Con Chowdah

Congratulations to the AMV Contest Winners.  Well done to all of you truly impressive entries.

Matt Uncategorized amv, event, Friday

    Countless hours of work. Hundreds of sleepless nights. Editing, re-editing, cutting, compressing, converting, and encoding. It’s enough to drive a person insane. Thankfully, there are those dedicated men and women who dedicate themselves to producing those 2-4 minute magnum opuses called anime music videos. The AMV contest has always been a crowd-pleaser and for good reason. Anyone can rip a couple clips from their favorite show and slap it together with music in a movie editor (if you don’t believe me, go search DBZ and Linkin Park on YouTube and see what comes up), but these artists slave over a computer for weeks on end to make sure the timings and effects are just right, resulting in a creative and polished product. As for the contest itself, entries are divided into five categories: Drama, Romance, Action, Comedy, and Fun/Upbeat/Other. Every year the level of quality of videos continues to rise and judging by this year’s entries, the bar has been raised yet again.

Matt Uncategorized amvs, event, Friday

      Oh my god, someone call security. Chris Ayres has got that poor kid in a headlock and is dragging him around the room. Oh wait never mind. The kid is entirely in control of what’s going on. That was just one of the techniques Chris Ayres shared with con-goers on Friday during his Mock Combat for Cosplay panel. Billed as a workshop in which you could learn to “beat the crap out of your friends safely”, con-goers learned a variety of methods to create realistic looking fights with none of the participants being in danger of injury. With this knowledge in hand, no doubt attendees with practice could choreograph a fantastic battle scene for say a skit at the Masquerade. Just not in the halls. I don’t wanna die yet. I haven’t seen Tokyo.

Matt Uncategorized cosplay, Friday, panel

     I could have danced all night and still have begged for more. I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things I’ve never done before. Eliza Dolittle aside, many a con-goer undoubtedly felt swept off their feet last night as they entered The Black Orchid Ball decked out in their finest garments. Now entering its third year, the Friday formal ball has quickly become a must attend event at Anime Boston. For three hours, couples danced the night away to waltzes, foxtrots, tangos, and rumbas with musical accompaniment provided by members of Boston’s own Video Game Orchestra. Formal dress was required and you’d never believe anime fans could clean up so well or look so sharp in tuxes and gorgeous gowns. Some of the more creative attendees even went as far as to create formal cosplay which was a sight to behold. Truly a magical evening.

Matt Uncategorized Events, Formal Ball, Friday

Attendees started lining up outside the Hynes Convention Center at 10:00 a.m. today, waiting for this moment.

Remember, to pick up your badge at con, please follow these handy tips from our Director of Registration:

Registration is located in Exhibit Hall A
Exhibit Hall A is on the first floor of the Hynes Convention center. If you are entering from the Prudential Mall, head straight down the hall and it will be on your left before you reach the escalators. If you are entering from the Boylston Street entrance, head up the escalators and walk straight down the hall. It will be on your right. Please Note: If you arrive before registration opens, you must wait by the Boylston Street entrance. No lines will be permitted by the mall entrance.

Registration Hours
Thursday, May 21 - 4pm-10pm Pre-registered members ONLY
Friday, May 22 - 8am-10pm
Saturday, May 23 - 8am-8pm
Sunday, May 24 - 8am-12noon

Pre-Registration ID Policy

In order to pick up your badge you must have a valid Photo ID. These include but are not limited to State ID, Drivers License, Passport, Liquor ID, Military ID, High School ID, College ID, Etc… If you are 12 and under, you do not need an ID but your guardian must present a valid ID to pick up their badge as well as yours. If you have any questions about this policy or are concerned you might not have the correct ID, please contact us. (PLEASE NOTE: You MUST have a Government Issued ID if you wish to attend any 18+ events)

Lines

The registration lines will be sorted into “Pre-Registration” and “At-Con Registration”. (Except on Thursday when it’s Pre-Reg Only.) These lines will be clearly labeled and there will be staff present to make sure you get in the correct line. Please note: If you tried to register for Anime Boston and failed to pay you will not be permitted in the Pre-reg line. You must pay for your registration in the at-con line. If you are unsure of your Pre-reg status, contact us and we will verify it for you. Also, If you are handicapped, please speak with one of our security staff to determine if you require assistance processing your registration.

