Anime Boston 2025 (and a little reflection)
Taking some time to reflect on my latest anime con, Anime Boston. Anime Boston is my "home" con. I've been going since 2012 when a college friend introduced me to it, and I've been hooked ever since. I've been cosplaying since 2013 once I realized how many people go in cosplay and thought, whoa I'd like to do that too. I always tried to go for the whole weekend if I can - some years, I may have had to go for only one day especially during my college years. In 2024, we literally just flew back from Japan Friday night and with that traveler's high of "I still haven't had enough of Japan/Japanese culture" we pulled together enough sanity and energy to attend that Saturday. We definitely were knocked out by Sunday though once jet lag caught up, but it was still fun even for the one day.
Anime Boston used to be the only con my husband and I would go to. It was convenient, and we didn't need to worry about booking a hotel or arranging travel. It was always fun, but I did sometimes envy how my other friends somehow had cosplay friends. How did one make friends at a con if you're always busy bustling around in artist's alley or rushing to a panel or getting something to eat before you call it for the night? It didn't help that I wasn't always into the newest anime or seemingly popular fandoms, so at times it did feel a little lonely trying to find something with more connection to the things I really, really loved.
In 2023, I noticed there was an Ace Attorney meetup, which I was very excited for since it was one of the few things I was still into from my childhood and The Great Ace Attorney had released globally the year before, making this the perfect opportunity for me to 1) finally cosplay as an Ace Attorney character, and 2) meet with fellow local fans. It was probably one of the first times I felt like I actually was social at an anime con, and I'm so glad I made quite a few friends at this meetup. I felt motivated to travel to an out-of-state con for once. That same year, we decided to go to Anime NYC, where we met up with an AB friend. 2023 was definitely a turning point where we felt like we're becoming part of the cosplay community and the fandoms we enjoyed.
Earlier this year, we went to Katsucon, which was a first time for us. It's certainly a different vibe and venue compared to AB, but still very exciting and enjoyable. Coming back to AB still feels like "home" - which of course it does, because we've been going for over 10 years and know the place very well. I was so excited to know that we had an Arknights meetup (for the first time to my knowledge) and as it turned out, there was an Arknights stamp rally in the artist's alley. I definitely went overboard on buying practically any Arknights merch that I found, but it's warm and comforting to know that my (current) favorite game has passionate fans and talented artists. Perhaps in the past, aside from Pokemon, I didn't find many of my favorites in artist's alley or rather I didn't have quite the budget and had to be very selective. This year though, I feel very satisfied and pleased. It was a good year to be an Arknights fan in Boston, in my opinion. We also happened to run into a not-insignificant number of people we knew, including people I've met in 2015! I also sat in the karaoke room and watched the closing ceremonies for the first time. It was nice to see a culmination of the AMV winners, and in a way, it kind of felt like a culmination of my experiences of Anime Boston in general.
There's more I could probably say for how I feel regarding the future of AB, and what cons I'd like to see next, but for now I'll end it here that all in all, it felt pretty nice.
Addendum: actually I did forget to mention that lately I've been bringing plushies as props with great success. This year in particular, I wanted to bring my Clodsire plushie as I'm so fond of him and wanted him to explore. While I didn't have a complete Rika cosplay, quite a few people commented how they liked him even if they were not familiar with Pokemon. I also quickly made him his own badge that says "Baby's 1st Con" which earned a few "awww's" when people saw it. I was pretty proud of my last minute project, maybe in a parent-like way, heh.