AnimeNext is a 3-day convention that focuses on anime, manga, and cosplay. The convention has been an Atlantic City staple for several years. Many fans of the anime convention were looking forward to returning to AnimeNext in 2022. On March 29, 2022, fans learned that AnimeNext was being called off.
A message was posted to announce the cancellation of the convention.
AnimeNext called off this year’s con due to multiple factors. In their statement, which has now been changed, they shared issues with the venue. According to the original post, the venue increased its rates, was not going enforce guests to wear a mask, and had booked another event on the same weekend as AnimeNext. Fandom Spotlite was provided screenshots of the original posting.
AnimeNext has removed this section from their statement and has updated it to say that “Due to the contractual obligations, we’re still required to hold an “event” within the convention center; otherwise, we’d trigger multiple cancellation clauses which would have a significant negative impact on our ability to have future events.”
After the statement was made public, some took to Twitter to share their feelings about the news.
As you can see from the screenshots above some alleged the reason for the call-off is related to Covid-19, while another feels the motives are a lot less honorable.
We hope that AnimeNext and its fans will find a safe and positive way to move forward with the convention in the future.
Fandom Spotlite will continue to monitor this story and provide updates as they come in.
