Mar 21 2008
Anime Boston Report: Day 1
So here 
comes my report for Friday. I’m going to start out by saying I feel incredibly let down and almost heart broken because I completely overestimated the kind of audience that would attend this convention. After this convention, I seriously need to re-analyze my entire anime hobby. I’m still shocked at all that has happened, but read on and share in my misery.
So the night first of all was very restless because there was this horrible creaking sound in my hotel room all night. I have no idea how I managed to sleep and stay awake all of today but I hope I’m tired enough this evening to pass out in bed. We got up and went to get breakfast but every single place had huge lines. JP went to au Bon Pan instead where the line he said moved fairly quickly. Apparently Starbucks was crowded with business men while all the Otaku were trying to maintain their healthy weight of 200+ lbs by mass crowding Dunkin Donuts. After we got dressed in our Ueki/Mori cosplay we headed to the convention center to set up our artist alley.
When we got there the line for the pre-reg was worse than Thursday which made me glad I spent the time waiting. However, this was not the end of it. Apparently Anime Boston thought it was a brilliant idea to have 5 people trying to register 10,000 people. This basically led to some people waiting in line for 5+ hours..and some people couldn’t even get into the con because around 7PM they just stopped allowing people to line up. So if you bought a 3 day pass, I hope you demanded a refund. Hell you should demand a refund for spending you Friday standing in line.
Anyway at the artist alley we discovered that there’s wifi all over the convention center (which is who I was able to make the Thursday post) and JP got my laptop. I attempted to watch Clannad 22 but failed due to low battery power and the fact that the people next to us thought it was so fucking cool to blast their techno/rave music for the next 7 hours. I had asked them to at least turn their bass down because it was giving me a fucking headache. My table sharing neighbors thought were pretty nice girls though. We had fun chatting during the slow time…which basically means the entire time I sat there.
Let me begin by saying I sold 0 prints. I’m not saying I’m a great artist and all, but why is it that at a con 1/4 this size I can sell at last 1-2 prints but here I sold 0? Also at Anime Next my prints cost $4 more than they did here….yet I sold none. A few folks came by and bought a copy (thanks wildarmsheero :D) of my Haruhi doujin and one girl bought 1 of my leftover Naruto ones. But that was it. I think everyone else just grabbed a business card and walked away. Even though random girls who used to run up to my table and squeal at my art …I barely saw any. A couple showed up and that was it. I did get to speak to one of the dudes from New york comic con/ New York Anime fest. I may get an art table for NYAF in September..we’ll see how they price it etc.
Anyway at about 3 PM, after some nasty Chinese food I left JP to man the table while I went to the Anime Name That Tune contest. Luckily I got into the finalists by naming the Kare Kano opening theme. I made it through one of the finalist rounds but I lost the 2nd one because I was so nervous that I blanked out and didn’t get the OP theme for Sensei no Jikan….but I guess it’s forgivable considering I watched this show 4 years ago and dropped it half way through. Anyway the prizes were anime DVDs that would collect dust on my bookshelf (and Harry Potter lol) so I just wanted to be in the contest and have fun rather than actually win something.
After that I went back to the table where I spent the next 4 hours sitting and staring at people walking by, occasionally grabbing a cosplayer for a photo. Sold a couple more doujinshis and by 8PM both me and my neighbors had packed up and left. We got back to our hotel room, changed into something non cosplay (this made JP really happy) and then we headed to have dinner with DS at the mall food court! Frankly we wanted to make it in time for the AMV contest so we didn’t wanna go out to any fancy restaurant (or spend another $70 to be honest.) Oh I forgot to mention someone actually did recognize who me & JP were cosplaying.
After dinner we went to the AMV contest. Since my video made it into the finalists I was really excited…I didn’t think it would but yea. This was the biggest drag of the ENTIRE DAY. They began the damn thing with a horrible parody of Monty Python which I didn’t get at all. When they finally stared the contest, it all went downhill the moment every other fucking video was DEATH NOTE. Anime Boston should just be called BOSTON NOTE because every fucking thing of every fucking event was fucking Death Note. If I ever see another Death Note AMV I’m going to hurl myself into a wall. 
The best AMV was actually the one Death Note amv that was about 75 seconds long. That guy totally got my vote. If Death Note wasn’t bad enough, they had 2 videos with Cowboy Bebop and then a bunch of crap with Kingdom Hearts & Final Fantasy Advent Children which to me all blurs into 1 thing: video game footage that I don’t care to see because it’s not ANIME. Anyway finally the last category was the fun/upbeat/other which my video was the first one. I was hoping to get some chuckle from the audience….but what I got was DEAD SILENCE and a couple “oohs” during the penis joke.
