Held in the exquisite Boston Park Plaza Hotels, Anime Boston marks the first time I've gone to a convention as something other than a volunteer. This time around I was going as a representative of not one, but two respectable anime organizations. First was, of course, the Anime Academy. The second organization was the Manhattanville Anime Club (MAC). The members who attended included, MAC president Fred, Midnight Fanboy, Reiken, Alscadal, Maletype, Jules, Maria, Hime, Sedanta and myself. So, it was with this swanky crew that I experienced the mystery, magic and mayhem that was Anime Boston 2004.

Day One
Since we were all coming from Purchase, NY, the MAC crew and I awoke at 4:00 am so we could catch our Chinatown bus from New York City all the way to Boston. We arrived in Boston with as little trouble as possible at around 10:30 am. It took us a half hour to find the Park Plaza Hotel, but we got there with no problem. Everyone's limbs and sanity were still intact... for now, at least.

11:00 am we picked up our passes at preregistration on the mezzanine floor. Well, everyone except for me; I had to pick up my press pass on the fourth floor. After we had all gotten our passes the crew wandered around their own separate ways.

At around noon, we glimpsed what the lads of "Chibi Project Live!" had to offer. It's been more than a few days later and I still can't believe they flambéed a perfectly fine God Gundam model. The humanity! Of course, all this Gundam burning got us a little hungry. So at around 1:00 pm, we walked down to a swanky little place I knew from years ago called Fire and Ice. Let me tell you, if you're ever up in Boston and need some all-you-can-eat grilled food the way you want it, you really can't go wrong here.

At 2:00 PM, three of us went to the Imperial Ballroom to listen to voice-actress Lauren Goodnight speak. Now, I usually keep my nose out of the whole "dub versus sub" debate, but I'll say this: the lady has talent. She was very nice and answered every question thrown at her. A majority of which were tossed from Fred and Midnight. Nice to know that stardom hasn't gone to this person's head.

On to the "Dubs that Time Forgot" panel. This was one of the cons highlights. Clips were shown from various anime that were dubbed back from whence I was an otaku in diapers. Among the titles included Daimos, Nausicaä and Jungle Emperor Leo... or as they were called in America: Star Birds, Warriors of the Wind and Leo the Lion. After each clip, the moderator would toss out a trivia question to the audience for the chance to win a DVD. This plucky young Anime Academy Professor answered a question regarding Gaiking (old, old mecha anime) and earned the first volume of Saint Seiya. Ah, old school.

Now, the Dealers Room closed at 6:00 PM and we got there an hour before. Good news: no line. Bad news: no time. So, the three of us ran around the various booths trying to spend equal time drooling at whatever treasures sang out to us. Now, as advice from Professor to students, let me say that it is always a good idea to go to a Dealers Room with a sense of moderation and self-control...

... that being said, I bought five different manga volumes in ten minutes...

Afterwards we all went our different ways. Some went to dinner. Others went to watch some more anime. Sedanta went to a panel or two. I went over to watch Urusei Yatsura Movie II: Beautiful Dreamer and the first volume of Texhnolyze, fun stuff.

After all that we all scrunched into our little shoebox of a room and tried to get to sleep. Of course, it was rather difficult when Fred snores like a lumberjack sawing through sheet-metal. What a nice nap.

Day Two
8:00 am rolled around and I was wide-awake. I didn't have much choice since Fred kept me up with his nasal orchestra. So, I got dressed and explored the early-morning con with Midnight. It was just plain funny seeing the two of us get past a pile of sleeping people to the door.

We decided to watch Slayers Great in one of the viewing rooms. Once that was over, we went to part two of the Anime Music Video contest. Maria and Jules were waiting for us. Overall, some nice work by both amateurs and experts. Hats-off to all of them. By 10:00 am I was in the Bandai Panel. This time, Midnight and Fred joined me. Jerry Chu of Bandai provided the audience with great insight as to what was coming out and what to expect from Bandai in the near-future. There was much anticipation for Wolf's Rain and Gundam. Afterwards, Midnight and I received .hack//SIGN T-shirts from him. Grunties are cute.

