Anime Boston

Anime Boston
Status	Active
Venue	Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel
Location(s)	Boston, Massachusetts
Country	United States
Inaugurated	2003
Attendance	26,475 in 2015
Organized by	New England Anime Society
Website
http://www.animeboston.com/

Anime Boston is an annual three-day anime fan convention held in the spring in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The convention is the 6th largest North American anime convention as of 2015.^[1] Anime Boston was created and is run by the New England Anime Society, Inc., a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization.^[2]

Programming

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, RPGs, and a LARP.^[3]

History

Cosplayers at Anime Boston 2004

The first Anime Boston was held in 2003 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, as was the 2004 convention.^[4] By Anime Boston 2005, the convention had moved to the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel. Since then, the convention has continued to be held at the convention center and adjoining hotels with attendance seeing steady growth to 14,339 people (or 35,224 turnstile) in 2008. That year also saw Japanese rock stars The Pillows finish up the east coast leg of their American tour at Anime Boston. In 2009, the convention saw the attendance rise to over 15,000 people for the first time, and the attendees who got tickets at the convention for the concert got to see Kalafina for their first-ever North American performance.^[5] Attendance jumped again to over 17,000 attendants in 2010. Nobuo Uematsu made an appearance at the convention, with the Video Game Orchestra, a Boston-based 90-piece orchestra that performs video game music with an orchestra, choir, and rock band.

In 2011, The Boston Phoenix selected Anime Boston as the city's "Best Nerd Gathering", beating out contenders such as New England Comic Con and PAX East.^[6] The convention won the award again in 2012.^[7] In 2012, Anime Boston celebrated its tenth year.^[8] In addition to its events, a museum of the convention's history was displayed; photographs and memorabilia from each of the past years created the museum's exhibits. Held on the same weekend as Easter, its attendance reached a total of over 20,000 attendees.^[9] An attendance cap was announced for weekend memberships for the 2015 convention due to overcrowding concerns, despite this AB plans on being at the Hynes Convention Center through 2020.^[10]

Event history

Dates	Location	Atten.	Guests
April 18–20, 2003	Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers Boston, Massachusetts	4,110	John Barrett, Steve Bennett, Chris Beveridge, Jerry Chu, Tristen Citrine, Ted Cole, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Tiffany Grant, Mark Hildreth, Hiroki Kanno, Mark C. MacKinnon, Jamie McGonnigal, Scott McNeil, Kirby Morrow, Kristen Nelson, Lorraine Savage, Brad Swaile, and David L. Williams.[11]
April 9–11, 2004	Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers Boston, Massachusetts	3,656	Michael Coleman, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Crispin Freeman, Lauren Goodnight, Hilary Haag, Carl Gustav Horn, Lex Lang, Monica Rial, David L. Williams, and Dave Wittenberg.[12]
April 29 – May 1, 2005	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	7,500	Greg Ayres, Johnny Yong Bosch, Tim Buckley, Svetlana Chmakova, Emily DeJesus, Mohammad "Hawk" Haque, Dan Hess, Melissa Fahn, Yoko Ishida, David Kaye, Dave Lister, Cynthia Martinez, Scott McNeil, Daisuke Moriyama, Ananth Panagariya, Chris Patton, Monica Rial, Brianne Siddall, Michael "Mookie" Terracciano, and Dave Wittenberg.[13]
May 26–28, 2006	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	9,354	Greg Ayres, Christopher Bevins, Steve Blum, Svetlana Chmakova, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Richard Epcar, Shuzilow.HA, Clarine Harp, Mohammad "Hawk" Haque, Jonathan Klein, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Vic Mignogna, Ananth Panagariya, Carrie Savage, Sumi Shimamoto, Mike Sinterniklaas, Michael "Mookie" Terracciano, Kari Wahlgren, Tom Wayland, and David L. Williams.[14]
April 20–22, 2007	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	11,500	Greg Ayres, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Christopher Bevins, Luci Christian, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Robert DeJesus, Emily DeJesus, Yasuhiro Imagawa, Hiroshi Iwata, Bettina M. Kurkoski, Mike McFarland, Grant Moran, Junji Nishimura, Brina Palencia, Mike Sinterniklaas, Kenji Terada, Tom Wayland, David L. Williams, and Travis Willingham.[15]
March 21–23, 2008	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	14,339	Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Aaron Dismuke, Todd Haberkorn, Luv and Response, MC Frontalot, The Pillows, Monica Rial, Mike Sinterniklaas, Brad Swaile, Tokyo Pinsalocks, Tom Wayland, and David L. Williams.[16]
May 22–24, 2009	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	15,438	Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Bespa Kumamero, Video Game Orchestra, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Yuki Kajiura, Kalafina, Misako Rocks!, Veronica Taylor, Tom Wayland, David L. Williams, and Travis Willingham[17]
April 2–4, 2010	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	17,236	Nobuo Uematsu, MyM, Carli Mosier, Christopher Ayres, Chris Smith, Clarine Harp, Greg Ayres, J. Michael Tatum, Josh Grelle, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Tom Wayland, Video Game Orchestra, Reni Mimura[18]
April 22–24, 2011	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts[19]	19,136	Mari Iijima, Girugamesh, STEREOPONY, Brina Palencia, Greg Ayres, Christopher Ayres, J. Michael Tatum, Richard Epcar, Sean Schemmel, Spike Spencer, Trina Nishimura, Tom Wayland, MC Frontalot[20]
April 6–8, 2012	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	22,065	Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres, Caitlin Glass, Kanako Ito, Shotaro Kaizuka, MINT, Haruko Momoi, Carli Mosier, Tsutomu Narita, Takamasa Sakurai, Keith Silverstein, Michael Sinterniklaas, Chris Smith, Karen Strassman, Dethklan, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Kirk Thornton, Tom Wayland[21]
May 24–26, 2013	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts[22]	21,825	Christopher Ayres, Greg Ayres, Zach Bolton, Christopher Bevins, IBI, Tomohiko Ito, Shinichiro Kashiwada, Yasuhiro Koshi, Lauren Landa, Cherami Leigh, David Matranga, ORIGA, Bryce Papenbrook, Raj Ramayya, Dethklan, Monica Rial, Rachel Robinson, Stephanie Sheh, Micah Solusod, Yousei Teikoku, Kari Wahlgren, Shinichi Watanabe,[23] Tom Wayland
March 21–23, 2014	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts[24]	24,798	Yuu Asakawa, Greg Ayres, Linda Ballantyne, Josh Grelle, Kyle Hebert, Wendee Lee, Toby Proctor, JAM Project, Mike McFarland, Matthew Mercer, Dethklan, Yuko Minaguchi, Trina Nishimura, Dai Satō, Patrick Seitz, John Stocker, Cristina Vee, Tom Wayland
April 3–5, 2015	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts[25]	26,475	Greg Ayres, Christine Marie Cabanos, Richard Epcar, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Lauren Landa, Cherami Leigh, LiSA, Manami Matsumae, Mona Marshall, Cassandra Morris, Haruo Nakajima, Yoko Shimomura, Michael Sinterniklaas, Ellyn Stern, Akira Takarada, Koki Uchiyama, Tom Wayland (Cancelled)[26]
March 25–27, 2016[27]	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	26,975	Yukiko Aikei, ALI PROJECT, Greg Ayers, Toshio Furukawa, Todd Haberkorn, Kyohei Ishiguro, Shino Kakinuma, Carrie Keranen, Erica Lindbeck, Masao Maruyama, Max Mittelman, Tony Oliver, Monica Rial, Nano Ripe, Patrick Seitz, Eric Vale, Hiromi Wakabayashi
March 31 - April 2, 2017[28]	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	TBA	TBA
March 30 - April 1, 2018[29]	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	TBA	TBA
April 19-21, 2019[30]	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	TBA	TBA
April 10-12, 2020[31]	Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts	TBA	TBA

