Convention Coverage

Anime Boston 2012 – Sentai vs. Superheroes


For the record: The formal title of this panel was “From East To West: the Superheroes of Japan and America.”

The Superheroes panel returned for a second straight year. Since Ken Haley was sick with the flu, a few changes needed to be made to the panelist lineup for the event. Colin Jansen filled in for the role of Ken. and brought his own expertise to the discussion.

Much like last year, we traced the history of Japanese Sentai shows and western superhero comics, from the pre-war days to the present. With a year under our belts, we had comments and criticisms to work from as well as a good understanding of how the content was supposed to flow, and what needed to be tuned up. We went above and beyond, looking for new facts and topics to add, from Astro Boy predecessor Tank Takuro to Go Nagai’s non-mecha contributions to anime.

And then there’s the bad jokes. Lots of very, very bad jokes. Still, the panel as a whole was a far tighter experience than what we presented in our inaugural year. The topics were placed more logically, our overall content covered a wider range, and we managed to prevent the once-prevalent problem of dead air.

Anyway, I hope that you do enjoy this year’s presentation. It was a ton of fun to work with Sam again, and to present with Colin. It certainly was a pleasure, and I do hope that the panel runs again next year.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqN4wmxsgg’]

About the author

Samantha Ferreira

Samantha Ferreira is Anime Herald’s founder and editor-in-chief. A Rhode Island native, Samantha has been an anime fan since 1992, and an active member of the anime press since 2002, when she began working as a reviewer for Anime Dream. She launched Anime Herald in 2010, and continues to oversee its operations to this day. Outside of journalism, Samantha actively studies the history of the North American anime fandom and industry, with a particular focus on the 2000s anime boom and bust. She’s a huge fan of all things Sakura Wars, and maintains series fansite Combat Revue Review when she has free time available. When not in the Anime Herald Discord, Samantha can typically be found on Bluesky.

Anime Herald

Support Anime Herald

Anime Herald is brought to you through our Patrons and Ko-fi supporters. Consider backing us for as little as $1 a month to help us keep the site ad-free and pay a fair rate to our writers.

Patrons and backers can access several benefits, including Early Article Access, our members-only Discord, and the ability to suggest articles for our team to write on your behalf.



Latest Posts

Columns

The Evolution of Abridged Anime Part 4 – No Screwing The Rules

Fears about legal ramifications were fairly common in the world of comedic anime fandubs, despite some arguing they might be protected under parody laws. Philip Sral of Sherbert Productions shared a story of how three fans caused a large amount of stress while trying to get a copy of one of their works by pretending […]

By Borealis Capps