Anime Boston 2012 Coverage
Anime Boston 2012 Coverage.
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I attended Anime Boston 2012 this year, and I promised Kyokai a con report, so here we go. I know it’s been over 2 weeks, but better late than never, right? If you’re most interested in seeing the cosplay, feel free to jump right there. I don’t mind. |
Concert/Guests
This was my 4th time at Anime Boston, but my first time attending one of its concerts (yes, that means I skipped out on the Kalafina one 3 years back, even though I went to their panel). I went on Friday night to see Kanako Ito, whom you’ve probably heard recently in the Steins;Gate opening Hacking to the Gate. She was followed by Haruko Momoi, an idol with roots in Akihabara and the voice actor for Feyris-tan from Steins;Gate. I was really impressed by Ito. Besides showing off her great voice, she spoke almost the whole time in easily understandable English in between her songs. One of her songs was all in Latin and, though it’s been too long since school for me to know if the words made any sense, her pronunciation was just about perfect (I’ve a pet peeve about mispronounced Latin in songs, with One Winged Angel being a major offender). She also took out an acoustic guitar for 3 of her songs, something I didn’t expect at all from this poppy/anime/videogame singer. Oh, and I believe every song she performed except her final one, which was one she wrote herself after the Tohoku earthquake last year, was associated with Nitro Plus in some way.
I actually didn’t stay for most of Momoi’s concert, though I did see her singing God Knows from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which she did quite well, with the right amount of energy required for that song. Based on what I heard from others, she was just as good as Ito, living up to her nerd idol reputation.
Kanako Ito looked so happy once she was done with her autographs.
Anyway, I was impressed enough by both that I decided to do the autograph thing with them. For Ito, I bought a CD and got it signed immediately following the concert. For Momoi, I bought a little wristband so that I could get my photo taken with her, and not owning any merchandise associated with her, just got my Anime Boston guide booklet signed during her autograph session the next day. (I actually barely made the cutoff for that, ending up 3rd to last in line – I hung out with a very convincing Daru cosplayer who had the actual board game that Feyris-tan played in Steins;Gate for her to sign).
Haruko Momoi with a Tomoyo (Cardcaptor Sakura) cosplayer during her autograph session.
Anime Boston pretty much never gets Japanese guests that I’m interested in, and Momoi was the first ever actual Japanese voice actor as far as I know, and watching and (sort of) meeting both of these performers was wonderful.
Panels
I went to only a handful of panels this year, and luckily for me, most of them were great. On Friday, I went to Disabilities in Japan, run by someone I somewhat knew from the Boston Anime Meetup group. It was a general talk about how people with disabilities are treated and depicted in Japanese society and media. To be honest, not a whole lot there that I didn’t know beforehand or couldn’t guess based on my knowledge of the culture: there’s a huge stigma against them, and accommodations are not so great. Of course she mentioned Katawa Shoujo which she hadn’t played but admitted that she heard good things about despite the offensive Cripple Girls title. Now that I think about it, Narcissu, a completely free, short and linear visual novel, might have been another good one to talk about.
On Sunday, I went to Current Happenings in Censorship, which mainly touched upon the controversial Tokyo Youth Ordinance bill that went into effect last year. The contents were good and informative, and it was well researched as best as I could tell. For example, Aki-Sora, one of my favorite manga, which straddled the line between ecchi and hentai while exploring incest (A LOT), was one of the handful of casualties of this bill, when the publisher freaked out even before the bill passed. Unfortunately, the panelist didn’t have enough content to fill up the hour slot and was finished in about half that.
The casualties of Tokyo Bill 156. Center bottom was truly a big loss. The author never got to properly finish her work ;_;
My favorite panel was another one run by someone I knew from the Meetup group, by the name of Mike Toole. Perhaps you’ve heard of him or read his column on Anime News Network. His panel Saturday night was on the Smash Hits of Korean Animation, going over how it progressed from being just outsource work for Japan and the US, to ripoffs of them, to legitimately good original work in the past couple decades. Nostalgia factored in for me personally, since I grew up in Korea watching both Mazinger Z and its Korean ripoff Taekwon V, a martial arts fighting mecha. It was an excellent presentation with lots of clips of very old works, mostly of poor quality, but with some gems. He showed us the opening shot to a 2002 film My Beautiful Girl, Mari, a single-take shot flying around a city, at least a minute in length. That’s actually one I’d heard of before, and I intend to check it out soon.
Besides those, I went to Puella Magi Madoka Magica – the First True ‘Post-Evangelion’ Anime with SeHNNG and aeroblip, all of us with high hopes that we’d get at least a good laugh. Unfortunately the panelist spent most of his time talking about the history of mecha anime and perception of otaku in Japan, and didn’t really do anything to explain or defend the point made in his panel title.
