AnimeBoston 2009

This is the third AnimeBoston I've attended but the first time I've blogged about it. The shirt above is the one I wore on Thursday for pre-registration badge pick-up. It was quite a hot day on Thursday so I was just sweating like crazy especially this dark shirt. That day we had our "last supper" which is the last full meal we'll ever have for the next 3 days. We ate at Fire & Ice, an all-you-can-eat restaurant where you pick up raw ingredients and sauce then bring it to the center grill where someone will cook it for you. Kind of like a Mongolian Grill or Teppanyaki. I'd love to have something like this around Vancouver. I also got to meet up with friends and people that I know, but there were a lot of people I didn't know before and felt like a stranger in the whole group. At least I sat with someone I stayed with last year and got to talk to her for a bit. That night was also the only times I've slept on the bed. It was painful. The mattress was too hard. I woke up and walked as if I was an 80 year old guy, limping and holding my back from arthritis.

Day 1 - Friday, May 22nd: "I Would Die for Haruhi"

The two people that I came to the con with two years ago have their hands quite full this year. They're running another convention in November and are trying to promote it this year at AB. So I didn't really spend much time with them during the convention itself. Well either that or they prefer doing their own things and I have my own agenda.

Since it was the eve of Haruhi's new episode I thought it'd be appropriate to the above t-shirt which I got from J-List... but many vendors at the dealer's room actually had it on sale there as well. The whole convention takes place indoors, so the lighting was not the greatest for taking photos.

Ah but I did go around with a friend for about two hours before we separated. The first thing we saw was the Monty Oum 3D Animation Panel. Monty Oum is the maker of the Dead Fantasy series, which is a crossover between Dead or Alive/Tecmo and Final Fantasy/Square Enix's universes.





He's currently working on parts 3, 4 & 5 when he was at the panel, but he did show some of the work in progress video... which is practically done IMO.

Here are the first cosplayers I ran into. The Gekisou SOS Brigade! Yuki looks great!

The Major, Motoko Kusanagi

Nintendo had quite a presence at the dealer's room promoting their new Fire Emblem game. Even had their own cosplayers.

A friend of a friend's panel. I thought I'd pop by near the end of it where they're having an actual kendo match.

Fran and Ashe from Final Fantasy XII. Fran's a bit short though ^^;

I thought this was the best find of the whole weekend. The whole cast cosplay of ToraDora!

Eureka! My friend might still be obsessed with her, so I took a picture of her. I still haven't watched the show yet...

I was taking a picture of Kero-chan, honest! I don't see any half-naked mermaid in this picture...

A quick crowd picture from the escalator.

Ah and here's what my friend's group was doing for this convention. Fairy Tail cosplay. They seem to be into that series a lot. He's cosplaying as MistGun... but seriously I haven't really been reading this manga...

Kingdom Hearts cosplayers while they were posing for somebody else and I thought I'd sneak a photo in.

A female Ryuk! I'd hit i... I mean... Never mind.

One of the rarest sight at the con, Macross Frontier cosplayer. Sheryl Nome's concert outfit. Would I be too forward if I ask her to wear the secondary concert outfit? ^^;

Kureha and Seena from Shining Wind... except Kureha's orange and Seena has a long hair...

Was too far away to ask this Sailor Saturn to pose, but snuck a snap in there :)

Hikaru vs Wizard from Angelic Layer

From the Kara no Kyoukai screening. They were introducing the Japanese guests. From left to right: Keiko, Wakana & Hikaru from Kalafina, the translator, Yuki Kajiura and the producer, whose name has slipped my mind...

Finally the day ended with the premier of the 5th Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) movie. In the lineup the Aniplex staff was giving out surveys. The staff was Japanese and saw my shirt and commented on it. I thought that was cool ^^ The movie was quite confusing and I was somewhat sleepy, but I managed to understand some of what's going on. It's a good thing I already watched the first movie a few weeks ago. Makes me want to see the rest now. Shiki is the hawtness!

So that was pretty much the end of the day... Oh, I guess I went to this hentai panel for a bit. Mostly about terms in hentai and stuff, such as bukkake and panchira. The panelist didn't have paizuri though... Need to correct this exclusion :P

When I went back to the room, the bed was taken and there were a lot of people who decided to stay and drink... I was quite PO'd the fact that I don't have a bed anymore and the loudness of the room. After trying to sleep through the noise, I just gave up and put on my PSP at the loudest volume and listen to my MP3s til I fell asleep. It's also a technique to reduce my anger and as well as making me sleep.

Day 2 - Saturday, May 23rd: Saber Saturday!

