I arrived at the Hynes at about 8:30 a.m. for the start of Day Two of Anime Boston 2011. Unfortunately due to an error I only blame myself for I came in thinking that the next event on my planner, the Anime Music Video contest, was at nine, only to find that it was actually at ten. I killed some time wandering around and checking out the cosplayers. I've started to notice that I've seen a lot of these costumes from last year. Maybe the economy's to blame, or perhaps they worked so hard on the costumes that wearing it only once wasn't enough to merit their craftsmanship. After a few minutes of walking around aimlessly I sat myself down in line to check out the AMV show.
With a mere five-minute wait in the pre-registration line I was given access to Anime Boston 2011. As soon as I walked in the insanity didn't just walk into me, it punched me square in the jaw. Cosplayers, steampunk, random dancing and the nonstop Marco Polo filled the air, hallways and panel rooms as the annual crazy otaku weekend began at the Hynes Convention Center. And the day hadn't even started.
Be on the lookout for any horrible musicians who slur their lyrics! They might get undeserved critical praise.
Yet again I stumbled upon another great Bostonian with a lot of talent. Meet Mat the Wad by Matthew Ducharme, a little cartoon series of different scenarios that is deals with the daily life of us all.
After watching four episodes of the new anime comedy Beelzebub, I keep finding myself asking the same three questions about this show: Why is the premise done to death, why do I keep watching, and would someone put a freaking diaper on that baby?!
The Bastards are quite joyful this week, and it has nothing to do with the holidays. (That episode's in two weeks.)
Is The World God Only Knows pro-dating sim or anti-dating sim? On one side of the argument the anime's geeky protagonist has been chosen by some high-powered deity to save the world from runaway demonic spirits. The other side of the argument, however, has the protagonist using what he only knows from dating games; sometimes resulting in more harm than good. Nevertheless the series -- known in Japan as Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (神のみぞ知るセカイ) -- manages to give its viewers a nice dose of entertainment that's nothing short of funny.
When it comes to the portrayal of anime fans in the entertainment world, there's not much to find. Yes, there are snippets here and there in The Big Bang Theory, and there was that one episode of 30 Rock where James Franco was in love with an anime body pillow, but in the long run there hasn't been a single show that focused directly on people who liked Japanese animation. Fortunately Goldie Chan wants to change that with her new web show Otaku: The Series.