With each passing year, preparing for a con grows easier. Hindsight, lists, and experience have all become valuable tools as I get everything ready to go. However, regardless of how many lists, plans, and good intentions are made, I find it impossible to escape the last-minute rush. Even now, the thoughts race through my frantic mind as the clock relentlessly ticks.

Tick, tock...

The seeds of doubt begin to sprout. "Shit, do I really have everything?" is the first and foremost thought, as the list is pored over and re-checked several times over. The bag is unpacked, re-packed, and the list is checked off again.

Tick, tock...

The panic sets in, as forgotten items begin to arise. "Oh crap - I forgot to buy batteries, tapes, and an audio patch cable!" A hurried trip to Target takes priority, as the last items are catalogued, and final stocking begins.

Tick, tock...

Finally, at around 8:30, it's done. The bags are packed, the prizes are sorted, the batteries are charged, and the electronics are packed. Things begin to look better. Calm begins to set in, as it finally looks like this could be pulled off with some form of success. Final print-outs are made, and want for a decent night's sleep begin to take hold.

Tick, tock...

As midnight approaches, sleep finds itself hiding. Instead, planning, worrying, and mental preparations begin to form. Event schedules and building layouts, strategies and commitments take the forefront. "What if"s, and "How can I"s are common, and second guesses are the norm. Come tomorrow, I'll be on my way to the event, and all these concerns will have melted away. Instead, my focus will have shifted to delivering the greatest convention coverage I possibly can.

The convention atmosphere is something I've come to crave in recent years. There's something incredible, even magical about these gatherings that simply brings out the best in people. Anime Boston, though, it's different for me. Since 2003, I've come to refer to the convention as a "home away from home", a place where I can turn for fond memories and incredible experiences.

This weekend, I hope that you, dear reader, will join me as I try to deliver an unmatched experience, convention coverage that is of both quality and quantity.

For those that missed the convention or just want a brief recap of the event, I took the liberty of producing a brief travelogue for each day. Please enjoy the presentation, as I give a brief run-through the major events of the first day of Anime Boston 2011.

The convention began on a strong note, as a brief stage show featuring convention mascots A-chan ang B-kun kicked things off. Afterwards, Andrea Finnin and Victor Leem the convention chair and vice chair, took the stage, and performed the traditional welcoming to the event. The two highlighted the more somber events of the past year, including the passing of Satoshi Kon, Osamu Dezaki, Carl Macek, and Peter Fernandez, as well as the recent disaster that rocked Japan. The pair noted that they would be accepting cash and blood donations to aid Japan, and proceeded to introduce the event's guests.

As with previous years, they welcomed each guest to the stage, all of whom had warm words for the guests and the convention itself. As always, Tom Wayland delivered his own pre-recorded message to attendees, which included a degree of warm-hearted ribbing toward the Boston Red Sox. As he took the stage, he was met with the now-requisite boos and jeers, as he delivered his words to the audience. Wayland was followed by Stereopony, Girugamesh, and Mari Iijima, the former of whom delivered a pre-written statement (read from a sheet of notebook paper, no less).

After the guest introductions, another video was delivered, this time featuring the convention mascots again. The annual cosplot was finally revealed, as A-chan and B-kun, nay, "Tom Wayland and the Waylands" challenged Tom Wayland to a Rock Band competition. Wayland gladly accepted, after a bit of comedy courtesy of his son, and made his way offstage.

To close the ceremony, the con chair offered a stern warning to have fun, but to be good, damn it.

Every year, Mania's Chris Beveridge hosts a panel at the convention that is unlike most others. Beveridge does not keep a set format. There is no specific topic, and no particular focus. Instead, it's a straight-up question-and-answer panel, in which everything is fair game. Those who ask a question are free to pick a prize from the massive pile of DVDs that he brings to the event. Bad questions are given a booby prize, in the form of horrible hentai titles or, in the case of the worst question, a copy of Night Shift Nurses. Night Shift Nurses had not found a home in the first three years Beveridge offered it, though this year it finally found a new owner. God rest that poor bastard's soul. This year, I donated Disgaea: The Complete Collection from Anime Dream's own reviewable titles locker.

As with every year, the topics of conversation were varied and ranged from Beveridge's favorite titles, to frank industry discussions. Particularly interesting tidbits from the 90-minute panel included the following:

• A "high performing" title in this day and age tends to sell 2,000 units.
• While dubs have come down in price, the lower general sales ensure that many companies do not dub their titles. FUNimation is the major exception due to the fact that they do a lot of work in-house, and they have an on-demand television network.
• The industry, both in Japan and America has been searching and hunting for another show like Pokemon, to help spur new fans again.
• Poor management was a major contributor to TOKYOPOP's closing
• Japan's involvement in the Region 1 market is a consequence of risk management and cost analysis. Japanese distributors can make more money by selling directly, than they can by licensing certain titles.
• Kodansha's take-over of Del Rey's titles will have little impact on the industry at large, as they are maintaining many members of Del Rey's former staff, and continuing with their formatting. Because of their involvement in the market over the years, it is not foreseen that they will "take their ball and go home" like Toei or Bandai Visual.
• Beveridge still considers Spirited Away the worst anime title in memory, as it put him straight to sleep.

The conversation was littered with fun facts and a surprisingly fun sense of humor from Beveridge and the audience. At times, it felt that 90 minutes seemed almost too short for this candid conversation, as there were many topics that seemed to be begging for further discussion.

