New York was chosen for the event due to its lack of a large anime convention. The first Anime NYC took over a year to plan and used two halls in the convention center.
Anime NYC 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online convention was hosted by Anime NYC and NTWRK on November 17–20, 2020 as the conventions replacement.
New York City declared an Anime NYC Weekend for the 2017 convention. Anime NYC added more floor space in 2018, with additional expansion planned in 2019. The convention also hosted Anisong World Matsuri at the Hammerstein Ballroom. In 2019, Anime NYC used all of the Javits main event space.