question…”

Michi chuckled, “You know me too well.”

…

November 15, 2019

Shizuka emerged from behind a set of black curtains in the autograph area of Anime NYC early in the convention’s opening day to sit down at a desk in her little section. Next to her was Michi’s section, which was bigger due to the popularity of Uncontrollable Battle and was already halfway full despite both of them starting autographs earlier than most of the other guests. Shizuka’s line, while nowhere near as full as Michi’s, still had seven people waiting in it. She waved to everyone and told them in the little English she knew as she set several markers down, “Good morning everybody!”

Richard, who was working with her that day, told her, “One of these guys has been waiting ever since the con opened up half an hour ago.”

“No shit,” she replied. “He’s persistent. I like that.”

Richard then told the first person in line, who had two volumes of Break The Ice’s English release to sign, “Alright, come on up.”

Shizuka told them in Japanese, “Good morning.”

The man, clearly a bit nervous, replied to her in kind, “Go- Good morning.”

Richard asked him in English, “So the cost to sign both of these is one hundred dollars, or if you only want one signed, it’s sixty dollars.”

“I can do both,” he replied, passing Michi a one hundred dollar bill.

“Excellent.” Richard then told Shizuka, “He wants both of the manga volumes signed.”

She then asked him, “What’s your name?”

Richard, translating for her, also asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jason,” he replied. “J A S O N.”

“Jason? You got it.” Richard told Shizuka, “It’s Jason. It’s spelled J A S O N.”

“J A S O N…” Shizuka then sighed both manga volumes, writing Jason’s name in English before then signing them with her signature in Japanese. “There we go.”

“I’m a huge fan of Break The Ice and your art in general,” Jason told Shizuka and Richard, with the latter translating his words in real time for the former. “I can’t wait for the TV show next year.”

“Me neither. Thank you for visiting. Have a great day.”

As Jason left, Richard told her, “Well, that went pretty well.”

“It sure did. I’m ready for the next one.”

“Come on up,” Richard then called out to a girl in line. “Hello there. What would you like for us to sign today?”

The girl, who looked to be Akari’s age, asked Richard, “Can I get a blank sign?”

“That will be forty-five dollars.”

“Here you go,” said the girl, who timidly passed him cash. She then turned to Shizuka and said to her in surprisingly good Japanese, “Good morning, Hiratai-sensei. How are you?”

“Your Japanese is really good,” she replied to her with a smile. “I’m having a good day so far. How about you?”

“Good day,” she nodded. “Good day. I love Break The Ice.”

“Thank you very much for your kind words. What’s your name?”

“I am, um… I am is name…” The girl blushed, realizing she had messed up her Japanese. “I’m sorry. My name is Isabella.”

“Isabella is a nice name.” Shizuka then signed her name on the blank sheet and addressed it to the increasingly-flustered girl. “Here you go, Isabella-san. Have a great day.”

“Ha- Have a great day, Hiratai-sensei.”

As she walked away, Shizuka asked Richard, “She looked pretty young, like a high schooler. Don’t they have school today here in New York?”

“Maybe she skipped,” he shrugged. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

Shizuka chuckled, “What a rebel, huh?”

…

Later on in the evening, Shizuka decided to attend Michi’s Uncontrollable Battle panel. Although she was not a listed guest or a speaker for it, the people organizing it found a spot for her up on stage anyway. As she was talking to the Shimizu representative in charge of the panel from the company’s end, Michi was carrying up a case of water to the stage. As he set it down and opened it up, he asked Shizuka, “Hey, you want some?”

“Sure,” she replied. Michi then threw a bottle at her, which she caught with ease. She told the representative, “Heh, take a look at that.”

“Nice catch, Hiratai-san,” replied the representative, a woman in her early forties. “Anyway, like I said, this won’t be too different from the Comiket panels you’re used to, albeit there’ll be a translator up on stage. Anzai-san won’t need him since he speaks good English, so he’s mostly up there for the others’ sake.”

“Will it be the same one for the shōjo manga panel on Sunday?”

“Yeah. He’s a great guy. He’s been doing this for about ten years now, and we’ve had no problems with him.”

…

“So,” Michi asked Shizuka as the two of them sat at the bar in their hotel together following the first day of the convention. “How many people did you get today?”

“Twenty-three,” she replied before sipping on a drink she got. “I was really impressed. I was sure I’d get less. What about you?”

“Seventy.”

Shizuka was flabbergasted. “Seventy?! On a Friday when so many people are still at work?!”

“Yep, and I’m predicting it’ll be even more tomorrow. Saturday is always the big day at any convention anywhere in the world.”

“That’s true. Everyone’s off of work, so there’ll be a lot more people running around. You know, I’m pretty sure I had at least two people who were skipping school to go to the convention. One of them was in line right when I started.”