An hour after eating, we made another excursion into the Dealers Room. This time, no checkbook was safe. I ended up getting an SD Zeta Gundam model for my little bro, Trunxy/Dogan (of ACMLM fame), and an Ein plushie for Hime. What can I say? It's better to give than to receive.

At around 4:00 PM we stopped in for another amusing panel, titled "Bad Anime!" This showcased clips from truly terrible anime. Fred, Jules, Maria and I saw clips from such unswanky anime like Frankenstein (yup, that Frankenstein), Dracula (and that Dracula) and Dog Soldier... it just goes downhill from there. What scares me is that one of the Anime Academy Professors might end up actually reviewing one of these anime. Absolute terror doesn't begin to describe the atrociousness of what we saw.

At 5:30 PM some of us went for dinner, others stayed behind. I found myself in the "Anime Name that Tune" panel. I can proudly say that in a moment of sheer luck and glory I was able to name an anime tune no one in the room had ever heard of. Dear reader, the name of the anime was Heavy Metal L Gaim and the song was It's Time fo L-Gaim! Do I know my mid-'80s tunes or what? Find the song if you can, it's worth the listen. Sadly, I came in right when they ran out of prizes to give.

8:00 PM came and we were all sitting in a room watching the telecast of the Cosplay Masquerade, hosted by our good friend Lauren Goodnight. It was interesting to see the level of devotion these otaku, young and old, had for their favorite anime. And there was a badger. Why there was a badger I don't know. But it was there, in all its badger glory.

Now, here came the highlight of the day. Dear student, do not think little of me for what I am about to tell you. At 11:00 PM, I, Ender, Professor of Anime Storytelling representing Anime Academy, stood on line, got into and participated in the "Hentai Dubbing EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!" It was the most shocking, disturbing, creepy, perverted and downright funniest thing I had ever seen in a long time. Talk about audience participation! The crew that I walked into the panel with should be given medals for their involvement and complete lack of morals and ethics. I have never seen an audience so united over something so... so... let's move on.

Afterwards, our merry group went to drop off Maria and Jules at the bus stop in Chinatown. They had to leave early on account of prior engagements. We were down two members of our original group. This was both sad and a godsend; more space! So at around 4:00 am after the "Samurai Fiction" viewing (a movie which I recommend to any Kurosawa fan), we all slept comfortably. Well, those that couldn't hear Fred's snoring.

We checked out at around 10:00 am, after stealing complimentary lotions and soaps. Fred, Midnight and I made our way down to the "Gundam 1979-2004" panel. It was rather disappointing, to say the least. It was stuff we already knew, the panelists weren't very open and the audience was left excluded from the bigger Gundam picture. Still, it was this group of panelists' first time doing one, so here's hoping that they learn from their mistakes and get better at it in the future. Still, they did show two episodes of Gundam Evolve, and that does constitute for something.

I had an hour to run down to the Dealers Room. It was the last day of the room and I made out like Lupin and Jing combined. Two Dragonball box sets for the price of one, an EX-S Gundam high-grade model and the second volume of "Fables", all for very swanky prices. Other treasures dug up by MAC included Maletype's Naruto manga volumes. Alscadal's Totoro plushie. Fred found his long-sought-after Slam Dunk manga. And, of course, Reiken bought a Band of the Hawk flag from Berserk. Here's hoping we'll raise that flag during our upcoming battle with the Manhattanville Chess Club.

So it was here that we boarded our bus and left on the long journey back to New York. And as I sat there, awake as ever, I thought of what everyone saw. I thought about the strange and amazing characters I met at different parts of the con. I thought of what the club back home would ask when we got back. I thought of all this and more as I closed my eyes, sat back and listened to my One Piece soundtrack, waiting for the next time I would have this much fun... until my cup of soda slipped from the bus tray and splashed over my foot.