With a title like that, you expect at least a few laughs, right? It did not deliver.
I was pretty happy overall with what I got out of the panels this year.
Cosplay
But you’re really here for all the cosplay photos, aren’t you? Here’s a direct link to my Picasa album This year, I tried to make a point to get the cosplayers to pose in interesting ways. Of course, it’s rude to be too demanding – they’re doing you a favor just by posing, after all – but the photos are always more fun to look at when the cosplayers are in some deliberate pose.
I noticed a relative dearth of Vocaloid, Panty & Stocking, and Hetalia cosplay compared to the last few years. No single franchise seems to have filled that hole – Magical Girl Madoka Magica might have come close, but it didn’t match the volume of Vocaloid cosplayers seen in previous years – resulting in a greater variety of works represented, I think. Though the old guards of Naruto and Soul Eater and recent big hit Durarara were all quite well represented.
Pleasant surprises were a Hanako (Katawa Shoujo) cosplayer (a friend of mine, actually) and a handful of Bakemonogatari and Penguindrum cosplayers. Anyway, here are some of my favorites. Click any to go to the image in my Picasa album. The images have been scaled down, even in the album, so if you want the full-size one for any of them (12MP), please ask!
A pair of (unaffiliated) particularly dedicated Catherine cosplayers. The woman on the right has a Facebook page, Misa on Wheels, and I’ve seen her in previous years cosplaying as Yuna from Final Fantasy X and Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII.
A little girl cosplayed by an actual little girl? The adorable Nanako from Persona 4.
The painfully shy Hanako trying her best to hide behind her book. The only Katawa Shoujo cosplayer I saw.
The King of Heroes offers a drink (Fate Zero).
Finding a Bakemonogatari cosplayer is rare enough, but 2 of them, and the Valhalla Combo no less? Jackpot! (Notice the attention to detail in Kanbaru’s shoes)
You’ll be forgiven if you didn’t recognize these guys right away. They’re protagonist Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Not an anime, but an excellent movie.
Lucy with her helmet during her escape at the beginning of Elfen Lied. Notice the basket at her feet; this was taken on Easter Sunday.
Merch
I’ll finish off with the stuff I actually got to bring back from the convention, the goods from the dealer’s room and the artists’ alley. I actually didn’t buy too many stuff this year, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. Some good stuff to keep around as remembrance for another great Anime Boston in the books.
That CD I got signed by Kanako Ito. Still haven’t listened to it yet. The cover art is quite nice, though!
A Panty & Stocking illustration I bought from the artists’ alley, and a mug I bought from the dealer’s hall. You should be able to tell which anime it’s from based on the picture. The filename has it.
I tried getting one of those random figure in a box things for the first time. And what do you know, I got the best one on, the mystery figure, Black Hanekawa! It’s sitting on my desk under my monitor right now.
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 209 comments
Some pretty good cosplay. That Hanako one is amazing!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Nice coverage on the convention. The more I see these posts, it makes me want to do what I can to go to one. Those are some pretty convincing and dedicated cosplayers there. My favorites are the Lucy, Senjougahara and Kanbaru cosplayers.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
My first convention was only 4 years ago, Anime Boston. I’ve mostly been to big ones like that one, Anime Expo, and PAX East, but I’ve always had a great time. In my experience, a good 60-80% of people are in cosplay, so it’s a pleasure just to sit down and people-watch. Definitely try to get to one if you can!
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Whoa, that cover art. It looks slightly misleading. Maybe it’s just me.
Anyhow, yay for Anime Boston. My favorite part is the Hanako cosplay since Hanako is a memorable character that will stay in my heart forever
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Don’t worry you’re not the only one who had mislead thoughts about it.
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
Hanako cosplay? That’s a first for Katawa Shoujo cosplay. Forever my waifu of Katawa Shoujo~ Nanako cosplay kawaiii~ Lucky for you to get Black Hanakawa. I wish for Shinobu instead.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
High five!! You’re not the only one. I wish for Shinobu as well.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
She really went all out, using latex for the burn marks on her face and arm. She was worried her wig didn’t look right, but I thought it turned out well, one of the best I saw at the con.
I wouldn’t have minded Shinobu either, though it would’ve been cool if they had a teenage version Shinobu. I was actually worried that the mystery one might be Mayoi since she’s the only heroine not shown. I was told to wait until I got home before I opened it because I’d end up getting one I didn’t want and be compelled to go back to buy another one, but nope, I got the best one on the first try!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Your panels sound so interesting and thought-provoking…Our local con has panels like “black kids like anime too!” and “fangirl 101”. *sighs* They’re usually mediocre at best. The way the Madoka panel turned out is kind of a shame, but at least they came up with an ambitious..uh..title.
