Another year another Anime Boston! Held every year at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston, just blocks away from the site of the recent Boston Marathon bombings, this year it ran from May 24th to the 26th, Memorial Day Weekend. Now in it's 11th year, Anime Boston is the premier anime convention of the New England area, and is among the top five anime conventions in North America! Each year the con features a different theme, with theme serving as a backdrop for promotional skits, materials, t-shirts, decorations and more. The con also highlights fan panels that stick to the years theme, and often has contests and video programming which also tie into the theme. This year the theme was yokai and ghosts, which meant we had a bevy of supernatural themed panels! As a single individual I decided to try to give a fans eye perspective of the convention, highlighting some of the fan panels and a few of the industry panels as well.

DAY 1:

I arrived fairly early to try and get as much panel viewing and roaming in as possible. After popping by one or two panels I eventually made my way to the Opening Ceremonies were I caught the tail end of the guest introductions. The highlight of the Ceremonies was Origa, who came out and performed "Inner Universe", the opening theme to the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I did arrive a little late, but I was glad I was on time to catch that performance. It was a nice surprise and had me wishing I was able to attend her concert on Saturday night, but alas I am bound by the limitations of public transportation.

After that I spent most of the day scampering from fan panel to fan panel, something that was a reoccurring theme throughout the con. The panel list was so packed with interesting topics and official industry panels that I often found myself having to bow out early or arrive late. In some cases, especially on Saturday night, this meant not being able to get in at all as several panels were filled to capacity and they had turn people away.

Among the highlights of the first day were "Little Boys and Lizards Are Very Bad Things". I hadn't originally intended to attend the panel and simply popped in to burn some time, but once there I got sucked into the discussion. It focused heavily on the dual role technology plays within anime and Japanese pop cultural, referencing things such as Godzilla, Akira, Nausicaa, Mewtwo from Pokemon and more as they explained and expanded the idea of technology destroying and rebuilding society. It was pretty fascinating and the passion and enthusiasm the panelist had for the material was palpable. I really wish I had managed to get there sooner, but I'm glad I caught what I did.

Following that I attended one of several panels dedicated the tokusatsu superhero shows such as Kamen Rider and the Super Sentai franchise. This is something of a new phenomena. I've been attending the convention for nearly 6 years now and up until a few years ago I don't remember seeing a single panel regarding this topic. This year there were at least four of them! One can only wonder at why there seems to be such a growth spurt among the fandom.

During the early evening I managed to fit in visits to two of the industry panels. The first was the Aniplex America panel which I arrived late to due to needing to eat or risk starvation. Thankfully I did make it in time for what was arguably the biggest announcement of Anime Boston, namely that Sword Art Online will be airing on Toonami starting in August!

The second industry panel I hit up was the "Funimation Town Hall", hosted by Sarah Sullivan who was celebrating her 225th con, and three year anniversary with Funimation! The idea behind the panel wasn't to discuss upcoming releasing or anything like that, but to shed a little light on "how the sausage is made". This meant that topics ranged from the causes of lag times in releasing material in the US, to the methods and accreditation Funimation requires their translators to have, market research methods and more. It was actually a bit of a fascinating look behind the curtain and I was especially impressed to discover that some of the credentials they require their translators to have are the same that the UN requires their translators to have as well.

I rounded off Day One with two panels which were sticking to the convention's chosen theme for the year, yokai! The first was "Vixens and Tanuki: Trickster Spirits in Japanese Lore". Once again I arrived a few minutes into the panel and missed the initial introduction and presentation. The room was pretty packed, but shortly after I arrived and sat down the host asked the audience what they wanted her to discuss and over half the audience got up and left. Ouch. Despite this I stuck around and what followed was some light conversation regarding the trickster archetype and its many permutations throughout pop culture, world mythology and anime. The host clearly knew her stuff, I just wish she had a longer presentation or a more structured presentation instead of the free wheeling open discussion that ensued.

