My colleague from Anime Jam Session said it best. Another Anime Con is the last of the good small cons. While I have no issue with this con staying the same – same attendee numbers, same location, same amount of quality programming, etc, there is something nostalgic to it. As a veteran of anime cons (attending since 1999!), it does feel like a place lost in history – you’ve snuck through Tardis and found yourself in an alternate universe where it’s the feeling of the early days of anime cons, but with current trends. Even so, I saw Rayearth, Tenchi Muyo, Yuyu Hakushou, Sakura Taisen, etc cosplayers around. No fandom felt like it was taking dominance over the other. It was simply a place where you can enjoy being an otaku no matter what age.

I do not have much to complain about. The only issue I really had was a hotel room key situation where my card was demagnetized and I felt bad about inconveniencing a colleague to have it magnetized again. While I did lose my first press badge at the hotel restaurant, the main staff was nice to hand me a replacement badge. Things like this do happen, especially when badges do not have lanyards. Badges can only stay on so long with a traditional alligator clip.
I do wish I had taken time to sign up to participate in masquerade or cosplay chess. I’m always impressed by the quality of skits at masquerade and how cosplay chess is genuinely revered in New England. I really enjoy seeing mock battles of characters versus character. I also enjoyed the con theme – paranormal high school. Each level of badges had a different personality to it. Because we were press, we had investigative reporter badges. General attendee badges had “Class of 2013” to play into the high school theme. Staff badges had “Faculty” to determine their authoritative rank. It was finally cool to meet Misa On Wheels in person – she was also donning a faculty badge.

Programming at Another Anime Convention continues to be consistently well done. There’s always something new going on. I also regretted not submitting any panels – moving made it difficult to keep track of what con had what deadline for the fall season. However, I did enjoy con horror stories – having it labeled as group therapy was pretty clever. Anything that involves free food and social interaction, I will enjoy (tea time and Japanese tea ceremony). I don’t know about waffles though. There were still a few events I wanted to check out like the riceball workshop, but likewise, there was a lot to do.

Another Anime Con is one of those laid back cons where you can hang out with friends and have fun doing con things. You can paint parasols or have photoshoots in the park filled with autumn foliage or do late night karaoke together. It’s a great socializing con to meet and make new friends. It’s small enough where you’ll run into people easily; it’s not too hard to loose anyone.
I highly recommend this con to the 20 and 30-somethings who miss that multi-fandom feel of anime cons – where you could spot a variety of cosplayers and fans of the things you love; not just one blob of homogenous grey people. College students who prefer socializing with otaku rather than the typical frat party can let their inner freak out here. The nightlife is wonderful; the 21+ lounge was a great addition to the con and a great place to meet mature otaku as well. There’s always something going on at Another Anime Convention; never a dull moment.

Shoutouts to our friends at Anime Jam Session – thank you for the hotel room and the ride back to Boston. Shoutouts to the staff who also helped me recover my badge. Shoutouts to the Hetalians at the photoshoot; I never took photos with Hetalia cosplayers – thank you for being well behaved and living above the flack that the Hetalia fandom usually gets. Until then, I look forward to the next Another Anime Con and I promise not to slack off with the panel deadline again.

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