Anime Hell is one of the few "18-plus" panels I attend annually. The no-nonsense style of Mike Toole and Mike Horne, and the simple insanity of the material presented are always too appealing to pass up. Right at the start, attendees are given the warning: "If you're here for AMV Hell, get the fuck out. If you're a weeaboo, get the fuck out!"

Every convention's Anime Hell has its own traditions, and Anime Boston is no different. The Boston flavor of Hell features prominent footage from old 3-D movies, an anime produced by cult leader Aoshin Rikio, and the 1986 box office bomb The Ninja Squad. Ninja Squad is somewhat of a love-hate affair, as it is painfully bad, but hilarious at the same time. The snappy commentary from the panelists (which included zingers like "Oh no, He's not a ninja anymore! He's just some white dude in the park!") make the conquest of Ivan the Red funny every time.

Last year's 3-D offerings were primarily some strange Indian religious feature that I really couldn't get into. This year's offerings were a bit less obtuse, and consisted of a variety of features, from an old Three Stooges episode ("Spooks!"), to footage from 1961 surrealist flick, The Mask. As a fan of surrealist film, the Mask footage was a real treat.

The last major regulars to Boston's Anime Hell are footage from Enchanted Journey, starring Orson Welles (which is accompanied by his drunken wine commercial), Story From North America, and 3D Gundam. Story From North America is a 4-minute animated musical about a father lecturing his child on the value of life. The surreal, nightmare-fueling visuals and jangly music create a hilarious juxtaposition that just works. 3D Gundam is a rather, er... "unique" take on a climactic scene in Mobile Suit Gundam. This year, the clip was followed up directly by footage from the heavily-panned G-Saviour, which Horne claimed "really wasn't that bad!"

New to this year's event were ads for Mr. Microphone, Kung-Fu Jesus, and an unusual, yet somehow hilarious bible cartoon about David and Goliath. The two hours the panel occupied seemed to fly by far too quickly, and I was still laughing my ass off as I walked back to my room, and I completely forgot that I was supposed to be disappointed for seeing Ivan the Red and 3D Gundam for the third time.

The Anime Hell folks have a solid presentation that never lets up on the hilarity. If the clips don't score huge laughs, the running commentary absolutely will.