Anime Boston Saturday evening still had plenty of programming going on. Masquerade is the big event. People were lining up for masquerade as early as 4PM in the afternoon. The line was circling around the Hynes. It's amazing that masquerades are still a big deal for convention attendees. Dinnertime was fast approaching - many attendees resorted to the Prudential Center food court for cheap eats and to avoid the ripoff prices of the Hynes Convention Center food. 18+ panels were starting up and attracting the more "mature" otaku for late night debauchery.

To the Moon and Back by Eri Kagami
This was the third Sailor Moon panel during the weekend. The others were the official Viz panel and the feminism in Sailor Moon one run by a fan. To The Moon and Back was run by a new Sailor Moon panelist that covered humorous aspects of the franchise. With no particular format or order, the panelist started off by commenting on the (lack of) quality animation in Sailor Moon Crystal and went over some common problems in the latest incarnation of the series. She also covered some hillarious Canadian dub clips of Uranus and Neptune calling each other cousins. Additionally, she also went over Chibiusa having a thing for Mamoru. It wasn't an overview of the Sailor Moon mutliverse going through every incarnation and telling of the series, but rather, something for all the fans to enjoy. I'd really like to see an 18+ version of this panel. Like any other Sailor Moon panel at Anime Boston, this one filled to capacity throughout the entire presentation.

Karaoke by Eri Kagami
On the third floor, you can find the karaoke room. I did stop by the karaoke room a few times during Anime Boston to unwind. There were always empty chairs and water available. It's always fun to see people show off their singing abilities (or lack there of). The karaoke room consisted of a stage - attendees can pick out songs. Anime songs were highly encouraged. I think I heard the Pokemon English theme song anytime I passed by the karaoke room the most. Because of the Hynes access to WiFi, attendees could get the lyric version of their songs off YouTube. However, like the Macross Idol panel, this was not always the preferred method as WiFi at the Hynes can be hit or miss.

The End of the Anime Industry As We Know It by Jared
This panel was a discussion of the current state of the American anime industry and a brief look at the Japanese side as well. It began by looking at the early days and how shifts in the economy have led to higher prices as sales continue to drop. It also went into how the Japanese industry has been having problems as well due to anime being produced for niche audiences rather than being made for wider audiences as it was in the pre-2000s era. It was a fascinating panel that really made you think about the future of anime and if the industry can keep up with costs and reduced sales.

Ar Tonelico Panel by Jared
One of the lesser known JRPG series is Ar Tonelico, a series made my the company that also made the various “Atelier” series games. This panel covered the world of the games and analyzed the story and characters in addition to the gameplay differences. This was nice primer for those who are looking for a new JRPG to add to their queue and a rare moment for fans of the series to discuss why they like the games.

Masquerade by Eri Kagami
The main event! This year, I was fortunate to view masquerade from the audience. For the past two years, I competed. However, I decided to give it a break this year to see what kind of competition we had from Boston locals. Masquerade was hosted by Mario Bueno and Roadie, the two most hillarious masquerade MC's I've ever seen in my 10+ years of attending conventions. Mario and Roadi's humor has some great timing and you can tell that they're really into otaku culture and embrace every inch of it. For starters, we had the fashion show - entries that signed up as walk ons did a runaway walk on stage set to "Fly Away" from Panty and Stocking. Next up, we had the masquerade skit portion. Highlights included Howl's Movie Castle set to "A Whole New World," Levi (Attack on Titan)'s birthday party, how to travel to a con in heavy cosplay, an eternal sailor senshi group dancing to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, a Sword Art Online live musical duet from "Bonnie and Clyde," etc. There were some high quality acts this year - the competition was pretty tough. However, no matter who wins, this was an amazing show to see this year.

Additionally, we had a badass halftime show done by a New York based cosplay group, Flash Step Dance. They did an act that combined Dance Central and every fighting game ever. It's pretty hard to explain on text, but I've always been impressed by their martial arts moves and their dancing skills. Immediately after, we saw the winners for the amv contest and the masquerade winners.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures Panel and Cosplayers Meet Up by Jared
There was quite a line for the panel focusing on the fan favorite series ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures’. It took some time for everything to get set up, but the panel ran smoothly. The beginning of the panel was a overview of the series and it’s crazy timeline. Then they went over some of the games, adaptions, and a few in jokes. Then the panel became a celebration of Jojo and the fun of doing silly poses. Many fans ran on stage to do the various poses and act silly with other fans, but despite being dressed as Jotaro Kujo, I decided not to join them.

The panel was followed by a cosplay gathering, which got disrupted and moved to a new location which made the gathering much smaller once everything was settled. The gathering had a nice mix of heroes and villains from nearly every series in the Jojo-verse. We ended the gathering by pulling out our box of Joe Joe’s cookies which got a good laugh from everyone at the gathering. It would have been nice to have the original larger group, but it was still fun making jokes with the various Jojo fans at the gathering.

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