Anime Boston celebrates anything related to Japanese pop culture. Though anime is a huge part of it, there is a ton of crossover. Saturday had plenty of Lolitas running around. Anime Boston also had people in kimonos and yukatas. It is admireable that Anime Boston is a safe space to show your love of fashion and culture. Saturday morning was met with a heavy downpour. Luckily, most events were inside, but the rain did not stop the fun.

Lolita Fashion Show by Ashley

Frills, pettis and lace oh my! The Lolita fashion this year featured some of New England’s most lovely lolitas. Starting with a panel introducing the fashion to the audience, the girls then strutted their stuff down the aisle showing off the different sub-styles within lolita fashion. Some of the styles featured this year included: Gothic, Sweet, Classic, Hime, Qi and Wa. The panel then ended with a Q&A which new lolitas or even just fans asked about the fashion from the girls. Some questions included: wearing Lolita to school and where to get Lolita clothing in the United States? Another interesting point made at the Q&A was about “indie” brands and being careful about “frauds” and “replicas” which are generally not as high quality. At one point a Brolita asked the group how they felt about Brolita and had admitted that he was teased and kicked out of his Lolita community. The girls were all very touched and admitted that they would welcome him with open arms since after all Lolita fashion is more than just dress it is happiness. It is being happy in what you wear and having confidence.

No Means No: Defense Against Fanboys and Fangirls by Scarlet

I attended a similar panel to this at KatsuCon 2013. The panel was hosted by Stella Chuu and Gina B. When it was held at KatsuCon 2013, only Stella Chuu hosted the panel. This time ,we had Gina B alongside. Gina B is best known for this video commenting on the cosplay =/= consent. It covered the same issues brought up at Katsucon - how to deal with creepy people. I liked that creepy people were not limited to just guys, but the infamous yaoi fangirls as well. I also found it interesting that I found more guys in the audience than girls. Though it was an early morning panel, I thought this was a great addition to Anime Boston. Anime Boston also had video screens of cosplay =/= consent to remind attendees to behave properly at all times.

Songwriting with Raj Ramayya by Ashley

Raj Ramayya is one of the legendary composers in the anime industry. He has worked on many animes and video games, and is probably most known for his work in Cowboy bebop, Wolf’s Rain and Resident Evil. Mr. Ramayya was scheduled for a concert at Anime Boston this year, and took some time for this panel to help aspiring songwriters. The panel mostly focused on how Mr. Ramayya works on his music. He mentioned that he is not shy about reaching out to other musicians to work on a song. At the panel he stressed that all composers take music business classes in order to learn how to protect their artwork. Mr. Ramayya is one of the most down to earth guys and having the opportunity to listen to his advice in the music industry was an honor.

“What the... Durarara?” by Lisa

Some people may ask while fans jokingly say “Durarararara” with lots of “ra’s.” The informative and fun panel What the DRRR returned for a second year at Anime Boston 2013! I was really excited to return as Anri Sonohara for this panel, and despite two panelists running late, things went smoothly. What the DRRR is a panel about the Durarara!! fandom. This year, the panel started off with one of the panelists, the Kida cosplayer, flirting with female audience members while staying in character. Once the official starting time, 2 p.m., came on the clock, the panel finally began. Mikado and I pulled Kida back to his seat for a brief game of Kida Says (Simon Says, DRRR style), but then Kida started trying to get the single ladies to write down their numbers for them... and the game drew to a close. Next, Anri talked about the premise of the Durarara story, Mikado introduced the main characters, and Celty and Shizuo asked the audience trivia questions. After the trivia questions ended, we opened up the panel to a Q&A session. Audience members were able to ask the panelists in-character and/or out-of-character questions. There were cute questions, silly questions, serious questions, “shippy” questions (especially regarding the ever-popular “Shizaya” ship), and some fandom-related questions. The other panelists and I were pleased with the variety of questions that were asked.

Moon Prism Poptarts by Scarlet

I have been running Moon Prism Poptarts since 2011, and kept thinking to myself what would be the next steps to make this panel big? Moon Prisim Poptarts fared well in its New England debut at Another Anime Convention 2012, but instead of rolling the Anime Boston version solo, I got a little help from Kelly and Sakki. Kelly and Sakki ran general Sailor Moon panels in the past. They had a lot to contribute to this panel by decorating the stage with posters and dolls.

Moon Prism Poptarts highlights the beginnings of the Sailor Moon fandom in North America. The panel goes over how anime was dubbed and translated in the US in the 90s using Sailor Moon as a case study. However, the panel is also meant to be a nostalgia bomb for many - there were some good points in the dub (ie: "My Only Love," "Oh Starry Night," etc). This also went over some facepalm worthy moments in fandom (ie: web reviewer teams, anti-sailor moon websites, SOS shenanigans, Anti-SOS brigades, etc).

I was very happy to do this panel with a team at Anime Boston. I was amazed by the amount of people that came up to us at the end to ask questions and share their stories of how they got into Sailor Moon. The only thing I wish we had was a larger room. After the con, I felt bad when I heard about people being turned away. If Anime Boston brings this back for 2014, can we please have Panel Room A?

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