I realize that many people are concerned about the line problem that we had last year. Let me assure you that every effort has been made to address this issue. We have contracted Expo Logic to run our on-site registration which gives us access to a professionally run database and increases our number of terminals from the 6-9 we had last year to 20 manned stations and 5 Express Pass Terminals.

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The schedule for Friday is as follows:

Main Events

10:30  - Opening Ceremonies
4:00 - Live Action Anime with MIT’s Ian Condry
7:00 - Anime Unscripted
9:00 - AMV Contest

Sheraton Grand Ballroom

1:30 - Mock Combat for Cosplay
4:00 - LadyFae’s Ballroom Class
7:00 - Black Orchid Ball, including a performance of the Video Game Orchestra
10:30 - Informal Dance

Panel A

10:00 - So you can think you can dance anime?
11:00 - Beyond Dungeons and Dragons
12:00 - Steampunk in Anime
1:00 - Learn how to: Swordsmanship
2:00 - Kalafina Guest Panel
3:00 - Aniplex
4:00 - Tom Wayland’s How to get into Voice Acting
5:00 - Anime You Should See
6:00 - Genre, Music, and Shinichiro Watanabe
7:00 - School of Zombie: Class is in Session
8:00 - Travis Willingham Guest Panel
9:00 - Got Yaoi?

Constitution Panel Room

10:30 - Living with Kami: Shinto
12:00 - Cosplay Court Case
2:00 - Funimation Sneak Peeks
3:00 - Japanese Tea Ceremony
4:00 - ADV Films
5:00 - Greg Ayres Guest Panel
6:00 - Laura Bailey Guest Panel
7:00 - Maid Cafe 101
8:00 - Akiba Empire: The Otaku Influence
9:00 - The Con Zombie Survival Guide
10:30 - 18+ Dating game

Panel 202

10:00 - Please save my Manga
11:00 - Self Publishing
12:00 - 3D Animation
1:00 - Sea and Air Pirates
2:00 - J-Rock Through the Ages
3:00 - Misako Rocks! Guest Panel
4:00 - Resin Possession: Ball Jointed Dolls
5:30 - Media Trivia Contest
6:30 - The MSA Occupies Boston
8:00 - Indie Video Games: DUX
9:00 - How to sell yourself as an artist
10:00 - Girls’ Guide to Hentai (18+)
11:00 - Dry Facts about Sake

Panel 207

10:00 - Cross Play 101
11:00 - Dubs That Time Forgot
12:00 - Cheating at Japanese
1:00 - Murder, Mystery, and Manga
2:00 - Prince of Tennis
4:00 - Cosplay Props, Flutes, & How NOT to Build a Robot
5:00 - Anime Eiga: 25 Years of Anime Feature Films
6:00 - Kawaii Culture: Cuteness in Japan
7:30 - Iron Cosplay
9:00 - Chibi Project
10:00 - Japanese Animation Hell

Workshop 311

11:00 - Character Concept
12:30 - Homemade Vacuum Forming
1:30 - Advanced Making Plushies
3:30 - Basic Making Plushies
5:30 - Cosplay: The Inside Story
7:00 - Swap Meet
9:00 - What? Why? Hentai! (18+)

Back Bay Panel Room

10:00 - Anime Jeopardy
11:00 - Foe Mag Shullbit
12:00 - Anime Musicals
2:00 - Anime Squares
3:00 - AMV 101
4:00 - AMV 201
5:30 - Identifying Bootlegs
6:00 - Death Note (live action)
8:00 - Lupin III Castle of Cagliostro
9:30 - Victorian Romance Emma
12:00 - Yaoi

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Keep updated with our at-con blog. Look forward to indepth features, schedule updates and other stories from around the Con by our intrepid news staff!

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