I skipped last year because I didn’t feel like it. This year I think I’m going only because I wanted to see nano.RIPE. Why didn’t I want to see LiSA last year, or want enough of it to overcome various issues, I don’t know. She’s great in the flesh, don’t skip a chance to see her if you come across one.
Some interesting tidbits about AB2016 if you do go.
There’s this giant CR tie-in at the con where you can get “verified” as a CR premium member. This lets you get perks such as early entry to the dealer room, discount at their booth, set-apart seating at their panels, and other minor things. The first thing interesting about it is that this is happening at all for the first time. Previously CR has sponsored various things at various cons but not to this degree. The second thing is that these perks apply to all Premium members, and not just Premium+. Which is weird, because the + tier seems to confer mainly these kinds of benefit over the plain Premium tier.
The second note is that Anime Boston takes place at the same time as Anime Japan. This means it would be hard to rep some new anime with guests because the same guys are in Anime Japan. Nonetheless there’s Trigger’s Wakabayashi, traveling to American cons again. He brings with him a Kiznaiver premiere and a Luluco panel. Both are exciting little things, but it seems the Kiznaiver premiere at 5:30am will include with a live stream, probably at Anime Japan on Sunday. Yes, 5:30am, you got that right. They will broadcast (world premiere) of the first 2 episodes for us, then do a streaming thing with Japanese staff/cast.
The Kiznaiver Anime Japan stage is from 9:20am to 10:00am Sunday JST, or 8:20pm to 9pm Eastern on Saturday. What will Hibiku and Kaji-kun do on 6:30pm on a “workday”? Guess we will find out. The live stream panel is based on the private screening in Japan here.
Oh that’s right, I spent all weekend watching streams from Anime Japan last year, instead of going to Anime Boston. You know, staying up all night watching namas from Anime Japan suddenly doesn’t sound like such a bad way to spend a night at the con. So far the PonyCan streams look most promising, plus for people into NasuFate/Whatev-verse, there’s a nama with some big names that will most definitely announce something. Oh, there’s that Haikyuu nama…and B-Project. Help yourselves.
Industry miracle worker Maruyama will also be at Boston. The Shirobako caricature will probably have something to share about Yuri On Ice, which is possibly the best anime title I’ve seen in a long time. That show will get its first real preview at Anime Japan as well.
Other than that, the JP guest contingency for GOH is made up of two couples. One set of animators thanks to Aniplex to rep Your Lie in April, and one set of voice actors (Furukawa, Kakinuma). I think these folks are great so you should all go see them. And the aforementioned Wakabayashi and Maruyama too.
I don’t have a lot to add for nano.RIPE or ALI Project, other than the usual music promoter types (JHouseRock) are going to run the show. There may or may not be a photo op, there may or may not be a sign session after the concert, but it’s a good bet you should bring money to buy merch. I’m just torn if it would be okay to get my Million Live stuff signed, since they did pen at least 3 songs and played in them…Â Arikaneesama is going to be an interesting sight. I’m bringing just a couple bags of UO. Will really come down to what nano.RIPEÂ play. Given we have an hour or so per guest, a best-of anison list will mean UO every song…
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