The party never stops at Anime Boston. The sun may be going down, but the otaku filled weekend is not over yet. Friday night had plenty of events to check out. Even if you did not know anyone hosting room parties, you could check out the gaming room on the third floor with it's massive viewing screens (great for fighting tournaments) or singing your heart out in the karaoke room. Anime Boston had several 18+ events during the after hours.

Karaoke Shuffle by Scarlet

This reminded me of the Karaoke Gong Show at Fanime, but it was a little bit diferent. Essentially, the show has 10 contestants. Each of them have to draw a random number. The number will be assigned to a song. The contestant may or may not know what the song is, but they must perform it in front of an audience. They will not know the song until it is their turn. I stuck around for a little bit to see where this could go. First, the contestant listened to the song and then once the song played a second time, they went on stage to rock it out.

Judges looked for accuracy, ennunication, and performance. Some performers attempted to survive through the song, while others, just focused more on performance and getting the audienced riled up. Either way, it was worth it to peek my head in for a bit.

Anime Mystery Science Theatre 3000 by Scarlet

Tonight, we are riffing on Samurai Showdown. Unfortunately, this panel did not meet my expectations. While I do give credit to the girl running the live riffing, most people in the audience were making up their own commentary as the cheesy anime movie played. So much so that the host was being drowned out by people in the audience. I felt really bad for her. However, successful MST3K panels are usually better down by an established group or professional voice actors. Because it was held in one of the bigger panel rooms (Panels A on the third floor), it was very easy for the single host to be drowned out. A good idea for a con to have, but still a work in progress.

Cosplay Dating Game After Dark by Scarlet

This was one of the "mature" events I attended on Friday evening. This version of the dating game is anything goes! Well, almost anything. Hosted by Ash and his mother, contestants must pick from three different mystery dates. I liked how there was a yaoi, yuri, and het sets for the dating game. The main highlight of the dating game show was when Abraham Lincoln threw his (stovepipe) hat in the ring. He came up with hillarious answers. You can view the video here:

Luckily, nothing too raunchy occured. For a dating game that is for the older audiences, you would imagine things could go wrong, but I liked how everything was kept in good humor. To keep with the running yokai theme, there was a ghost that haunted the stage and possessed the contestants momentarily. A very creative touch on Anime Boston's part! This was a very fun event to watch. The room was totally filled up. Because of all of the laughs it brings, I can see why this is one of Anime Boston's top events.

Get Off My Lawn by Scarlet

While I was perusing through the program guide, this panel got my attention. Get Off My Lawn was hosted by a first generation otaku. He was donning pins all over his mundane threads. Much like medals of honor, this sagey otaku had stories to tell. A lot of it was focused on how different anime was compared to American cartoons in the 1970s. Gatchaman and Speed Racer were heavily discussed. Unfortunately, the panel went on a tangent to discuss Ralph Bakshi. I really did like the theme of the panel, and I wish I could heard more about the compare and contrast of fandom now versus fandom then. This was a very no-holes barred version of The Aging Otaku panel from Katsucon 2013. I liked that Anime Boston still gets first generation otaku as returning attendees.

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