After two and a half hours of sleep I just woke up and do my own thing again for the whole day, not caring anymore since I was still quite PO'd from the last night and was starting to regret coming to AB this year... I went and have breakfast and started the day early at the con. I figured I'd wear another Saber shirt for today, plus it works out well calling it Saber Saturday. A couple of people mentioned they really liked this shirt as I was walking around.

The major point of this day was the concert they're having. One was Video Game Orchestra (VGO) as a pre-show and the main show was Kalafina in concert. The VGO was almost like a smaller Video Games Live, and consisted of actual people from the local music schools. Sounds like a great exposure and experience for them. They played music from Final Fantasy, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Chocobo, Halo and the One Winged Angel. I was still in annoyed mood even as I sat there... but it was the music that they played from Chrono Trigger that almost brought me to tears and made me glad I was there for the concert.

Then the Kalafina concert started right after. I was hypnotized by their songs. I've never heard any of their songs before, but it almost sounded like something I've heard before long ago in my previous life. I can't help but buy the CD right after... and actually able to line up to get their autographs too! Definitely one of the highlights of the con. Listening to the CD right now as I type this. It's too bad that no one else didn't bother going to the concert in my room... like I care! They went to see the masquerade, which was a disaster I've heard.

First cosplayer of Saturday... and seem to be a lot of Maka and Soul Eater cosplayers these days, but this was the only Maka cosplayer I took a picture of because hers looked quite accurate.

Many Vocaloid cosplayers too! This is one of the many Rins at the con.

Kaito and Miku! Which only later that I see that her Miku isn't quite accurate...

Selphie!!! I like her pose too ^^

Fumoffu! Bonta-kun makes an appearance at AB!

The Kagamine twins, Rin and Len

The guy from No More Heroes Wii game... his name escapes me at the moment...

At the autograph session for Kalafina. I couldn't pose with them since there's a long line so I sneak in a few pics here and there.

Wakana saying, "thank you" as I took a picture of her... which is why it's blurry... Wakana is my favourite of the group... Although it looked like as if she was separate from the other two during the concert.

Epic picture is epic! I had to have a picture of C.C and the giant pizza guy!

Kiki! Kiki's Delivery Service is still one of my favourite movies to this day.

WiseFreeman at AnimeBoston??? Not really... Something that seemed to be everywhere on everyone's sign at the dealer's room.

Duke Nukem! I was just walking along and suddenly I spoke out loud that the guy heard me... so I took a picture of him anyway. And asked him when his game's coming out :P

Yay! Saber!! Ok fine... not blonde, but beggars can't be choosers. Probably the only Saber cosplayer at the whole convention... Great shiny sword. I'm thinking of cosplaying as Saber next year......... from Fate Zero.

KOS-MOS and guy with Gundam head...

The female cast of Cowboy Bebop

I didn't get to sleep on the bed again that night... I tried joining in their game they were playing at least... until 5 AM! So another 2 hours of sleep...

Day 3 - Sunday, May 24th: John Smith Makes an Appearance

I finally got to wear "My Name is John Smith" t-shirt! I've been planning to wear this shirt for AnimeBoston, but was afraid that the new episodes of Haruhi wouldn't be shown yet. However Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody finally aired in Japan by today. Although I'm sure not many know about it, but I wore it anyway. Go see the episode now and find out why I use "John Smith" :D

Not many things going on the last day... and hardly any cosplayers too. Lots of people dragging their luggages around the vendor room trying to get the best last day deal. Just before I went back to the hotel room I walked around first and said my farewell to a friend that I made last year. She makes plushies and was quite popular this year at the Artist Alley. She got lots of commissions to make more ^^ Drop by So and Sew Plushies at DeviantArt to see what I'm talking about :D I had to stop talking and get out of the way of her table so that I don't block her display ^^;

Wow this was a rare sight... Saito and Louise cosplayer!

Another rare sight: Ranka Lee. She even did her *kira* pose ^_^

Lots of cosplayers that are rare coming out on the last day. This one is a Love Me member from Skip Beat. I actually asked her about the costume and she said she purchased it.

This Prinny was quite a popular guy ^^;

Where's Waldo?

So another AnimeBoston gone into the books. I was pretty much following my own agenda this year otherwise I wouldn't be able to see what I wanted to see. I pretty much went by myself throughout the weekend. Everyone was busy at their own thing this year, so I hardly talked to some of the people that I knew from last year. I'm very sure I won't be going to AB 2010... unless I win the lottery or someone pays for my flight :P Although there were many people I didn't know this year, I did get to talk to some of them. I can't say I made new friends or not, but at least if I do go again the people that I know will be there as well.

And now for Anime Evolution 2009 in Vancouver!