“I’m not surprised in the slightest,” Michi laughed. “I’m pretty sure I had a few teenagers skipping school to come see me, too. You know, my handler said he was kinda surprised with how many women were in the line.”

“I mean, I’m a fan of your series. Kunugi-san is a fan of your series. There’s plenty of girls and women who like reading seinen manga.”

“That’s what I said. You know, in recent years, some people in the shojo manga industry are getting afraid that girls are turning away from them to read shonen manga.”

Shizuka nodded, having heard of this phenomenon too. “Yeah. I can see it. Even some of the biggest shojo magazines are seeing declining readership, and they got nothing on the biggest shonen ones. If anything, I feel really bad for the josei authors. Their magazines always get the short end of the stick, which sucks because there’s a lot of really good josei manga out there.”

“And it often gets gatekept because so much of it never gets adapted into anime, movies, or TV dramas,” Michi pointed out. “Speaking of, I know about the TV drama, but has anyone ever approached you about making Break The Ice an anime?”

“No,” Shizuka shook her head. “Until I was approached for the drama, no one had ever said anything to me about adapting it for TV in any form. I’m hoping that the success of the drama could result in the series becoming an anime. After all, I gotta make good on the promise I made to that one American voice actress.” The two of them shared a laugh, remembering when they had met the voice actors for the main characters in Uncontrollable Battle. “No, but seriously, it would be so cool to hear Break The Ice in English one day.”

“I can verify that it’s always cool to hear your work in other languages,” Michi confirmed after finishing his drink. “Uncontrollable Battle’s been dubbed into English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tagalog. That last one literally just started this year, actually. I was kinda surprised they wanted to dub it in the Philippines.”

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been dubbed into Korean.”

“I doubt it would be given all the bullshit going on between us and South Korea right now,” Michi sighed. “It’s been released with subtitles there, but I don’t think a dub would be successful given how violent the show is.”

“You never know. Things could change.” Shizuka then asked the bartender in the best English she could muster, “Another one, please?”

“You got it,” he replied, pouring her the same drink she had before. “There you go.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a smile before sipping the drink. “This weekend’s gonna be great if today was anything to go by.”

…

November 16, 2019

“Here you go,” Shizuka said in Japanese to a person in her line after signing a copy of Break The Ice Volume 1. She then bowed to them and said in English, “Thank you very much.”

“Thank you,” the attendee replied in accented Japanese with his own bow before leaving.

“That makes thirty,” said Richard to her as he wrote a tally down on a piece of paper. “We’re just at the halfway mark, and we’ve surpassed Friday’s total.”

“Excellent,” she replied with a smile. “Again, I’m surprised so many people came to see me when there’s all these other guests here. How packed is Michi’s line?”

“When I walked by before coming here, there were already twenty-three people waiting for him to show up. By the way, why did you use his first name and not Anzai-sensei?”

Realizing she had slipped up, she got flustered and told him, “Oh, uh, it’s nothing! We’re just getting along really well. That’s all, don’t worry.”

“I was just curious. Usually, you call him Anzai-sensei, after all.”

“You should hear me scream his name when we’re in our hotel room at night,” Shizuka thought to herself. Obviously not going to say such a thing out loud, she replied, “I just slipped up since I don’t call him that when we’re amongst ourselves.”

“Ah, I see.” He then turned to the next person in line and told them in English, “Come on up. We’re all set to go. Now, what would you like? We do cash and card.”

“I’ll take an autograph sheet,” said the girl, who Shizuka noticed was in fact cosplaying Ichigo, while her boyfriend was cosplaying Kazuya. “My boyfriend will be paying for the manga signing.”

Shizuka beamed with joy as she thought to herself, “Wow, they look so cute together! Their cosplays are amazing, and they’re actually boyfriend and girlfriend, too!” She interjected, saying to the two in Japanese without hesitation, “How cute! I love your cosplays! You two look incredible!”

Richard told them in English, “She really loves your cosplays, guys. I think they look really good, too.”

“Thank you,” replied the boyfriend of the couple. “My girlfriend’s really into Break The Ice, and after weeks of nagging me to read it, I gave it a try and binged all the volumes we have in two days.”

The girlfriend meanwhile was shocked to hear such encouraging words from the creator of the character she was cosplaying. “Woah… No way… I… Thank you so much, Hiratai-sensei!”

Shizuka then pulled out her phone and told Richard, “I’m taking a photo of these two. Fuck the rules.”

Concerned, Richard asked her, “Woah, are you sure about that, Hiratai-sensei?”

“I’ll take the punishment later. Ask them if they want to get their picture taken. I won’t be in it, so I shouldn’t get too much Hell from the higher-ups.”

Richard then asked the couple, “Do you guys mind if Hiratai-sensei takes a picture of you two together? She really loves your outfits.”