(While I am writing this, a bunch of idiots are yelling and screaming at 11:30 PM at night. Where are they getting all this energy from? Oh yes, must be that Dunkin Donuts but I digress. ) Anyway after the dead silence and almost no reaction to my video (also my video was THE ONLY NARUTO VIDEO….yea I was shocked too)…the rest of the videos were kinda…weird as well. They weren’t really upbeat, they definitely fell into that “other” category. One of them had TOO much editing, to the point where I had no idea what the hell was going on. I’ll honestly say that the Comedy category was the best one of the night - that cat video and the ouran twincest were definitely my favorites.
Anyway we left before the last video finished playing because it was another seizure fest (too many flashy effects) and came outside so I can write this post. Also, at the name that tune contest, a girl next to me kept spitting out Japanese phrases acting like she knew more Japanese than me. Of course being the mature person I am I just smiled & nodded. During the actual time it was our turn, and the Onegai Teacher theme song came up..I said Onegai Teacher, got the point…and then she says to me “Onegai Sensei”. I was so speechless at her stupidity, I had nothing to say. It felt like trying to explain to her that Onegai Teacher says “Ti-CHA” in katakana was the same as trying to explain physics to a 6 year old child. Needless to say, I just ignored anything she said until our round ended.
I honestly don’t understand what went wrong with this con. I don’t understand how the things I like or sell or create don’t appeal to a mass audience, but yet appeal to a small audience. It just doesn’t add up. All I can think of to myself is…where did it all go wrong? Am I growing out of this or are the fans of anime getting more brainless these days? I don’t recall acting like this when I was their age…so what is going on here? For now, I’ll just blame the idiotic staff for fucking up pre-reg and depriving a shitload of people from coming to the con.
Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day. 
Tags: anime music videos, artwork, cosplay, disappointment, doujinshi, meh, wtf
24 Responses to “Anime Boston Report: Day 1”
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InoKate on 
marmot on 
biankita on 
What?
No pics of jp in a skirt and stuff?
Welcome to mainstream. It is teh fail.
And this is why I only go to cons to buy manga in mass. My local con costs $40 for entry and I can find manga there for 20% off, so as long as I buy more than $200 worth of it, I emerge victorious.
These cons are getting more and more pointless. Why even pay? Just hang out outside and take cosplay pics, then sneak in to buy Hinano’s prints.
Hmm…and I been thinking about going to an anime convention too and see how it is like.
I wouldn’t be to suprized if I saw people doing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuHZBuyq1fA&feature=related
But yea, I hope you have a better day! Just have fun!
“Am I growing out of this or are the fans of anime getting more brainless these days? ”
Are you kidding me? Ever heard of a weeaboo? I hope you have, because you’ve just attended a convention, which is comprised of:
96% Weeaboos
2% Actual serious anime fans
1% Artists interested in Manga
1% Other
Case in point: Death Note AMVs, and your silly partner in the Tune contest.
This is why the smaller cons are actually more serious, because the casual weeaboo won’t go to these, only the big ones.
I blame the widespread popularization of anime. Before, it was a niche thing, and most brainless teenagers didnt know about it or werent interested. As the age of Pokemans/DBZ passed, America became obsessed Japan, and now the result is a generation of brainless Walmartian, MacDeeian anime fans. These people know next to fucking nothing, but they act as if they are better than the average American because they are “cultured” (See: Butchering the Japanese language, attempt to eat with chopsticks). Of course, pointing this out only leads to butthurt.
Good luck out there, Im rooting for you.
I blame the marketing of manga to a predominantly teenage audience.
BTW, I bought your doujinshi even though I thought Haruhi was only “ok.” I just want to see more Western doujinshi. Although we need more of a market for ero and loli stuff. I want to write a lolicon doujinshi myself, but I’m worried the con staff may use that “We reserve the right to terminate your membership at any time” clause.
Sounds like a horrendous time.
I hope AX isn’t like this… I went last year and didn’t have a good time (it was around the time when I first began watching anime) since my friend had to leave
Hope tomorrow is loads better for ya.
@ByteMovies: You know your cons quite well.
@IcyStorm: AX last year was a clusterfuck. Even for it already being AX, which I can guarantee you is Hinano’s experience magnified 5x.
But Haruhiism and getting the seiyuus’ autographs managed to save it for me.
Hopefully the AX committee will have their act together in time for the next con in LA when summer rolls around.
@Anonymous:
Enjoy your v& lol.
Cons have been going down FAST for me since I started going to them. I remember when I used to have such a good time at them when I was younger that it would be the time I looked forward to for more than 6 months in advance. Alas…1998 was a long time ago ;_;. I think AX2000 was the breaking point for me.
Most hilarious point of it was watching little kids go up to cosplayers thinking they were Disneyland staff, asking to find their moms, and then the cosplayers just cursing or yelling in their face (JP and/or EN, take ur pick). That was almost worth it…
If any of you going to AX this year want to hang out with an oldschool fan while waiting in line…
And I LOVE artist alleys…I always pay a bit of money at them to have the artists there draw stuff in real time for me and my friends. Usually it helps to know one person running a table at them too…
I live on NY but I have never been to an east coast anime con…anyone been to both sides able to give a brief comparison? I never went to otakon cause I Cant afford $299 a nite for hotel…
Trained monkeys can do better than that and are cheaper.
