Our crack team of Chloe Ferguson, Erin Finnegan, and Ken Haley braved long lines and heavily armed cosplayers to bring you the scoop on the Northeast’s fastest-growing anime convention, with the 411 on major anime announcements as well as the weekend’s other events. Erin also toted her camera to the con to capture some of the craziest and most inventive costumes of the weekend. And in case you missed it, here’s our Manga Map of Boston.

Left: Kicking it old school. I love to see age-appropriate costumes! Right: Sign reads: “Save a Horse, Ride a Mustang.” Note the easter basket on the left.

Chloe’s Report

The atmosphere may have been festive, but little could be done about the gloomy undercurrents that pervaded much of Anime Boston 2008’s industry paneling. The transition from 2007 into 2008 has been a rough one for the anime sector, with perhaps the most notable sign of losses being the closure of Geneon, Dentsu’s North American arm and purveyor of a sizeable pool of titles. It’s safe to assume that most North American industry licensors have taken hits of varying sizes, although thus far, a unified plan for recovery and tackling key industry issues remains theoretical at best.

ADV’s Saturday industry panel stands out as a microcosm of the fan and industry-based concerns wracking the anime sector, which frequently resurged among a smattering of like-minded panels. Company rep David L. Williams’ first order of business seemed to be reassurance: that DVDs will continue as scheduled, that ADV is not going under, and that yes, the industry knows it’s reached a sort of death struggle with illegal digital distributors who siphon off profits. There’s no delusion here; Williams readily admitted that digital distribution is not a fast or effective enough lifeline for companies in distress, and that cable streaming of programming was no longer a viable direction for the market. When talk turned to Dentsu and potential directions for its properties, answers were vague at best, although ADV made it clear that the longer the properties spend in limbo, the lower the chances are that third parties will step in to scoop up titles.

Williams then went on to outline the general crisis at hand- that even as the number of titles released has remained consistent, sales are declining, the end result being (he surmises) a contraction on the number of licenses brought over to America in the future. When it comes to combating fansubbing, speed becomes the buzzword of the hour, with company reps each touting the need to release titles at a speed competitive with Japanese broadcasts. The limitations, however, are evident, as this would relegate most shows firmly in the realm of sub-only, thus alienating a large chunk of consumers and presenting further problems down the road. Regardless of how companies choose to approach the problem, it’s undeniable that change is on the horizon for every licensor. As Williams puts it, “these changes will happen because they have to happen. Because the industry needs them to happen.”

Erin’s Report

I arrived at Anime Boston on Saturday morning this year, and immediately noticed the drop in the average age of attendees. There were many age-apporpriate Naruto cosplay kids running around the tragically crowded registration area. Attendance had clearly increased over last year. It was certainly better attended than New York Anime Festival 2007, despite the Easter holiday weekend.

Webcomics about the registration line:

• http://daijoubu.animeblogger.net/2008/03/24/megadaijoubu-27-anime-boston-and-the-line-goes-on/
• http://daijoubu.animeblogger.net/2008/03/24/megadaijoubu-26-in-line-for-anime-boston/
• http://www.unowen.net/tegaki/dblog.php?u=8325&e=49718

Look what you missed by avoiding a huge registration line: groups of girls cosplaying as Link!

Noah witnessed a spontaneous dance-off waiting in the short pre-registration line: a Konoha-era Sasuke cosplayer faced off against a Shippuuden-era Sasuke. They were both excellent dancers, but Konoha Sasuke got served.

Video game cosplay is very popular, and this year saw a significant increase in the number of Phoenix Wrights. Many costumes incorporated a fake cake as a reference to Portal, and cries of “The cake is a lie!” echoed the halls throughout the weekend. There was no stand-out most-popular costume this year, although L and Haruhi Suzumiyas populated the crowd.

The Dealer’s Room was in a smaller space this year, and I found it a little disappointing compared to previous years. One thing that seemed new was manga dealers selling partial or complete sets of manga at a discount.

The manga dealers were flooded with copies of Haruka; Beyond the Stream of Time volume one. One dealer was selling them for $5 on Sunday. Haruka is set for a big North American debut, with a run in Shojo Beat magazine, volume one of the manga due out April 1st, and the anime series being released by Bandai Visual beginning April 22nd. Personally, I hate Haruka, (a Fushigi Yuugi rip-off with no interesting characters or plot), and I doubt it will do well in the U.S. without the support of the popular dating sim it was based on.

