Report and Notes

The one big thing about Anime Boston this year was the one-and-only Nobuo Uematsu, composer of music from most of the numbered Final Fantasy games. He was the reason I went, that's for sure.

Anime Boston has established itself in the Hynes Convention Center now for the last four years. The location is wonderful. It's close to public transportation, central to the New England region, and close to all kinds of food and shopping. The Hynes main entrance is actually part of the shopping center in the Prudential Mall. Like many other cons that have established themselves over the years, Anime Boston also has a fairly standard track listing with various panels and the staple masquerade, concert, dance, and so forth.

Of particular importance this year is the Hynes' location directly next to the world-famous Berklee College of Music. One of the musical clubs at Berklee is the Video Game Orchestra, which was the musical guest. In addition to many long-time fan favorites such as the Sonic Theme and the theme from Metal Gear Solid, as a tribute to the guest of honor, Uematsu, they played a lot of classic Final Fantasy themes, too. Though it was treated as a "surprise" most people expected what happened at the end. For the encore of One-Winged Angel, Uematsu himself came out to perform with the orchestra. This was by far one of the biggest highlights of the convention, next to the standing-room-only panel Uematsu held.