Not going to lie, the cosplayers are always my favourite part of con coverage posts. I’m glad you asked for quirky poses because that Vincent cosplayer sure picked an attractive one. XD
Nice swag! I never get the rare figures, so that’s usually quite a feat.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Well, Anime Boston is one of the biggest anime cons in North America, 2nd in the East Coast to Otakon, I think. So it always gets a pretty good amount and variety of panels, often from fairly well-known and respected people such as Mike Toole. There are plenty of bland and unambitious panels too. I dropped into a Hetalia in-character cosplay one a couple years ago (without knowing what Hetalia was at the time). There was also one that year where a guy was breaking down Evangelion 1.0 as a sequel to End of Evangelion, which is fine in itself, but he was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask the entire time which made his voice muffled and difficult to hear. Yeah.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Whoa, impressive. I might have to go on a road trip or something to Boston one year with some friends.
Oh dear, that’s…most unfortunate. It’s hard enough to take some speakers seriously when they’re cosplaying, but for it to PHYSICALLY impede their performance…=A= Well, at least there are some good ones if you hunt around!
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
Man, I wish I could have gone… but alas, I live on the other side of the continent. Impossible, especially with big tests coming up. And those panels sound amazing, like someone really thought about real issues and researched them. Sounds so cool.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 88 comments
Kanako Ito is so energetic !! And Momoi, so cute!! (Also the Tomoyo cosplyer too!)
I never heard of Narcissu, I’ll have to check it out. Anyway, I usually don’t get to go to panels because my friends think they’re boring ): the stuff you went to is so interesting, especially the censorship one! The Madoka one looked like it had a lot of potential.
omg I love all the cosplayers eeeeeeee QTπs everywhere!!! Especially the Lucy cosplayer and Misa on Wheels *O*
POWUH: 400-499 with 489 comments
Like I say in every convention post. I WISH I WAS THERE. Love the cosplay. The guy in the pink boxers was priceless
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Wow, just look at the cosplayers! The TM ones of course caught my eye. Rin looked pretty cute and damn, Gilgamesh sure decked out. That armour must have been a real bother to wear but props to the dude carrying it. Hoshi’s with ‘ore no T-shirt’ was pretty hilarious too.
Loved the details on panels and just look at Kanako Ito being so energetic. All of this just makes me want to go and attend a convention sooooooooooon!
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
One of the Rin cosplayers was actually with a Waver. Wish that that Rin had been the smaller version, so that I could’ve gotten them together (though I guess even in Fate/Zero they don’t meet – so far, anyway).
If you’ve got a con anywhere near you, definitely make an effort to attend, it’s totally worth it! I only attended my first con 4 years ago, and I regret not having gone to them sooner.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 38 comments
Nice! There sure are a lot of Japanese ppl. Not what I’ll see at the similar event that’s going to happen in my town this weekend..Too bad, it’s on its first edition, but I still hope it’ll be at least half as fun as this.
High hopes for the cosplay tho. Can’t wait to take lots and lots of pictures XD
Really wish you’d have poster more photos too 😛
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
There actually weren’t many Japanese people, though there was at least one big Haruko Momoi fan who flew in from Japan to see her perform.
Which con are you going to? Hope you have a good time.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 38 comments
Japan Play Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It.Was.Awesome.
Here are some pictures I took: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.228527130584615.41967.147654878671841&type=1
;;)
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
Hello! I’m the Kanbaru xD I’m so glad you liked my shoes! I also had the arm, which I wore later that night: http://whiskeypeak.deviantart.com/#/d4vqc8g
Great coverage of what was a really fun con. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Thanks, I had a lot of fun too. I was glad to have run into you 2, because Bakemonogatari cosplayers are so rare in the US. As you can see from the photos, I did catch you with the monkey paw arm, though I see that you also had the bandaged version some other time. Wish I could’ve caught that!
If you’d like, I can send you the full-sized originals of the photos I took of you 2.
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
Oh gosh, I AM tired. Yes, that would be awesome. And again, I really appreciate the praise! I was so happy at the overwhelming amount of people who knew what we were from, and who were genuinely excited about us and the show. I plan to have Rainy Devil totally together for AX, so I can send you pictures of that, too. 🙂
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Sure, I just emailed you a link. I really wish I could go to AX this year. I went last year for the 1st time and had a blast. Actually got my Suruga Monkey BD volume signed by her VA, Miyuki Sawashiro, which was pretty cool. Would definitely like to see photos of when you’re there. Is the girl who played Hitagi planning on reprising that?