I turned up early Friday morning in the hopes of hitting the Dealers Room before any of the panels got rolling. Sadly, it wasn’t opening until noon, so I ended up wandering the halls until it was time for the “Please Save My Manga” panel, hosted by Manga Recon’s own Erin Finnegan, Chloe Ferguson, Sam Kusek and Melinda Beasi! After the obligatory introductions they jumped right into the meat of the discussion: obscure, canceled, endangered, out of print, and erratic manga series. Each member of the panel highlighted several series and we were given a sampling of titles ranging from Golgo 13 to What’s Michael?, Basara to Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and Suppli to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. After the initial presentation was done they took questions and comments from the audience, the most notable of which led to a discussion about the possibility of out of print series receiving some form of digital distribution, thus eliminating the cost of printing, shipping and the like.

From there I made my way to the “Steampunk in Anime and Japanese Pop Culture” panel. It was hosted by the Penny Dreadfuls, a group of Steampunk enthusiasts in full Steampunk garb. It kicked off introductions and a basic overview of the concept of Steampunk, the idea of futuristic technology being developed during a vaguely 19th century setting using the technology that was available at the time. Think flying ships powered by steam. They talked about several anime, manga and video game series that have Steampunk elements or visuals is them, ranging from the obvious Steam Boy and Steam Detectives, to Last Exile, Wild Arms and even Fullmetal Alchemist. Slowly, the panel moved away from Steampunk in anime and began to focus on the idea of Steampunk itself. The discussion touched upon the fact that Steampunk, as a subculture and musical scene, is still in its defining days.

It was mostly a Q&A session with several of the Penny Dreadfuls wandering the hall with mics in hand to allow audience members questions to be heard. For a while the talk focused on personal experiences within the scene, the DIY nature of it and more. Finally, talk wound back to Japanese pop culture and the group noted that while Steampunk was a Western creation, the most striking images of it in mass media come from Japan. It was postulated that Japan having the industrial revolution forced upon them could explain their fondness for the era’s technology, and it was noted that examples of modern technology destroying their traditional culture turn up fairly frequently. It was a fun panel, despite some microphone problems early on. I hope the group returns next year and brings some more visual aids with them. I think the panel would have benefited from some clips, stills and the like depicting Steampunk visual motifs in anime and manga.

From there I was off to find the Constitution Ballroom where the “Funimation Previews” panel was being held. This is the first year that Anime Boston has held events within the Sheraton and, sadly, I had no idea how to get to the ballroom. Despite some wandering I still managed to get there in time, though. The “Funimation Previews” panel was hosted by Adam Sheehan and it essentially consisted of trailers for several of their upcoming releases. They ran dub clips for D Gray-man, Kenichi, Heroic Age, Murder Princess and Romeo x Juliet. Out of everything that was previewed Heroic Age really jumped out at me. It’s a space opera involving various warring groups, an ancient prophecy, and what sounded like a fantastic musical score. Romeo x Juliet was another pleasant surprise, as well.

I’m not a big Romeo and Juliet fan to begin with, but Sheehan did the hard sell for this series and talked at length about the time and effort that was put into the English dub to make sure that the lip flaps matched the original dialogue and the Shakespearean lines as well. I have to admit, the two clips definitely looked fantastic in that regard. It’s essentially Romeo and Juliet in the future, with flying horses and Romeo as Zorro. The entire series will be available in two boxed sets, so buying it shouldn’t completely break anyone’s bank.

After a short coffee break it was time for the ADV panel. Once again the panel was hosted by David and Janice Williams and they had… nothing to say really. There were absolutely no announcements, no trailers, no previews of upcoming releases that have already been announced. Nada. It was simply a Q&A in which they wouldn’t talk about licensing new series and generally sidestepped anything involving the financial health of ADV, citing that they weren’t qualified to comment on it.