“Absolutely,” the girlfriend replied with excitement. “We would love to.”

“Ask them if either of them have Twitter or Instagram,” Shizuka then instructed Richard, who proceeded to ask them while she got her phone ready.

Once the two of them were in position, the boyfriend gave a thumbs-up to Shizuka and told her in English, “We’re ready.”

“Three, two, one.” Shizuka then took several pictures of the couple. “Thank you so much,” she told them in English.

“You’re welcome,” the girlfriend replied.

Shizuka then sat back down and signed their respective autographs, writing down their names as written by Richard on a notepad. As she handed them to the couple, she smiled and said in Japanese, “Have a great day. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you very much,” replied the girlfriend in the best Japanese she could muster. “Have a good day, Hiratai-sensei.”

As they walked away, Shizuka and Richard could hear them cheering and celebrating what had happened. The latter told the former, “You’ll probably get bitched at for the photos”

“I don’t care frankly,” she shrugged. “That was fucking cool. Seeing Japanese people cosplay my characters is one thing. Seeing foreigners do it is another.”

…

At three in the afternoon, the Shimizu panel began, which would be attended by both Michi and Shizuka. A presenter spoke to a packed crowd in the largest type of panel rooms the convention center had, getting them hyped up for the events, which would detail new manga and light novels going into publication, upcoming adaptations of the company’s work, and, most importantly for Shizuka and Michi, a live drawing of artwork that would be presented at the end.

Four authors and a light novel illustrator from Shimizu were present, and Shizuka was not the only winner from the 2014 contest who was there. “It’s so good to see you again,” said Taiki as he and Keiichi were talking to her. “It’s been forever since we met up.”

“Same with you two,” Shizuka replied. “Especially you, Azumi-sensei. I wasn’t able to see you at the last Comiket this year.”

“I was absolutely swamped at my booth at Comiket,” he remarked. “Those two doujinshi I put out sold like crazy.”

Taiki asked him, “Even the R-18 one?”

“Especially the R-18 one. It’s not often I draw doujinshi with a male character of any kind, so I guess people wanted to see what was different.”

“I thought it was pretty hot,” Shizuka then offhandedly commented before she could catch herself. “Oh shit, did I say that out loud?”

“You sure did,” Keiichi laughed. “So, do you guys have your ideas for your live drawings figured out?”

“I’ll be doing Junichiro in his tattered uniform post-war,” Taiki explained.

“I’ll be doing Ichigo and Kazuya holding hands,” Shizuka added. “What about you, Azumi-sensei?”

“I’ll be doing Miyako and Rin from my new series kissing,” Keiichi replied. “I heard Anzai-sensei is doing Paul and Mary kissing, so I’ll throw in a yuri kiss, too.”

“I bet the crowd will love to see some girl-on-girl kissing,” Shizuka chuckled.

The light novel illustrator, who was a girl around the same age as Shizuka, overheard this part of the conversation and ran over from talking to Michi about something else. “I heard yuri. I’m interested. What’s going on?”

“Of course you’d run over upon any of us mentioning yuri,” Keiichi remarked. “I’m drawing the two main characters of my new manga kissing for my live drawing. What are you doing, Suzuki-san?”

“I’m keeping it simple and doing a head shot of Sakura from One Of All,” replied Anju Suzuki, who had been working as an official illustrator for Shimizu for about a year and a half by this point. “I figured that since they’re going to announce the English release of Volume 1 and the Japanese release of Volume 3 here, it would be fitting.”

Shizuka, not too familiar with Anju, asked her, “Are you a big yuri fan or something? I haven’t really met you before, so I apologize.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” she replied. “And yes, I love yuri.”

“Trust me,” Keiichi assured Taiki and Shizuka. “She really does.”

“Before I got picked up by Shimizu, I drew a bunch of it on PictoView, a lot of it based on the manga Azumi-sensei made.”

“I can’t post any erotic art of my manga beyond what I can show in the magazines itself,” Keiichi explained. “But trust me when I say that Suzuki-san here really has a knack for drawing girls getting it in with other girls.”

“Huh… I wonder if I ever saw any,” Shizuka pondered. “I’m still active on PictoView. After this, can you share your stuff with me? I’ll give you a follow.”

“Sure,” she replied. “I’ll send you my profile after the panel.”

Then, Richard emerged from the stage and peeked his head through the back curtain, telling them, “We’re all set. Head on up.”

On stage, the announcer told the crowd, “Looks like we’re all ready. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm American welcome to our guest mangaka and illustrators straight from Japan!”

As Shizuka, Michi, Keiichi, Taiki, and Anju walked onto the stage to the cheering crowds, they waved to their fans before taking their seats. Shizuka thought to herself, “I posted the cosplay picture about ten minutes ago online, but I haven’t checked to see what kind of response it got. Hopefully, people appreciate it as much as I did.”