Mar 22 2008
Anime Boston Report: Day 2
Sorry not
many pictures today. Photos are now up in the usual location (Click on Anime Boston in the left menu). Anyway…while today was a little better due to most people now having gotten their con membership, it still didn’t change the fact that people were willing to only buy specifically what they want no matter how cheap or expensive it is. I am however thankful for all of you guys who did stop by and purchase a print and/or doujinshi. 
Not a long entry today but I will basically conclude my thoughts on the con.
In the morning we once again checked out the AMV contest to see if my AMV would get more of a reaction. While technically it DID (and some people in the audience began spinning their program guides like leeks), the general reaction was still pretty pale in comparison to the thousands of comments I received on NicoNico. After that we headed to sit our butts off at the artist alley for basically the next 10 and a half hours.
I managed to snag some (in my opinion) rare cosplayers, but I generally didn’t take that many photos. I feel like my photo count decreases at every convention. I mean frankly I don’t really need another 5 photos of Suzumiya Haruhi and her merry friends. One fun experience was when I saw a group of Higurashi girls and went to ask them for a photo, they demanded a hug first (I was cosplaying Amu from Shugo Chara). A few people recognized me but ironically a lot of people who bought my Shugo Chara print, didn’t say a word about my costume. Maybe because I was sitting down they couldn’t see my patterned skirt or my painted eggs.
So as a pattern I noticed there were a good amount of Phoenix Wright, and Cowboy Bebop cosplayers this time around. Is CB coming back? There was of course the usual plethora of L’s and Misa’s, Narutards, Bleachtards and Full Metal Alchemists. So speaking of which…I often got asked if my fanart of Misuzu from Air was Winry from Full Metal Alchemist. 
Anyway by 6PM it flooded in because the Pillows concert (which I couldn’t care less about) was over and the Dealer’s Room was closed. I managed to sell a lot more prints around this time but I still ended up with a lot of leftovers. Problem is it’s easier to sell doujinshi and ship it online…but it’s difficult to do the same for a print because if you don’t use special shipping material it’ll get wrinkled and ruined in the mail. I’ll have to keep these around until the next convention that I end up at.
Anyway by 8:15 it sorta emptied out because the Masquerade had begun at 8PM. I had originally planned to attend but I decided instead to just go back to the hotel, change out of the cosplay into normal clothes and then go out to dinner. We went with DS and ended up at Legal Sea Foods…except we went to the one located in some deserted mall as opposed to the one near the convention center where people had to wait for an hour 
Afterwards we just came back to the con center so I could write this post.
All in all….this con stunk and I frankly am not coming back. While the amount of stuff I sold wasn’t as bad today (which could be due to basically lost business on Friday)…it’s almost the equivalent of what I coulda sold at Anime Next…without spending $300 on hotel fees and getting nauseated on the Chinatown bus.
Tags: artwork, disappointment, doujinshi, meh, niconico
24 Responses to “Anime Boston Report: Day 2”
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L-chan on 
JohnG on 
Liinae on 
Hmm… Your ani-con posts are getting more and more nonchalant — maybe even depressing. Trying laughing it off a bit and just enjoy the convention. Even if the con sucks, you still have the rest of Boston.
Maybe there’s a nice Japanese bookstore with hard-to-find manga.
You sound bitter
But I sure hope you managed to derive some fun out of it regardless… 
My favorite part of this con was pulling on jp’s tail.
Need more kannazuki no miko cosplay instead! Chikane x Himeko!
From the last post,
>>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?
Just draw Death Note, like you said. Most people going to cons aren’t hip with the wotaku shows, really.
But yeah, this con is a bust. I’m not too pissed since I live only 15 minutes away, but it’s pretty lame-o. Chances are I won’t be back next year, but that’s only because I won’t be in town. Saraba, Anime Boston!
Hey Hinano,
I entirely agree with you about conventions - even though I’ve not been to an actual one (there aren’t that many in the UK) I kind of understand from experiences at Anime EXPO - There are just a few problems:
1 - Mainstream sucks and everyone who likes mainstream likes to think themselves as cool otaku when in fact they are retards.