Still, there were a few interesting tidbits that came out, but nothing that speaks for the direction of ADV as a whole. David still seems a bit reluctant to go with Blu-Ray, claiming that it’s still to early to tell if it was really the next step in home entertainment or if it was just another blip. He talked a little bit about ADV’s relationship with Sentai Works, trying to clear up any confusion regarding the two and attempting to make it clear that they are not one and the same. David Williams also seemed a bit reluctant to jump into the digital distribution model. He’s happy with the progress it’s made in the last year, but he thinks that it needs be simplified and streamlined even further before being a significant revenue stream. One audience member brought up the recent online poll by Funimation which asked fans what they’d like to see licensed next, and whether or not ADV would do something similar. David and Janice both responded that ADV had no plans to do so at the moment, and then launched into some interesting discussion about how they do their own personal market research. They pay close attention to the buying habits of fans at cons, lurk around online forums to see what’s being discussed, and even mentioned that cosplay can be a good indicator of what’s hot with the fans, citing the huge amount of Bleach cosplay seen before the anime was licensed or released in the US. They also related some amusing tales of shadowing shoppers at Best Buy and silently urging them to pick up ADV titles. The panel essentially wrapped up with mention of the lack of “A” titles coming form Japan in recent years, and the possible impact that online pirating has on DVD sales. While they admitted that it does have an effect, neither seemed willing to commit to how much of an effect it did have.

It was a rather odd panel and while I tried to mention most of the questions that stood out, there was also an odd spate of bizarre and almost rude questions as well. Several folks asked how they felt about Funimation being the number one anime company in the US, how they felt about losing titles to Funimation last year, and such. At one point someone even asked if they thought that the anime industry bubble was similar to that of the US comics bubble in the ’90s. Odd stuff.

From there I scampered off to catch the last bit of the “Anime You Should See” panel, hosted by Rym, Scotty and Anime World Order’s Daryl Surat. I had high expectations for this panel, but it came off as a lengthy “recommended watching” list with commentary form the three hosts. Following that I ran down to the food court and bought the most expensive two slices of pizza ever from Pizzeria Regina (roughly $8 with a small drink) before hurrying back to the Dealers Hall only to find that it was closed! Whoops!

I was hoping to catch “Anime Hell” and had several hours left to burn, so I wandered up to the third floor and caught the “School of Zombie: Class is in Session” panel. I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly interested in this originally and if the Dealers Room had been open I probably would have wasted time there, but am I glad it wasn’t.

For all intents and purposes “School of Zombie: Class is in Session” was The Zombie Survival Guide: The Panel, and despite what you might be thinking, it worked and worked wonderfully. Hosted by Instructor Nikki, TA Nick and Assistant TA Mel, the panel covered everything you could possibly need to know about surviving a zombie outbreak and then some. The talk covered subjects as varied at weapons, base of operations, and zombie types ranging from the shambling dead to the Marvel Zombies. It was a heavily interactive panel, with the hosts fielding questions between the different topics. These ranged from the logical to the weird. Tanks as the ultimate anti-zombie transport? At first, but they’re slow and unless you can maintain one you’re essentially canned food. Procreation during a zombie outbreak? Yes, babies make great bait! What’s the best way to prepare zombie meat? There isn’t one, you’re dumb and dead.

The snarkiness and deadpan way in which the hosts handled such questions added to the hilarity of it all. Throughout the talk they also offered up the occasional pop quiz, including identifying the zombie from the human, the survivalist from the food and more. Towards the end they had a quick contest to demonstrate one’s ability to blend in with a zombie horde, ala. Shaun of the Dead. Ultimately came down to a brain eating contest between A Guy in a White Shirt and Jesus. Hilarity ensued. It was a really fun and entertaining panel and kudos to the hosts for putting it together. They even went the extra mile and printed up fliers with suggested reading/watching lists. I’ve got to say, that after attending this panel I now feel confident in my ability to survive a zombie outbreak! And in the end, isn’t that the true measure of a panel’s worth? I think it is.

Afterwards I hurried off to the “Anime Hell” panel, hosted by Daryl Surat and Mike Toole. “Anime Hell” is one of those things that you really have to experience for yourself; I’m not sure that any attempt to summarize it would do it justice. Essentially it was a mishmash of various live-action and animated shows and shorts, cut up and slapped together in a hilarious fashion. They ranged from weird toons such as “D.O.G. O.B.G.Y.N.”, to live-action bits culled from what appeared to be a video about safety in an industrial workplace, and an anime created by the AUM cultists. They were even some 3D bits from a Bollywood film. Highly entertaining, but alas I was bound by the train and forced to leave before the end.