I got a really great recording of “Shojo Manga of the 1970’s” (check my podcast next month), learned a little about Japanese baseball, hit a well-attended panel about doujinshi, and attempted to learn the Lucky Star Dance (along with three Disney princess cosplayers).

Noah was impressed by the comedy selections at the AMV contest. Anime Boston’s AMV contest has gotten steadily better every year. I’m sorry I missed it!

Sunday was a surreal experience. A group of gothy-teens in black T-shirts and extra-belted pants also wore bunny ear headbands. Someone walked in wearing a full-body Easter Bunny suit and a red kimono before I had my coffee yet, and I knew it was time to leave.

Having missed the boat on the Hare Hare Yukai dance, I attempted to learn the Lucky Star dance at 10 AM on Sunday.

Ken’s Report

The FUNimation panel on Friday was hosted by Adam Sheenan. Early on, Sheenan plugged the digital distribution format noting that FUNimation had several series available on both Xbox Live and iTunes. He viewed the method as a gateway drug for anime. Newcomers could preview the dub of a series cheaply, then seek the full package afterwards. FUNimation is also looking into the possibility of premiering sub-only episodes of new series online via their website before giving them a physical release.

There was an obligatory FUNimation Channel plug, complete with mentioning that Black Cat recently premiered there, followed by a listing of the all the upcoming series that FUNimation will be releasing in the next few months. Among them are Shuffle, Black Blood Brothers (with episodes currently online), Aquarion (13 episode half season boxed set release), the One Piece Movie plus the FUNimation dub and cut of the 4Kids episodes in half season boxed sets, DBZ movies and season releases, Baldr Force EXE (a single disk OVA), the School Rumble OVA, Claymore, and the CGI movie, Vexille.

After running down the above-mentioned list, Sheenan opened the floor to questions. He stated that they’re interested in getting the new season of Gunslinger Girl but they haven’t acquired it yet. He also said to look for Ouran High School Host Club news this summer. When questioned about Geneon and the possibility of picking up any of their library, Sheenan stated that they’ve been looking into it but it hasn’t moved beyond that stage yet. FUNimation also has no plans to release newer episodes or seasons of Kodacha. FUNimation seems to be really keen on the idea of the the 13 episode half-season boxed sets. The Aquarion and One Piece series are being used to test the waters for this style of release and if they do well enough they may consider the possibility of skipping singles altogether in favor of half-season boxed sets. It was mentioned that they may try releasing Claymore in this format. In regards to Case Closed, FUNimation does want to release more of the series but aren’t sure how to do so at this moment. Sheenan did confirm that the series was dead to Cartoon Network, but didn’t rule out the possibility of it turning up on the FUNimation Channel at some point.

The ADV panel on Saturday was essentially a short Q&A session with ADV’s David Williams and Janice Williams. They quickly shot down the rumor that they were ever in any trouble of closing down despite the brief halt they placed on production earlier this year, and they also mentioned that they had picked up the series, Kiba, recently.

Williams was down on the concept of digital distribution as the wave of the future, maintaining that it hadn’t become easy enough for it become a major means of distribution. He also pooh-poohed the idea of Blu-Ray HD DVD’s, comparing it to the dead SVHS format saying that it would be replaced by something new soon enough. He was also down on the idea of half season sets saying that fans would still pass on them in favor of eventual release of a full season boxed set. When asked about what went down between ADV and Geneon, Williams was rather tight lipped about the situation, avoiding any specifics. He also had very little to say about ADV manga, but they did mention that new volumes of Yotsuba& and Cromartie High have just been released and that there would be more coming from that division in the future, but he wouldn’t even begin to discuss the current state of the Manga divison’s website. Williams had little to say about the new EVA movies but, after being asked about the possibility of ADV “rescuing” the original EVA movies from Manga Entertainment, he did seem rather keen on the idea of gathering all the EVA material under the ADV umbrella. A really interesting tidbit: fansubbers have legal standing to actually sue Crunchyroll. He wouldn’t go into specifics but did say that any fansubbers unhappy with what Crunchyroll is doing with their material should talk to a lawyer. And finally on a live action note, he mentioned that while he’d love to see ADV pick up the license for the earlier Gamera movies they were currently tied up elsewhere.

Left: Guitar Hero cosplayer – note the huge registration line in the background. Right: Is Ouran High School Host Club super popular or are people attracted to the simple costumes? DVDs are due out this summer.