Discotek Media by Dame Aznable
I set my alarm for 7AM. I had friends on the west coast keeping their eyes on the Discotek Twitter at 6AM PST. I can’t believe I woke up for a 9AM panel.
Before the convention, the oldtaku anime licensing group teased that one of their announcements would be SEGA related. Sakura Taisen fans were intrigued. Could Discotek Media make an announcement that we will be getting a Sakura Taisen OAV rescue license? Well, that didn’t happen. However! I woke up for this early morning panel because I enjoy what Discotek Media has done to license classic anime.
A big highlight was the licensing of The Flying Phantom Ship. We got a treat to see dub clips from this Scooby Doo inspired feature length. We had the dub cast visit to talk about the behind the scenes of this production – including some dub outtakes!
I am looking forward to more Lupin III, the Fatal Fury steelbook, and getting an update on the Gubuster OAV was nice. Also, who remembers the Virtua Fighter anime? Asking for a friend.
Cosplay Lip Sync Battle by Dame Aznable
I look forward to this event every year. Cosplay Lip Sync Battle is pretty self explanatory. In a round robin tournament style elimination, over 30 contestants go head to head in a lip sync for your life – cosplay style. This is always a treat because it’s fun seeing what people had chosen and what songs that their character would perform.
I entered as Yohane from Love Live. I ended up lip syncing to Sharon Needles’ “Call Me On the Oujia Board” after practicing this in my car during the three year absence. I always have the most fun in cosplay at Lip Sync Battle. 
The final two were a Cooking Mama / Gudetama pair and a Joseph Joestar. This was very close competition. The Joseph Joestar gyrated his way through the top with Shakira and 2010’s pop tunes. Cooking Mama / Gudetama brought the milkshake to the yard and damn right, they won!
There was a panel at Wonder Con that asked where to find the queer geeks. I found them. They’re all here at Anime Boston’s Lip Sync Battle! (my people!)
Masquerade by Dame Aznable
The main event! Very few anime conventions (at least in California) treat the masquerade as the must see event. Anime Boston keeps the tradition of having masquerade be one of the convention’s main center pieces. To guarantee a seat, you must get a ticket from the masquerade office as this event fills up fast. No worries, tickets to see the cosplay show are free.
The masquerade began with an opening musical number by the cosplay staff celebrating we are all together again in the same space continuing the masquerade tradition. Sadly, not all of Anime Boston staff could make it to the masquerade. We were given a tribute video to Roadie, the former MC of Anime Boston’s masquerade. Our new MC, Squeegee said it best: Roadie would not have wanted a moment of silence, he would have wanted us to rock.
We had our first set of walk on’s followed by the skit competition. As a former contestant to the masquerade, I’m always amazed by the quality of costumes and acts. The first act set the bar: a cosplayer dreaming of cosplaying as Miku…but which version? She sings to the tune “Into the Unknown” about her laments on deciding which Miku to cosplay as; a very relatable moment for many of us who have been there.
Other highlights included My Hero Academia characters getting lost in Boston, a mega Mob Psycho act that makes me now curious about the show, Alter Jeanne was pondering what to sacrifice to the grail, etc. Anime Boston really sets the bar on their cosplay entries. If you love cosplay, I would recommend watching Anime Boston’s masquerade live.
And then there was a section where they highlighted TikTok’s of Anime Boston cosplayers. Your’s truly was featured as Saber lip syncing to Spamalot.