The final panel was, in my opinion, one of the best fan panels of the entire convention. Like the previous one it stayed on theme, and like the previous one I arrived a little late and nearly didn't get in at all! "A Night of Haunts from Japan" was absolutely packed and the convention staff was actively turning groups of people away. The host, dressed in full cosplay as Fatal Frame's Sae Kurosawa, herself a take on the popular Japanese female ghost trope, discussed various types of Japanese yokai, myths and ghost stories. She was very well informed and was able to field several questions regarding different details on some of the yokai mentioned. The combination of the cosplay, her knowledge and research on the topic, and a structured panel helped make it an incredibly enjoyable and informative experience. Towards the end she opened the floor for people to share any Japanese ghost stories or yokai myths they knew and that she may have missed. While doing something like that can often derail a panel and descend into off topic conversation, the audience and the panel host kept things on track and shared and discussed several different myths and stories. It was easily the stand out fan panel on Friday and one of the better ones of the entire convention. I have no idea if there are any plans to run it again, but I'd gladly show up in a heartbeat if she did.

DAY 2:

Saturday is always the busiest day for Anime Boston and this year was no different. The dealer's room was packed, but navigable. This was due in part to some planning changes they had made regarding the halls it would occupy and the layout of the rooms in general. It was still very crowded and many booths had large crowds, several people deep, but unlike previous years you could get around fairly easily and painlessly. To help matters along staff was on hand at certain congestion points and were able to keep the crowds moving, ensuring that nothing got too out of hand or impossible to get around. It's worth mentioning that it was Saturday when Kodansha Comics began to sell out of Attack on Titan. Early in the day Editor Ben Applegate tweeted that they were running low on volume 1, and sure enough, a few hours later they were down to a single copy of the first volume.

Panel wise, Saturday was packed. Too packed, actually. A number of the industry panels and guest panels were overlapping, meaning I spent a fair amount of the day popping in late and running out early. In some cases I was in a panel for less than 20 minutes before I had to run off and try and get to the next one.

The first major panel I attended was the Sunrise panel. It was the company's first time at Anime Boston and they started things off with some short surveys regarding where the attendees came from, if they've attended other Sunrise panels elsewhere and similar questions. From there they launched into presentation, starting with a line up of series soon to be released in the US by various companies, including Tiger & Bunny, Daily Love of High School Boys, Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere and Binbogami ga! They then went on to other projects which are forthcoming or haven't been licensed yet, including things such as Battle Spirits, Aikatsu, Gintama: The Final Movie, LoveLive, Tiger & Bunny: The Rising (the second Tiger & Bunny movie), and Code Geass: Akito The Exiled. This was followed by a five minute "World of Gundam" video highlighting the franchises history and touching upon all the major series. It served as a nice introduction and segue into their plugs for the HD remastering of Gundam Seed Destiny and the upcoming releases of Gundam Unicorn from Rightstuf. He also touched upon the launch of Daisuki, an English language streaming site which is the joint venture of a number of anime production companies, including Aniplex, Sunrise, Toei and more. Finally he touched upon the fate of Bandai Entertainment titles, and mentioned their intention to distribute some of them on their own, while others where the subjects of negotiations with Funimation and Sentai Filmworks. The Q&A session produced a few interesting tidbits, including the fact that there were no plans for a third Big O season, but that Masayuki Ozaki was actually a bit of a fan of the series and that he'd love to see it again. He went on to mention that Sunrise has actually received offers from US studios regarding the rights for a live action Big O movie. One can only hope that Pacific Rim does well enough to kick off a stream of giant robot flicks, and that maybe then we'll see some movement on the Big O franchise. One con goer asked about the possibility of other HD remasters. It was indicated that Sunrise has discussed it and that they're definitely interested in doing them, but they stopped short of naming specific series or giving any other details. Finally, towards the end of the Q&A session they fielded a question regarding the status of Cowboy Bebop, specifically the possibility of a US edition of the recently released Blu-Ray boxed set. Masayuki Ozaki stated that he had originally hoped to have a big announcement regarding the series for Anime Boston, but things didn't quite come together. He did say that we should keep our eyes open and that he's hopeful he'll be able to make an announcement in the near future.

