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Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston<br>Boston, Massachusetts
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2003 to present
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7,500 people as of Anime Boston 2005
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Video rooms, anime music video contest, masquerade, dance, dealer's room, panels, workshops, video game room, art room, artist's alley, concert, manga library, karaoke, RPG gaming, CCG gaming, LARP, and charity auction
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http://wwwanimebostoncom
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is an annual three-day
Anime Fan Convention held in the spring in
Boston, Massachusetts . The convention features a number of events which include a
Masquerade , an
Anime Music Video contest, video programming rooms, an artists' alley and art show,
Karaoke , game shows,
Video Games ,
RPG s, and a
LARP . Anime Boston was created and is run by the
New England Anime Society , Inc., a
Massachusetts -based
Non-profit Organization .
Attendees of Anime Boston see hundreds of
Cosplay participants. People who are not attending the convention who walk by its location are often left very confused about why people are dressed in costumes.
The first plans for Anime Boston came along in
October 2001 . At that time, there was a clear need for some sort of anime event in the Boston area, but nobody had taken the initiative to hold one. There had been a couple small conventions in
New England , but anime fans still had to travel to
Maryland to find a
Fan Convention with more than a few hundred people.
Adam Ferraro and
Patrick Delahanty started working together to gather a team to make it happen in
The Hub .
A couple weeks later, over the Double Cheeseburger Special at
Charlie's Kitchen in
Harvard Square ,
Derek Guder and
Tiffani Nadeau joined the team and the first real plans started to come together. Once Adam proceeded toward getting
The New England Anime Society incorporated, we all knew for certain that this was going to become a reality and there was no turning back.
Other than being anime fans, the other thing that most of the convention's founders had in common was that they were all longtime readers of
Anime On DVD . The founders wanted to maintain a good working relationship with the popular anime web site and even turned to its members when it needed to choose a name. Although the board had narrowed it down to two, there was debate over which of those two to choose. The question was presented to members of the
Anime On DVD forums and the better choice became clear: Anime Boston.
After touring four Boston-area hotels in
December 2001 , the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel won the bid. They not only offered the lowest room rate for attendees, but they were familiar with fan conventions from hosting
Arisia for several years. Anime Boston estimated a "worst case scenario" of 600 attendees for its first year. This was nearly double the number of attendees at
Mikkakan in
June 2001 , a record for
New England at the time. Even if the high estimate of 1000 people showed up, they would still easily fit in the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel ...afterall,
Arisia has been there for several years with an attendance of around 2,500.
Working with
Anime On DVD , interest in Anime Boston began growing quickly. Large or nearby anime conventions were peppered with Anime Boston 2003 flyers, program guide ad swaps were arranged, and booth space was reserved at
Otakon 2002. By the fall of 2002, Anime Boston was coming along nicely and the pre-registration numbers had surpassed
Mikkakan 's attendance. Talking with other anime conventions, Anime Boston's senior staff based the new attendance estimates on the advice from other conventions' years of experience. At this point, it was estimated that Anime Boston would have maybe 1,000 to 2,000 attendees by the time the convention came around in April.
In late 2002,
The New England Anime Society needed to consider booking space for Anime Boston 2004. Figuring that For Anime Boston 2003 would have maybe 2,000 people at most and knowing that the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel could hold more than that, a contract was signed to hold Anime Boston at the hotel for a second year.
When pre-registration for Anime Boston 2003 finally closed, there were 1,384 pre-registrants. No anime convention had ever had that kind of response in their first year. When the staff arrived at the hotel, they found thousands more wanting to attend the convention that weekend.
Anime Boston 2003 ran from April 18-20, 2003 at the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts . 4,110 people attended, setting records as
New England 's largest anime convention as well as the largest first-year anime convention ever held. (The previous record of 330 people was held by
Mikkakan .) The Boston
Fire Marshal showed up three times and threatened to shut the convention down due to overcrowding. At around 11:00 am on Saturday, April 19th, Anime Boston started turning away anyone who hadn't pre-registered in advance.
There were 14 vendors at the convention, 25 artists' alley spaces, 60 panels and workshops, and 200 hours of video programming. The
Anime Music Video contest had 51 entries and 29 finalists.
The guests of honor at Anime Boston 2003 were:
Anime Boston 2003 is the first and only anime convention to feature the voice actors for all five main characters from the anime series
Gundam Wing (Cole, Hildreth, McNeil, Morrow, and Swaile) at the same time.
Anime Boston 2004 was once again held April 9th through 11th at the
Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers in
Boston, Massachusetts . The convention also expanded into "The Castle", a former armory, across the street. Due to overcrowding issues at 2003's convention, there was a strict attendance cap enforced. As a result, Anime Boston 2004 was sold out in February 2004. The total attendance was 3,656 people.
There were 28 vendors at the convention, 34 artists' alley spaces, 95 panels and workshops, and over 230 hours of video programming. The
Anime Music Video contest had 53 entries and 32 finalists. $1,968 was raised through bids at the charity auction for the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society .
The guests of honor at Anime Boston 2004 were:
In
2005 , Anime Boston moved to the
Hynes Convention Center . With this move, previous attendance caps were abandoned and 4,125 people (more than had attended either of the previous Anime Boston conventions) pre-registered to attend. By the end of the weekend, approximately 7,500 people (with about 7,000 paid attendees) had come to Anime Boston, making it the largest
Japan ese
Animation convention in the
Northeast and one of the largest in
North America .
There were 56 vendors at the convention, 52 artists' alley spaces, 87 panels and workshops, and over 132.5 hours of video programming. The
Anime Music Video contest had 89 entries and 30 finalists. Over $3,000 was raised through bids at the charity auction for the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society .
The guests of honor at Anime Boston 2005 were:
Anime Boston 2006 will be held from May 26-28, 2006 at the
Hynes Convention Center and
Sheraton Boston Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts .
Pre-registration for 2006 went online on July 28, 2005 at 6:15pm EDT.
In
September 2005 , Anime Boston began to publish a
Podcast to present audio recordings from guest panels from previous years as well as promotional material for the upcoming convention.
On
March 27 , 2006, Anime Boston announced that
Kaiju Big Battel will be performing a full show at the convention on Friday,
May 26 . There will be no additional cost to registered members to see the show.
The guests of honor at Anime Boston 2006 are:
Anime Boston 2007 will be held from April 20-22, 2007 at the
Hynes Convention Center and
Sheraton Boston Hotel in
Boston, Massachusetts . Expect no further details until after Anime Boston 2006.
