A Visual History of Mecha by Jared the Greek
This was not a good way to start the day. This panel aimed to tell the history of mecha anime and failed in nearly every way possible. The visual presentation would not work, the host didn’t seem to understand his material, and had bad time management. Worse yet, the history skipped key series (Gunbuster, Turn-A Gundam, Robot Romance Trilogy) and did not explain the importance of major series (Brave series, Ideon’s failure, Macross). The host was unprepared to run a panel and finished with 20 minutes remaining. The host then used this time to plug his youtube channel, kickstarter, and self-published book. While Anime Boston tends to have high standards with panels this was one of the few D students that slipped into the usually A student mix.
Anime and American Cinema by Jared the Greek
This was an honest discussion about American adaptations of anime series into movies such as Fist of the North Star, Dragonball Evolution, and Kite. However, the panel began with a brutal breakdown of Death Note and Ghost in the Shell. However, some of the more interesting parts of this panel were the discussion about Japanese adaptations like Full Metal Alchemist and Rurouni Kenshin. Not to mention a short talk about ‘future’ adaptations like Naruto, Bleach, and Akira. This was a nice change of a panel as most anime fans try to ignore the bad adaptations rather than discuss them at a convention.
The Class of 1988 by Jared the Greek
This panel was a retrospective based on anime titles that came out thirty years ago. The panel showed clips from shows like Aim for the Ace, Sonic Soldier Borgman, and Hades Project Zeorymer. In addition to that movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, and Akira were also shown. The audience really seemed to enjoy learning about classic titles or reminiscing about the classics of not so long ago. One of the highlights for me was seeing the opening for Patlabor, which made me want to watch the series again.
Love Live Cosplay Meet ‘n Greet by Eri Kagami
For the first time, Anime Boston had designated cosplay meet up points for large groups. These were originally arranged on the forums without much intervention or advisement from the official staff. After the growth of cosplay meet ‘n greets and seeing that fandoms were getting territorial, cosplayers can finally reserve a meeting point for group photoshoots under the guidance and control of staff. The Love Live cosplay photoshoot occurred in the Hilton. The Hilton had two ballrooms for cosplay meet ‘n greets. I was dressed in constellation Nozomi with my constellation group. While the Hilton is away from the foot traffic at the Hynes, the people who wanted to be at the meet up, were there. We did not have to worry about being a fire hazard having the ballroom to ourselves. This also gave room to the Love Live cosplay dance cover groups to perform once main group photos were done. About two groups from the New England area performed.
Star Wars Cosplay Meet ‘n Greet by Eri Kagami
The Star Wars cosplay meetup occurred on the third floor of the Hynes Convention Center in the curtained area. The photoshoot was organized by the New England 501st, a world wide Star Wars cosplay group for the most dedicated and elite. Despite that, all Star Wars cosplayers were welcomed to this meetup. I was wearing my Sailor Princess Leia cosplay and I joined in for mash ups, the many generations of Leia, original trilogy, etc. I liked how the majority had an original Jedi or Sith and seeing the many lightsaber colors. Almost ten years ago, it would have been considered taboo to run a Star Wars cosplay meet up at an anime con. However, given the diversity and expansive of what it means to be a nerd, it was nice that Anime Boston welcomed such a crossover.
