The first thing I saw when I walked in to the Prudential Center last weekend was a Deadpool posing for cameras with a Spiderman. Behind them was a large group of gray Homestuck cosplayers sitting in a circle. Down the hall into the convention center was a a Link fromLegend of Zelda and a few other con-goers playing an impromptu jam session as attendees crowded around them taking photos and videos. The anime characters were few and far between this year, but I still got glimpses of shinigami from Bleach, and magical girls from Madoka Magica (see above).
It was all very familiar. The signs were the same as I saw every year. The panels weren’t anything new. There was the AMV contest, the Masquerade, Cosplay Chess, and hentai dubbing for those of us with more of a higher tolerance for weird fetishes and a sick sense of humor.
Everything was the same as it had been since 2009 when I started attending Anime Boston.
Even the people were the same. They never aged, they wore the same costumes, and still never bothered to bathe.
My friends and I—all in our early to late twenties—felt underwhelmed by this same stuff. People who have been going to cons for years do it to hang out with friends, play games, and drink in hotel rooms. It’s less about the event itself and more what the event produces, and that’s a social setting.
For some of us, the fact that Anime Boston remains the same age is tiresome. It’s immortally 15 and in the height of its otaku phase complete with Naruto ninja headbands and neon messenger bags with kitties on them.
Carli Velocci 