This year I have traveled for the first time on my own outside of the country. I have traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to attend Anime Boston with Oki. Ever since I’ve arrived yesterday it has been cloudy, and extremely humid along with on and off rain showers- however the rain is hardly a problem as Anime Boston is majorly an indoor (not to mention gorgeous) convention. There are a few quirks about this particular convention that I am already was impressed starting with how easily you can pick up your pre-reg, which only requires you to scan your paper and show your idea and bam you’re done. This is something that easily speeds up the process big time.
Anime Boston has an App from Guidebook that has all the information you need for the convention. I especially like this because it’s easier just to check on my phone than fumble with my hands full trying to reach the paper with the schedule on it in my bag. For those who weren’t aware of this and are are interested in getting the App you can get it ::here:: (just follow the instructions it is super easy). One of the best features I like about this is that you can make your own schedule of the particular events/panels that you are interested in. Thanks to that you don’t have to scroll down the whole damn schedule until you find it! I don’t know if any other conventions does this, I know for certain Anime North doesn’t, but it is definitely something they should consider. Unfortunately the only downside is that it doesn’t include the photoshoots schedule, which makes it almost impossible to find unless I run into one much like I had with the Pokemon Photoshoot or follow one of my roomates or Oki to a photoshoot that they will be attending.
In comparison to Anime North, Anime Boston is almost triple in size- maybe it has to do with being all in one building/connected to each other compared to having to walk to three different hotels (one being about 5-10 minutes away). But my god, it’s just such a beautiful place.
The Dealer-Room is a wonderous place, it truely is. It is so open, so large and definitely double maybe even triple the size I’m used to in Anime North. There are a lot of varity, but there are some prices that make me flinch. I saw a Ukyou keychain mascot, but it was 10$ and I’m not sure if I really want to spend that much on that tiny thing… Not that I have anything to tie it on anyways, so it’s probably not worth it- no matter how cute it may be.
In the end, I wounded up doing the majority of my shopping today as I know the books I wanted will quickly sell out (or rather I would rather not take a risk) but regardless I was able to save money and get most of the volumes I wanted along with a bonus special deal of 20% off on Tiger and Bunny DVD Set 1 which was something I was planning to get if it was affordable. I look forward to picking up the second part if I can find a good deal.
In the dealer-room there are official booths for both Sentai Filmswork and FUNimation. Sentaib Filmswork from what I saw was 50$ for their BD and 35-45$ for DVD I think (will have to double check later- i’ll update ASAP). I am frustrated that I forgot to add Mawaru Penguindrum to my price comparison list (I compare the prices with Rightstuf since that’s where I buy my anime since they have better prices), so i’ll have to look it up and see if there’s anything else that might catch my eye.
I have yet to enter the Artist Alley, it’s not that I was avoiding it or putting it to later but I can’t find it. This place is huge, and as a first timer it is super easy to get lost (heck I couldn’t find my way back to our room and also accidently gotten off the wrong floor and couldn’t remember what floor to go to).
As for events, I only went to one today it was the: The Death Match… err well more like The Danceoff Death Match (as that what the audience wanted- not entirely surprised since it was that + the host that spiced up the show in the first place). It was pretty good, but admitedly after an hour it grew a bit boring and I started to lose ineterest. However it was fun and exciting when the crowd couldn’t choose between the cosplayers Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII ) and Kyubi (Naruto) and ended up in a tie thus becoming a tag team for the finals against Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter. And shortly after together Lightning and Kyubi obtained victory.
Overall for my first day it was pretty good, definitely different from my previous expirences at Anime North but today was mostly a calm day as tommorow I hope to attend the SUNRISE panel along with Sentai-Filmswork and FUNimation who are both supposed to be announcing new titles.:D
Unfortunately much to my dismay, this shitty ass laptop I had brought for the sake of covering the convention isn’t reading my SD card (it might be from the humidity though, you know how that messes up machines and stuff) and I have a handful of great photos that I was excited to share tonight.:( So please be patient and I’ll do everything in my power to get the damn thing to work. If it doesn’t work out, they’ll be up by Monday/Tuesday and I will have probably almost a hundred/three hundred up.
