Anime Boston

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Anime Boston
Location Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
Years in existence 2003 to present
Attendance 9,354 people as of Anime Boston 2006
List of events Video rooms, anime music video contest, masquerade, dance, dealers' room, panels, workshops, video game room, art room, artists' alley, concert, manga library, karaoke, RPG gaming, CCG gaming, LARP, and charity auction
Official Website
Cosplayers at Anime Boston 2004
Enlarge
Cosplayers at Anime Boston 2004
The Anime Boston mascots pose with the 2006 chairman (Patrick D.)
Enlarge
The Anime Boston mascots pose with the 2006 chairman (Patrick D.)

Anime Boston 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, RPGs, 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.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Initial Planning

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, Derek Guder and Tiffani Nadeau joined the team and the first real plans started to come together. Adam proceeded to get The New England Anime Society incorporated.

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 seeing as how 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.

[edit] Anime Boston 2003

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.

[edit] Anime Boston 2004

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:

[edit] Anime Boston 2005

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 Japanese 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:

[edit] Anime Boston 2006

Anime Boston 2006 was held from May 26-28, 2006 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.

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 2006 convention.

Anime Boston 2006 continued to grow, with 4,631 pre-registered attendees. The convention featured the only performance of Kaiju Big Battel at an anime convention.

This year's charity raffle and charity auction, for the benefit of the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, raised a total of $10,000. Among the items auctioned off was a lifetime membership to Anime Boston which sold for $825.

The anime music video contest flurished at Anime Boston 2006. Its awards included several judges awards, best drama, best action, best of show, best romance, and best comedy. Anime such as Chrono Crusade, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and Princess Tutu won the awards.

At Closing Ceremonies, the Convention Chairman, Patrick Delahanty, announced that he will step down as Chairman in order to work on other projects. He also stated that Anime Boston 2006 had a total attendance of 9,354, the largest number of attendants to date. At the Con Feedback panel shortly after the Closing Ceremonies, he predicted that at the current rate of growth, Anime Boston 2007 may have at least 12,000 attendees.

The guests of honor at Anime Boston 2006 were:

[edit] Anime Boston 2007

Anime Boston 2007 will be held from April 20-22, 2007 at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. It is Anime Boston's fifth year.

The 2007 convention will occupy the entire second and third floor of the Hynes Convention Center as well as some function rooms at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. It will not use any first floor space in the Hynes.

In November 2006, Anime Boston announced that the convention will hold a Cherry Blossom Ball. It will be a formal dance event in which attendees must dress in formal attire to attend. Tuxedos and ball gowns are strongly encouraged. Some people will likely wear formal Japanese attire while others are modifying their cosplay costumes to be a bit more formal.

Guests of honor have yet to be announced.

[edit] External links

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