What a busy week! The con was a week ago and I’m just getting around to making updates about it! Any how, as I do for every con I attend, here is my convention review.
Time and Location: Once again this year, Anime Boston was held on Easter weekend in the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The convention center is a wonderful place to hold a convention, and the place was packed! I’ve got no complaints about the facilities, but the timing was pretty inconvenient. Easter weekend!? I know a lot of people were unhappy about that. I myself did not attend the convention on Sunday because of this, but I still had a good time Friday and Saturday. Perfect weather temperature wise at least. It did rain on Saturday, but was still warm enough to be comfortable.
Parking: There is plenty of parking for the Hynes at the surrounding hotels, though the rates are pretty high. I always park across the street in a garage. The max is $30 for 24 hrs. However there is no come-and-go option, meaning once you leave the convention center, you’re done for the day unless you want to pay another $30 for parking. The rate is $5 for every half-hour. Adds up very quickly.
Food: The Prudential mall and Boylston street (which the convention is on) has plenty of food options. It is Boston after all. No one was going to starve. However the food in the mall is a little pricey, and if you want something cheap you have to walk a little to get it. Not that its difficult to find cheap food once you leave the convention center. My cosplay group and I brown-paper-bagged it for lunch, and had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. Excellent food. But a tad pricey.
Lines: Very few lines at this con! No line to get my badge. We literally ran through terminal. And with the new masquerade ticket system, there was no lining up for that either. Not that I went to the Masquerade this year, but I didn’t see anyone waiting in line for it. The only time I waited in line was for really popular panels, and there were a few instances where the room was full and we didn’t get it, but there were enough other panels happening at the same time that if we didn’t want to wait in line, we could go and find something else to do.
Staff: I didn’t really interact with staff this year other than a few of them taking my picture. There seemed, in fact, to be a lack of people on staff. I don’t think I had my badge checked all con. Normally, there is a staff member guarding the door to every panel and the dealers room. But this year for some reason, people were coming and going as they pleased without ever taking out their badges….weird. Maybe they were understaffed. Kind of makes me wonder why anyone would buy a badge if they knew they could roam free without one.
Main Events/Panels and Scheduling: I didn’t attend any main events this year because honestly, we were really busy having our photos taken. I did go to some awesome panels though. There was a fantastic Miyazaki Panel which covered everything you’d ever want to know about his work, a historical costuming panel which with tones of tips and tricks for making better costumes, and a martial arts panel which explained what is and is not possible in a fight. The panels this year were exceptional, I thought. Not a single disappointment.
Cosplay: As always, Anime Boston was filled to the brim with cosplayers. There were so many cosplayers in fact, that it’s difficult to recall specifics….I saw a lot of Vocaloid, and a lot of Panty and Stockings. I myself had a fantastic cosplay experience. Our costumes were very well received; I got a lot of very nice compliments and the group had our picture taken about 2500 times! Everyone was really friendly and when asked for hugs, everyone was very gentle and respectful of the costumes. Not a single “glomp.” Which was nice.
Other notes: The artist’s alley was VERY crowded this year. There seemed to be way too many artist. I couldn’t even look at anyone’s work. The walkways between tables were so narrow, that anyone who did stop to look at work would block traffic. Thus, I felt unable to look at work. AA needs either a bigger space, or fewer artists. I know that no one wants to hear that, but I don’t know how anyone sold well in such a dimly lit, uncomfortable space.
I give Anime Boston 2011 4 out of 5 stars. Wonderful Panels, great people, lots of cosplay, fantastic location, but Easter Weekend, lack of staff, and the very crowded hallways bring it down from a perfect score for me. Still, it was a really fabulous time. And I will continue to attend for years, I’m sure.
Shauna's Cosplay Pages 