ANN's Michael Toole opened the panel with a brief tribute to the late Osamu Dezaki. For this, he broke his long-standing policy of never showing a title more than once in the panel, and presented segments from a dubbed adaptation of Space Adventure COBRA, Dezaki's first work. Unlike his original presentation of the feature, which was a Streamline dub for America, Toole opted to show a rare, UK-exclusive dub of the film.

After his brief tribute to the late director, Toole declared that this incarnation of the panel would continue with a tribute to mermaids. In particular, he opted to show scenes from Rumiko Takahashi's Mermaid Forest, Mermaid's Scar, and The Little Mermaid. Both Mermaid's Forest and Mermaid's Scar were dubbed by Viz, though The Little Mermaid's dub producer wasn't specified.

The panel was rounded out with presentations of two Urban Vision dubs: Wild 7, a police OVA that revolves around a crew of rough-around-the-edges motorcycle cops who are above the law, and DNA Sights: A Leiji Matsumoto film that packed in every Matsumoto trope one can think of, including Captain Harlock, and still managed to suck. The panel closed off with a segment from Hakushin Daimao's 1994 UK dub, which ran on television under the title Bob in a Bottle.

The dubs, as one would expect, were comically terrible, with bad acting, badly paraphrased scripts, or worse. The absurdity of each was pushed even further, as Toole offered his own commentary for each of the dubs. As one would expect, he didn't hold back on the signature snark, or the tongue-in-cheek jokes as each clip rolled. Toole's encyclopedic knowledge of each dub, including the rarity, availaility, and release of each dub was particularly impressive, and offered something to those who may have been rolling their eyes at some of the titles.

Anime Unscripted is one of the mainstays of Anime Boston. The event, which is headed by AnimeCons.com's Patrick Delahanty and Chibi Project regular Jekka Cormier, is the con's own version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, with Patrick and Jekka playing the hosts, and four guests taking the roles of the improv stars. This year, Brina Palencia, Chris Ayres, J Michael Tatum, and Sean Schemmel took the center stage and ran through the event's main segments. The four displayed an impressive improv chops, as they tackled the subjects thrown at them. The event was filled with crass humor and stupid jokes, but it was undeniably fun. While it was difficult to determine an outright "best" segment, the strongest were unedeniably the Dating Game, The Balcony, and Newscasters.

The Dating Game, which is a parody of the game show of the same name, kicked off the show and quickly spiraled to levels of insanity. Palencia served as the "lucky bachelorette" as she questioned each of the eligible bachelors. This year, the roles of the potential suitors were filled as follows:

• Sean Schemmel: Charlie Sheen
• J. Michael Tatum: Stuck in his One Piece Role (Lord Eneru)
• Chris Ayres: Homeless Man Looking For a Job

Sean Schemmel played his given role of an over-the-top Charlie Sheen figure to a T, as he busted out insults and wisecracks at a mile a minute. Both Ayres's presentation as a homeless person looking for work, and J. Michael Tatum's schtick as a man stuck in his One Piece role served were both amusing, but seemed to be more present as roles for Schemmel to play off of through the sketch. Tatum's role as Lord Eneru was particularly fun to watch, and seemed to relish belting out one-liners like "I would fill [my enemy] with lightning!" Ayres seemed to have fun with his role, though his performance didn't stand out as much as the other two members.

Newscasters, which placed Schemmel in the role of the straight-man anchorperson. The other three members were placed into the following roles:

• Brina Palencia: Co-anchor; Puritan that believes a cast member is a witch
• J. Michael Tatum: Sports; Auditioning for Dancing with the Stars
• Chris Ayres: Weather; Fighting off a zombie invasion

Palencia stole the event, as she continued to belt out superstitious rants and accusations. Her blaming of violence in the Middle East on "magical witch powers" and telling viewers to adopt puppies or they'd be sacrificed were brilliantly timed, and prompted a surprisingly pointed portrayal from Schemmel. The two worked wonderfully together, as jabs were fired between them, and Schemmel portrayed an excellent straight man going into a nervous breakdown. Ayres provided fun backup, as his panicked portrayal grew increasingly dark, and included lines like "it's gonna be raining blood!", and the ever-relevant "this is my BOOMSTICK!" In comparison, Tatum's more low-key act seemed to be a bit of a disappointment, as he drifted and danced (literally) through his schtick.

The final major highlight, The Balcony, placed Palencia and Ayres in the roles of two movie critics, who tell the style and plot of a nonexistent popular flick. Tatum and Schemmel were tasked with the duty of bringing this false film to life, as the panel progressed. What began as a musical murder mystery, moved to being a tragic masculine romance, littered with duets. Of course, this wasn't all: the "film" was apparently a remake of a Swedish original, which was also acted out by Tatum and Schemmel.

Not every sketch was a hit. In particular, the "Professor Know It All" segment, in which Palencia, Ayres, and Tatum played the role of a "three-headed professor", fell flat on many of the jokes, and a number of comedic moments just felt wasted. The questions had tons of potential for humorous outcomes, but it just seems like the three didn't capitalize on them. The superheroes event had a similar problem, in the sense that a lot of comedic potential was squandered with fairly lame jokes that felt forced.

Aside from a few "non-starters" in the lineup, this year's Anime Unscripted was another roaring success. Hopefully, the event can be refined further for next year's event, and the events that didn't work this year can be reworked, or trimmed for a more consistent experience.