Mascots

The Mascots for Anime Boston are A-chan and B-kun. A-chan has long blue hair and she typically wears a dress. B-kun has orange hair and red eyes. Their outfits often change to match the convention's theme for the year.

See also

• New England Anime Society
• List of anime conventions

References

1. Delahanty, Patrick (January 4, 2016). "Ten Largest North American Anime Conventions of 2015". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
2. "New England Anime Society announces Anime Boston 2003" (Press release). The New England Anime Society, Inc. 2002-01-07. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
3. "History of Anime Boston". Anime Boston. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
4. "Cartoon festival lures animated crowd". www.boston.com. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
5. "Interview with Kalafina". j-popworld.com. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
6. "Best Nerd Gathering: Anime Boston". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
7. "Best Nerd Gathering: Anime Boston". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
8. "10 years of anime Boston". tech.mit.edu. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
9. "Anime Boston PAX East bring big bucks to the hub". www.metro.us/boston1. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
10. "Registration Cap". www.animeboston.com. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
11. "Anime Boston 2003 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
12. "Anime Boston 2004 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
13. "Anime Boston 2005 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
14. "Anime Boston 2006 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
15. "Anime Boston 2007 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
16. "Anime Boston 2008 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
17. "Anime Boston 2009 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
18. "Anime Boston 2010 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
19. "What’s Up This Weekend: April 22-24". boston.cbslocal.com. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
20. "Anime Boston 2011 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
21. "Anime Boston 2012 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
22. "Anime Boston 2013 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
23. "Excel Saga Director Shinichi Watanabe to Appear at Anime Boston". Anime News Network. 2013-04-09. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
24. "Anime Boston 2014 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
25. "Anime Boston 2015 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
26. "Tom Wayland will not be able to attend Anime Boston 2015". www.animeboston.com. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
27. "Anime Boston 2016 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-04-06.
28. "Anime Boston 2017 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
29. "Anime Boston 2018 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
30. "Anime Boston 2019 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
31. "Anime Boston 2020 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.

External links

• Official Anime Boston web site
• Official New England Anime Society web site, Anime Boston's parent organization