2 - Anime is the refuge of the people who otherwise would spiral headlong into social hikikomori ness which kinda ruins the fun for us slightly cooler otaku types
3 - There are no conventions for us types.
I think the best thing would be to have a separate convention for people who are seriously into anime but are not strange, retarded or Deathnote fans. Oh wait, those are synonyms.
You should see the otaku types that you get over here in Japan ^_^ - but at least they don’t try to outdo each other with how much English they know…
Ganbatte Hinano-chan!
It is a sorry state of affairs that the majority anime fans only follow the stupid shonen jump stuff but maybe the cowboy bebop thing is a good sign, I always thought of it as something of a gateway series from the brainless stare-then-power-up-the-other-to-death anime to a discovery of the more sophisticated things anime has to offer…and the large number of series that are dross but thankfully not 70 million episodes long.
Seriously, the con was horrible. Whoever was in charge of registration was a complete idiot. My friends and I ended up not even registering, and just walked around a bit. Not to mention, I won’t get to go to another one until October.
)
(I got into the dealer’s room because of the lanyard someone gave me, but I only got to be there for a few minutes, then we had to go. At least I got to buy a ‘The Cake is a Lie’ t-shirt
This is why I like smaller cons better. The one in October that I’m going to (Another Anime Convention) was a ton of fun when I went last year, and it’s actually in the city I live in too. Also, registration takes 5 minutes at the most. The only downside is that there are less people who know about shows like Shugo Chara or Higurashi.
Yet another reason why I’m glad that I don’t go to more than one con a year.
Thanks guys for all the comments. I read them all (mostly through my cell phone on the bus) but I just don’t have the energy to reply to every single one. I’m glad that you guys agree with me on these cons. Maybe I’ll just sell off my remaining prints and just stop going all together. It just seems like it’s not my thing anymore…or maybe I just have the luck of picking all the shitty cons to attend or something.
:3 Please come to Animazement!
Pwease? *puppy eyes*
I find it quite different from the big cons.
D: I’m hearing nothing but bad things about Anime Boston. I’m so sorry it went so poorly~! I had fun at Ohayocon last year, but that isn’t very big, either, so it didn’t have the long lines… naturally it was more fun, then, right? @_@; All this talk about big scary cons scares me.
Anyway, I had a pretty rough time in AA last time I was at a convention (Ohayocon, believe it or not.) My tablemate made 5 times more money than me, even though my art was better… ;__;
And Yuribou, I agree with your point about us awesome otaku getting our fun totally sucked by those loser dweebs with God complexes- oh, wait, that’s not what you said ^_^;;;
Too bad you didn’t like it much. I see your point!
Hey, have you read the news? Japanese anime companies are going to start releasing shows simultaneously ONLINE and on TV, but with english subtitles online… in YouTube and Crunchyroll. O_O woah
korosora> If I wasn’t getting married next year I actually might have flown there…but alas I need to save up!
algelic> No I did not but I am assuming this would prolly cut down the number of fansubbers & Downloaders alike.
yeah i know i’m becoming annoying and stuff but i just wanted to know if you got the shugo chara vol.6?did you did you?
yoyo> they didn’t have it at the con - i’ll check kinokuniya today
lol i had a terrible time myself, i got horribly lost and had a headache the entire day.
the Pillows were awesome though.
i also bought one of your prints
david> which one did you buy?
I can prolly recall the people who bought my prints cause I didn’t sell that many 
i bought the shugo chara one, i asked you to sign it =3
i wore a green pastel-ly shirt if that helps =]
I think I recall you!!
Cause not really that many people asked me to sign anything XD
I just got an idea that will save your fan artist career. Throw out the prints and instead do hug pillows. I got the idea when I looked again at that Nagisa one from the con. You could do ones for boys or girls, with Kyon or Amu or Haruhi or Ikuto or whoever you like who might sell. I don’t think anyone else is doing it!
Hi! I was the Rena in the Higurashi group that demand hugs for pictures. We were having a competition… Mion won
Nurilka> XD hey there! Haha oh noes Mion won!
I loved your cosplay btw, we need moar higurashi cosplayers, enough Death Note :S
DS> I wanted to do that but I have no idea where I can get them printed