The Land of Obscusion: Home of the Obscure & Forgotten: Anime Boston 2022 as a "Featured Panelist" & My "11 Best Obscure Anime You Don't Know!"

With the pandemic still not technically over yet, despite things generally rolling into becoming more of an endemic, I try to keep things to a minimum when it comes to attending a big gathering, like an anime convention. So, like how last year I only physically attended Otakon, this year my only con is the one I just returned from, Anime Boston. However, while I have attended the con before in 2013 & 2014, this third time around had extra meaning to it, as I was actually invited over to it as a "Featured Panelist". In other words, all I had to really pay for was my own travel expenses (in this case going to Boston by train), and in return I was asked to present 5 different panels, plus I was invited to be a part of the "Featured Panelist Roundtable" panel on the first day, which I accepted.

So, how were things?

To be honest, it really wasn't all that different from my usual time attending a con, except for the fact that I didn't have to book a hotel myself, I didn't have to deal with the registration process, & I had five different panels to get ready for the con (plus one more that I was simply a part of), which is definitely a new record for me. Aside from one little hiccup early on, the Anime Boston staff & Tech crew were very polite & helpful, even teaching me at least one thing that I'll definitely be doing from now on, and I had a great time overall. The con required all attendees to prove that they were up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccinations & masks were to be worn at all times when at the con itself, and while that won't mean that absolutely no one will contract the coronavirus (since Boston's a big city, & attendees definitely went other places, when not at the con itself), it will ideally reduce the viral footprint immensely, which I certainly appreciated.

As for me as a panelist, I produced five panels: Gundoh Musashi, The Disaster Anime, which was all about that anime that I absolutely adore to hate & had a mostly-full room of attendees that had a great time, complete with tidbits of info from that legendary Game Lab interview; Hareluya II BØY, Hidive's Secret Streaming Gem, which only got a literal handful or so of attendees but was my chance to promote a show I love that even Hidive itself didn't bother to bring up during its own panel at the con (& the rep didn't even seem to know what it was when I asked about it); Idea Factory, The Ed Wood of Anime, where I went over the rocky (to put it lightly) run of anime that Idea Factory self-produced from 1998 to 2005; Saint Seiya's Masami Kurumada, The Man Who Defined Shonen Action, a very self-explanatory panel which actually managed to get between 10-20 attendees who stayed all throughout & seemed to absolutely love it (which I'll totally credit my lucky Dunkin' Donuts receipt for); &, most importantly for this recap, The Land of Obscusion's 11 Best Obscure Anime You Don't Know!.

Curious about what titles I featured in that last one? Then just read on!

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