Saturday morning was one of the most chaotic mornings Anime Boston ever had to encounter. Saturday is the most popular day. People were coming into the Boylston Street entrance upon existing the T. People were also trying to get via the main Prudentual entrance. People were also trying to stay dry. Because of the increased foot traffic at the Prudential, mall shoppers and Anime Boston badge holders had to be redirected. While we understood security was trying to ease the flow of traffic and get the crowd moving along as possible, it inconvieniecd a lot of people regardless if they were attedning Anime Boston or shopping on a Saturday.

Love Live Cosplay Photoshoot by Eri Kagami
The Love Live cosplay photoshoots took place in the course of two days. The second one occured on Saturday. I ran the shoot last year, but because my anxiety started kicking in, I thought it would best if someone else ran the Love Live cosplayer meet up. We had our meet up on the first floor by the escalators. For a popular series, we had a small turnout, but it was nice because it felt more like a hangout than a chaotic cosplayer gathering. The meet up took place in the morning and it was pretty understandable that some cosplayers were probably stuck in the traffic getting in either through Bolyston or Prudential. However, we did have several photographers show up during this time of morning.

Gods and Shoguns by Jared the Greek
This was an interesting historical panel that looked at the challenges and influence of Christian missionaries on the Japanese over the last 500 years.  It isn’t a part of history that is normally covered despite the fact that many anime series use Christian imagery or symbols with varying degrees of accuracy.  After the historical section people were allowed at ask questions and bring up series that use Christian themes.  Having a historical context makes it much easier to understand why some series use the imagery or stories to enhance the anime.  This is a great panel to check out and hopefully it will be back next year with even more details about Christianity and the samurai.

Arsene Lupin III: International Thief of Mystery by Jared the Greek
My second panel of the convention was the return of my Lupin the 3rd panel series.  This time the panel was updated to include more information on the failed series ‘Lupin VIII’ and had more coverage of the various video games and pachinko games featuring Lupin.  Beyond that I covered the long list of titles in the franchise and where to start for those who are generally unfamiliar with the franchise.  It was a fun panel with no problems other than my Lupin VIII footage not being where it should have been, but that was my fault and thankfully I had plenty of other footage to use.  After the panel several people came up to me to talk about Lupin and anime history.

Anime Global Influence by Jared the Greek
A panel I attended for only a short period of time.  The panel had several problems beginning with the waste of time total outline prologue.  This was followed by a history free analysis of how anime has influenced Western culture and animation.  Ths felt like one of the bad education track panels at Anime Expo and you could tell the audience was not impressed with the presentation.  Every year I come across one bad panel, sadly this was that panel, which is a shame because it is an interesting discussion topic if run by a competent presenter.

It Gets Better: Anime Con Edition by Jared the Greek
The ‘it gets better’ motto has been around for several years now and Greg Ayres has used this as an opportunity to discuss LGB issues in the nerd scene.  Greg shared some stories from his life and those of his friends as a way of showing that people of all different types have faced adversity both in the past and even now.  As the panel continued the audience came in with their own stories and offering some suggestions for solutions to problems.  There are no easy answers, but having a safe place to discuss problems and fears is always a good start.  We need more positive panels like this where problems are faced with maturity and kindness.

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