For me, the major highlight of Saturday was the Kodansha Comics panel, hosted by editor Ben Applegate. I love anime, but manga is definitely more of my thing so a chance to attend an official panel is always a nice treat! While there weren't any new announcements there were plenty of interesting tidbits and information to come out of the panel. It opened with a discussion about their current and upcoming releases, including Attack on Titan, Sankarea, No. 6, Vinland Saga, Sherlock Bones, Battle Angel Alita: The Last Order and of course, Sailor Moon. Applegate then opened the panel up for a Q&A which had several interesting questions and answers. One of the first questions was about the possibility of Kodansha Comics branching into light novels, something that Applegate was quick to shoot down, stating that they had no plans to enter into the light novel business at all, even if they publish manga based upon a light novel. He also revealed that there are currently plans for one more Sailor Moon boxed set, and there has been some discussion regarding the possibility of a Sailor V boxed set as well. The Sailor Moon artbook came up and it was revealed that they're still planning to release it later this year, and that the US edition will contain extra material exclusive to the US. It was also mentioned that a Tokyo MewMew Ala Mode omnibus slated for later this year as well. When the topic of Tokyopop license rescues came up, specifically if there were any plans of re-releasing Planetes. The answer was no, but it did lead Applegate to talk a bit about the issues surrounding such titles. Apparently doing so relies upon renegotiating the rights and the deals, which slows things down and requires paying for the material again. Essentially meaning that it's a complicated process and could take a while, and that there weren't any immediate plans to do so. One of the most interesting answers came when he was asked about the status of the original Battle Angel Alita manga. Sadly that doesn't seem to be likely anytime soon. Apparently the license is currently not available, even in Japan. The creator is currently sitting on it and the original manga is out of print overseas as well as in the US. Until he decides otherwise, there's nothing that can be done. There was also some talk about the difficulty in selling 18 + manga, and it was mentioned that shrink wrapped series are very difficult to get into bookstores, so the likelihood of any mature manga series coming to Kodansha Comics is rather unlikely. In addition there were some questions regarding pre-ordering and where it does most good. While Amazon may be the cheapest, ordering through a bookstore can do more for the series, as stores like Barnes & Noble will order more if they see interest in a series and a possibility for off the rack sales. It was a pretty solid panel and I was happy to attend. I'd love to see more manga publishers attend the convention, so hopefully they'll return in 2014 and if luck smiles upon us, they won't be alone.

Eventually I made my way to "Bad Anime, Bad", another really fun panel from the weekend. This was the panel's 12th year of shedding light on horrible, horrible anime series, moments and more. It drew a very sizable crowd and kicked off with a showing of Garzy's Wing episode 2. Interestingly enough it's a sequel to Aura Battler Dunbine and was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the man who gave us Gundam. Unfortunately, Garzy's Wing is no Gundam. What followed was a half hour of horrible CPM dubbing, bizarre names (Gabbajuju?!) and some really uninteresting animation. The crowd ate every moment of it up too. The hits kept on coming as that was followed up by a look at Magnos the Robot! A super robot with magnet theme and a horribly mixed audio track that was almost painful to listen to. It featured an incredibly confusing and needlessly complex series of transformations, equipment, vehicles and more before the actual super robot, Magnos, could be formed. The villains faired no better with a villain named Xerxes Tire Iron Dada, and monsters like Batroacher, a firebreathing cockroach/bat, Octocrabus and more. Watching hilariously bad anime has rarely been this much fun, and if you get a chance to attend this or the similar "Dubs that Time Forgot" panel I'd definitely suggest doing so.

I rounded the night out with the short, half hour panel, "Master of Yokai Tales: Shigeru Mizuki". It was a brief introduction into the work and life of Shigeru Mizuki, creator of the long running and soon to be released from Drawn and Quarterly, manga GeGeGe no Kitaro. It touched upon the origins of his love for yokai and Japanese myths in general, his experiences in WWII, including the loss of his left arm, his time as a POW, and how various other modern manga have been inspired by and drawn upon his works. I have to admit, I had no idea that Death Note had taken inspiration from GeGeGe no Kitaro, but apparently the idea of a magic book that would kill those whose names were written in it first appeared there. There was also a little bit at the end about how Shigeru Mizuki marketed the hell out the series, with GeGeGe no Kitaro appearing on everything ranging from t-shirts, snack food, golf equipment and Happy Meals! It was very short and brief, but still quite educational and well done.

DAY 3

The day started off with studying. Yes, studying. I was brushing up on notes for a panel I was co-hosting with former Manga Recon writer Sam Kusek and Mike Ferreira of Anime Herald. The panel focused on the history of Japanese and American superheroes. Due to a possible conflict of interests I won't go into it too much, beyond saying thank you to those who attended, I enjoyed it greatly and I look forward to doing it again in 2014.

