{"id":880,"date":"2014-03-26T15:10:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T19:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=880"},"modified":"2014-03-28T12:53:25","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T16:53:25","slug":"anime-boston-2014-report-part-1-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/anime-boston-2014-report-part-1-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Anime Boston 2014 Report, Part 1: Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Editor in Chief attended Anime Boston<\/a> on March 21st<\/sup> and 22nd<\/sup>, which marked the first time our website has covered an event with official press credentials.\u00a0 This article is the first part of a narrative piece on his experience at one of the east coast\u2019s most prominent anime and manga conventions.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"ABBanner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As any convention veteran would expect, the day starts with an interminable series of lines.\u00a0 I arrive at the Sheraton Hotel half an hour before the con begins and get in the line for people who registered ahead of time.\u00a0 A few minutes after 8, our line begins to move through the hotel, forming a new line to pick up our passes.\u00a0 I soon have my shiny new press pass dangling around my neck, and march triumphantly out into the hallway.\u00a0 My last name may be misspelled on the pass, but I\u2019m ready for action.<\/p>\n

And by action, I mean another line.\u00a0 Most of Anime Boston takes place in the Hynes Convention Center, adjacent to the Sheraton.\u00a0 In order to get into Hynes, we all have to go through a bag check, which means more waiting.\u00a0 A wave of commotion rushes down from the front of the line, and we\u2019re finally moving at around 9.\u00a0 A cursory check of my near-empty backpack gets me through, and things are officially under way.\u00a0 The orderly procession eliminates the mad stampede that we\u2019ve seen in every anime comedy, but there\u2019s an undeniable (if sleepy) buzz amongst the early birds as we wander around, getting our bearings in the three-floor convention center.<\/p>\n

\"ABHynesEntrance\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The indoor entrance to Hynes, complete with swarms of people waiting to get through the bag check.<\/em><\/p>\n

The panels don\u2019t start in earnest until 10, so I duck into a screening room to get off my feet for a while.\u00a0 As the first episode of School Rumble plays in front of me, I go over my battle plans.\u00a0 Outside, the halls are quickly filling with the sights and sounds of countless cosplayers.\u00a0 My resolve bolstered by a healthy dose of romantic comedy, I head out to take on my first time covering an event of this scale.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy but interesting panel on anime soundtracks, I hit the dealer floor and artists\u2019 alley.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sensory overload on all fronts.\u00a0 Legions of fans shuffle from booth to booth, admiring the huge selection of books, Blu-ray collections, posters, figures, games, shirts, pillows, pins, and cosplay gear.\u00a0 Traffic jams break out constantly as people in particularly impressive costumes are flagged down by would-be photographers.\u00a0 After several near-collisions, I decide to let the dealer floor clear out a bit and break for lunch.\u00a0 The nearby food court makes a college campus dining hall seem quiet and roomy, so I wander around for half an hour before finding refuge in a relatively peaceful California Pizza Kitchen.<\/p>\n

With my face stuffed full of pizza, I\u2019m ready to line up for my first event: Funimation\u2019s 20th<\/sup> anniversary panel.\u00a0 Once the remnants of a Sailor Moon panel clear out, we filter in to a J-pop soundtrack.\u00a0 The front rows fill up quickly, and everyone seems keyed up for the first industry panel of the weekend.\u00a0 There\u2019s a steady buzz of chatter as people exchange Pok\u00e9mon<\/i> tips and argue about Madoka Magica<\/i> characters.\u00a0 The excitement peaks as Funimation\u2019s Justin Rojas and Adam Sheehan make their way onto the stage and get the panel started.\u00a0 We get to see the company\u2019s new logo animation (my first convention premiere!) as our hosts prepare to take us \u201cdown the memory lane of Funimation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FunimationPanel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fans head up to the stage after the panel to get a look at some vintage Funimation merchandise.<\/em><\/p>\n

The panel begins with the company\u2019s origins and the all-important acquisition of Dragon Ball Z<\/i>.\u00a0 Rojas and Sheehan refer to Funimation as \u201cThe house that Goku built,\u201d and they\u2019re obviously not just joking.\u00a0 As the company\u2019s first big license, DBZ<\/i> played a big role in Funimation\u2019s growth over the past two decades.\u00a0 We get a look at old VHS cases, vintage trailers and promos, and a retrospective video taking a look at what the franchise meant to the company.\u00a0 From there, the panel moves on to other major acquisitions (Fruits Basket<\/i>, Fullmetal Alchemist<\/i>, and so on) and landmark events (first convention appearance, first co-production).\u00a0 The crowd cheers at the nostalgic mentions of favorite shows, and we ooh and ahh over fan campaigns like the Hetalia<\/i> art cards.\u00a0 After things wrap up with the acquisition of Attack on Titan<\/i> and the simultaneous dub of Space Dandy<\/i>, we get some creative promotional cards for Psycho-Pass<\/i>.\u00a0 The panel as a whole is a supremely enjoyable piece of nostalgia, not to mention a fascinating look at how a tiny company grew to be one of the leading names in the US anime industry.\u00a0 What\u2019s especially nice is seeing the obvious enthusiasm of the Funimation staff for the shows they release, along with their appreciation for their passionate fanbase.<\/p>\n

\"PsychoPassPromos\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Promo cards for\u00a0<\/em>Psycho-Pass, shaped like the Dominator handgun from the show. Shiny.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few minutes later, I\u2019m back in the same room, a few rows further forward, waiting for the second Funimation panel of the day.\u00a0 This time the topic is their online presence, both through social media and their own website.\u00a0 The big takeaway this time is how hard the company\u2019s pushing to make their site into a sort of \u201cone stop shop,\u201d be it for news, forums, streaming content, or their company store.\u00a0 It\u2019ll be interesting to see if they can successfully carve out significant sales numbers from established anime retail sites.<\/p>\n

I end the day with a trip back to the dealer floor and artists\u2019 alley, which has calmed down a bit since the opening rush.\u00a0 Of course, \u201ccalm\u201d is a relative term when you surround countless anime fans with an unlimited supply of things to buy.\u00a0 I pick up a Survey Corps pin and stick it on my jacket, my decision-making clearly influenced by the legion of Attack on Titan<\/i> cosplayers present at the convention.\u00a0 Over at the artists\u2019 alley, I pick up an impressive piece of Fate\/Stay<\/i> fan art, and engage in a geek-out over the various iterations of Saber with the artist.\u00a0 After realizing that I\u2019ll be paying $40 a day for parking, I resolve to buy more stuff tomorrow.<\/p>\n

As I shamble exhaustedly back to my car, I reflect back on my first day at Anime Boston.\u00a0 Over the course of 11 hours, I\u2019ve gone from being a bit overwhelmed and incredibly sleepy to being fully engaged in the controlled chaos of the convention experience.\u00a0 I know full well just how exhausted and broke I\u2019ll be by the end of the day on Saturday, but I can\u2019t help being excited for the process of depleting all that energy and money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read the rest of our coverage in Part 2<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kawaii Overthink is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Editor in Chief attended Anime Boston on March 21st and 22nd, which marked the first time our website has covered an event with official press credentials.\u00a0 This article is the first part of a narrative piece on his experience at one of the east coast\u2019s most prominent anime and manga conventions. As any convention [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":904,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}