Anime Hari Pota coming, art design by Koge Donbo, starring Koboshi as Hermione and Misha as Ginny. Draco looks s3xy.
ooo… 3 fuckings in a sentence. You have done well my apprentice!
Bytemovies sums up what I would have said so no need me overloading my brain.
Western Christian mentality. The dumbfucks equate fapping off to drawn pictures = molesting young children. They should spend more effort on the reallife molestors. It’s all about willpower etc2.
Frankly, I don’t see the point of a con these days. There’s a few here as kurogane can tell but all I see are the “popular and overhypped stuff” that are on display. Would be a waste of my time to travel there. I rather lounge in Borders purveying their wares. And so, instead I spend my moolah elsewhere. Like all those Kojik… err… KAMICHAMA DVDs… >_> Since I never had the moolah to buy the pitaten ones, it may be seen as a substitute. But there is always Di Gi Charat! :3
Oh, god, that’s not the first time I’ve heard the Onegai Teacher thing, and it makes me roll my eyes each and every time. Damn weeaboos.
Jeez, that sucks. I’m actually leaving for the con in a little while. Don’t worry, I still plan on buying a Haruhi Doujin and a Shugo Chara print.
(It seems your not all that happy about Death Note at the moment, but I’ll be dressed as L and holding a big fake lollipop)
(Actually, you probably won’t read this before I get there, so…;P)
Sounds sad… You and JP seriously have to consider coming to a con here in the Philippines… We are way more organized and the people who do the bulk of the organization (apart from the one organized by the anime TV networks) are done by volunteers who were part of the original cons when they started here in 2000. Cosplays are excellent (though here, we puke at Naruto not Death Note).
Plus, it’s only $2 to enter for the day and the loot people get (in terms of giveaways and the stuff make it all worth it).
Ooh..I feel so sorry for you.I kinda’ know how it feels to have neiborghs with to much energy.And about the entrance stuff,that’s really sucky.O and btw,did you get vol.6 of Shugo Chara?I just have an obsession with that
Death Note AMVs? That’s awesome. Well, Weeaboo is just a phase and hopefully the current crop of teenaged anime fans will grow up.
I feel so sad that you’re down.
But from what I’ve heard, this is what most conventions are like; from what people I know tell me. I have better things to do with my money, like shoes, manga, shoes, candy, all that good stuff.
Your art is the shiz-nite! If you had done some Death Note stuff or Bleach you would have killed. Naruto is only really big with the elementary school crowd now. And not that it’s entered the filler years here in the US my little bros and there friends are hating it something fierce. Little do they know the pain the coming years holds for them; but they still dig the manga.
As for the generation thing, you speak like you’re 30 or something. I don’t know you’re age (I’m 18-20) but you’re not needing Metamucil and a cane just yet. And you know the effects of the popularity of crystal meth has scarred a generation or two. And don’t forget crack!
Meth & Crack babies do grow up and they are among us.
I hope you can salvage some good memories out of your trip, because obese, B.O. fuming, singing nimrods isn’t something I believe anyone would want to remember.
But for the record, Death Note was good. Real Good!
I went to a Halloween party as Misa & made my fiance go as L (I didn’t like Light).
Plus, stop listening to that depressing Boyz II Men song.
Try the new Foxxi MisQ X-B-F song. I’m LOVING IT at the moment.
-2% Actual serious anime fans
-1% Artists interested in Manga
Really? That’s very disappointing to hear; the number should be WAY higher, something like 20% for each category.
What makes them different from the rest, and how does one “join” them?
@Dm: well, simply look around fo some sources of information and stuff. It’s nothing to “join in” actually. ByteMovies probably meant the “serious fans” of 4chan, though they’re mostly retarded but from time to time share some usefull news or doujinshis.
They think thy’re different from the rest because they show little enthusiasm and a lot of hatred and criticism towards most shows, regardless if they’re good or not. They believe only “manly” shows are good and shows that involved emotions or moe are mostly second preference there.
So no, don’t bother to “join in”.
@Leviahan: No I mean the “serious fans” who don’t go batshit insane for every fucking overpriced piece of Japan they can get their hands on and squee with retarded joy every time they see some 200+lb matt cosplayer kiss another fat mello cosplayer.
Those serious fans. “4chan fans” are easily moar like “4chan fags”, but atleast they know what the fuck they’re talking about. Besides, havent you seen /a/ lately? Its full of shit.
honestly, I was very disappointed as well.
I think everyone wasn’t as enthusiastic because of the 8+ hour line.
Everyone was drained or disappointed because they expected something better.
Many cosplayers did a half-assed last minute job on their costumes as well, which wasn’t fun to look at. I think the 7000 Death Note Misas (who surprisingly outnumbered the L’s and Kira cosplayers combined) were my breaking point.
I coulda sworn there were a lot of L’s…but yea now that I think about it, there weren’t too many Lights.
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