After the panel ended I managed to sit in on the last half of the Yasuhiro Koshi panel. Yasuhiro Koshi was one of the guests of honor at this years convention, being a military advisor on a number of Japanese productions, as well as appearing in a number of them as well. He hosted the panel and ran through a series of clips, highlighting his appearances and the work he's done in Japanese cinema. Among the movies on his wide and varied resume were Godzilla Final Wars, Battle Royale, Calamari Wrestler, Executive Koala, Yo-Yo Girl Cop (aka. Sukeban Deka), The Last Samurai and the live action Devilman. It was actually pretty funny and interesting to see him appearing in such a varied set of movies. His Q&A was fairly short but he did mention that it was an honor it was to work with Kinji Fukasaku, the late director of Battle Royale. At one point he was asked about balancing the directors need and requirements against military authenticity in the various movies he's worked on. He said that ultimately it was up to the director and he was simply there to help him realize his vision. If the director needed things altered or changed, so be it. The panel ended with Koshi teaching the audience how to do the salute from Space Battleship Yamato. It was a pretty fun and enjoyable panel and I kind of hope he returns at some point, I'd like to hear more about his time working with different directors and the like.

From there it was off to lunch and time to make a final run through the Dealer's Room. While there I took the time to swing by the Kodansha Comics booth and see how things were. Their biggest seller for the convention was Attack on Titan, nearly selling out of all their stock for the series, including their copies of volume 1 and the advanced copies they had of volume 5! It apparently outsold Sailor Moon, something that's rather unusual. I can only hope this trend continues and extends to sales in comic and book stores as it is a pretty good series.

With some time to kill I decided to check out another panel that piqued my interest, namely the "Gender in Anime Culture". Again I arrived late. It wasn't something I had initially planned on stopping by for various reasons, but I'm rather glad I did. The room was nearly packed and the panel was hosted by Allison Wilhelm of The Nerdy Feminist. By the time I arrived she had essentially opened the discussion to the audience, asking each to share any experiences or thoughts they had on the topics. Maybe it's the recent events on comics blogs, but I thought this had the potential to turn into an absolute nightmare. It didn't. What ended up happening was a long, sprawling, civilized discussion about gender and sexuality within geek culture in general. The topics ran from personal experiences with complying, harassment, concepts of masculine and feminine roles in society, pop culture and geek culture, cross playing, tsundere as a permutation of the "Taming of the Shrew" trope, transphobia, homophobia and more. It was absolutely amazing and enthralling to listen to. The audience was nearly packed and remained so throughout the length of the panel. To make things even more interesting, the audience seemed to be an even ratio of men to women. I was absolutely astounded and I think it's amazing that things didn't devolve into the insanity that surrounds these issues when they're brought up online. A testament to not only the host, but to those in attendance as well. I only wish I had been there for the entire panel, as it seemed like she had a fairly good presentation before I had arrived.

With that it was time to attend to the Closing Ceremonies, but once again I ended up playing the White Rabbit and turned up a little late, but not late enough to miss the replaying of the AMV winners! Watching these had me regretting not attending the AMV contest as a few of them were absolutely brilliant. For those curious, here's a list of winners along with links when possible:

Best AMV of Show - "Holómon" by Warlike Swans & Warlike Cygnet

AMV Judges Choice - "Phoenix Drum" by Truffle Pig Studios

Best Editing AMV - "Moonfall" by ShinAMV

Best Concept AMV - "When I'm Tachikoma" by DJ Crocker

Best Comedy AMV - "Magic Mouth" by Basharoftheages

Best Fun/Upbeat AMV - "Takoyaki Wars" by Pacotacoshell

Best Romance AMV - "7 Days With Suzumiya" by VivifxAMV

Best Action AMV - "RadioAkshun" by LleiaAMVs

Best Drama & Best Editing - "Fidelity" by XophilarusRT

In closing I have to say that this was a very good and very enjoyable Anime Boston. Some of the fan panels were absolutely fantastic, with "A Night of Haunts from Japan" being a particular stand out. That said it wasn't without some problems. Saturday was insanely busy with several major panels overlapping into each other time wise. Likewise there were issues with some guest panels, such as both instances of Nabeshin (anime director Shinichi Watanabe) Unbound, and popular fan panels throughout the weekend, such as anything hosted by ANN's Mike Toole, being filled to capacity, forcing staff to turn people away at the door. Despite these minor issues there was plenty to see and do throughout the weekend, and all in all, I had a great time and look forward to returning in 2014!

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