Boskone 41 Anime Review
Boskone is one of the oldest science fiction conventions around, and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. There's an anime room running, as well as anime-friendly panel topics.
Boskone is a family tradition for us and many of our friends go as well. It's a very friendly, conveniently arranged festival. Everything is on one of two floors that are right on top of each other. The art area is large and in the same large room as the dealer's area, so you can wander back and forth with ease.
The panels are mostly about sci fi topics but also branch into areas that anime fans enjoy. One was on comic sales being down, although comic-based movies are on the rise and doing very well.
There's also an attached food court area complete with full scale restaurants, which is VERY nice when February in Boston gets frigidly cold.
But the focus for anime fans was, of course, the anime room. Friday ran from 5pm-12mid, Saturday from 10am-12mid, and Sunday from 10am-3:30pm. The room had a reasonably large screen, speakers in the four corners (which led to cool stereo effects on some movies) and ample seating. The program consisted mostly of full length features with two 'runs of episodes' thrown in. One run was Idol 1-4, on Friday night. The other was Harlock Saga 1-6, on Saturday.
Movies they showed were Samurai X, Cowboy Bebop, Sakura Wars, You are Under Arrest, and the like. Most anime fans have probably seen many of these, but might catch one or two new ones.
We had a few complaints about the anime room layout. Where other anime festivals had a divided seating arrangement so you could go down the center or sides, this one had long rows meaning people had to walk down rows (often in front of people) to get to a seat. Also, they left the anime door open all the time - and the hallway outside was one of the main hallways between areas. So there was the constant babble of people wandering past. To make things worse, people would hang outside the anime room, sort of watch the anime from the hallway and then talk about other topics. So to really hear anything you had to sit near the front and hope for quiet.
Other that, it was fun and the audience really enjoyed the anime selections. Having the food court right there really meant you could watch anime all morning, grab a delicious lunch, go back until dinner, get a great dinner, then watch anime until midnight.
Rates are reasonable - $50 for the entire weekend or less if it's just a day. They take credit cards, even at the door, which makes it quite convenient. Well recommended if you're in the New England area!
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