A better second day, cosplay report
Wow, it's packed at the Hynes with Anime Boston in full swing. They got 11,500 people here last year and the estimates I've heard suggest they'll easily top 15,000. Given the number of people here, I wouldn't be surprised. This makes the last Macworld Expo I attended here look like a user group meeting. Which, really, is what it was.
The halls are filled with cosplayers. We've noticed a big trend this year -- there are a ton more families. From the first year we've come, we saw a lot of younger anime fans who were here with their parents in tow, but now the balance has shifted -- there are a ton of families, and many of the moms and dads are into anime, too.
I saw at least four or five Mamas (from Kodacha) -- women wearing kimono and elaborate headdresses with castles, houses, or squirrels in them. And Bonnie counted a total of fourteen Links (from the Zelda games) just last night. The lesbian Naruto brigade that I first saw last year seems to have dissipated -- Naruto is very passé this year -- but there are a ton of Final Fantasy cosplayers, the inevitable Miyazaki cosplayers (everything from Totoro -- a perennial favorite -- to Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle.
And listen, if you're a hairy, ugly man, for the love of God, don't wear kitty ears. And if you *are* going to cross-dress, at least shave well.
Finally there are the people who like to mix and match genres. Some have an Easter theme going on -- this afternoon Bonnie and I saw Chiyo's father (from Azumanga Daioh) with bunny ears and an Easter basket, along with Raptor Jesus (that's right, Jesus robes with a lizard head).
A little something for everyone.