Anime Boston
Encyclopedia
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
fan convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
held in the spring in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The convention features a number of events which include a masquerade
Masquerade ball
A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask. - History :...
, an anime music video
Anime music video
An anime music video is a music video consisting of clips from one or more animations set to an audio track ; the term usually refers to fan-made unofficial videos. An AMV can also be a set of video game footage put together with music which is known as a GMV...
contest, video programming rooms, an artists' alley and art show, karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
, game shows, video games, RPGs, and a LARP. Anime Boston was created and is run by the New England Anime Society
New England Anime Society
The New England Anime Society, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based 501 non-profit organization dedicated to furthering American understanding of Japanese language and culture through written and visual media. Founded in 2001, The New England Anime Society, Inc...
, Inc., a Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
-based non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
.
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 EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, but anime fans still had to travel to Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
to find a fan convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
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.
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
Arisia
Arisia is a Boston-area science fiction convention, named for a planet in the Lensman novels by E. E. "Doc" Smith. The name was chosen as an homage to an older Boston-area con, Boskone, which took the typical ending for a convention—con—and then altered the spelling to match the name of an...
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, an anime convention in New Hampshire in June 2001 which set a record attendance for New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
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 AnimeOnDVD, 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
Otakon
Otakon is a fan convention in the United States focusing on East Asian popular culture and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku...
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 for a total attendance of 4,110 people.
Anime Boston 2004 was the only time in the convention's history when the attendance dropped. This was due to a self-imposed attendance cap put in place to avoid the overcrowding issues of the previous year.
By Anime Boston 2005, the convention had moved to the Hynes Convention Center
Hynes Convention Center
The John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center located in Boston was built in 1988 from a design by architects Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood. It replaced a previous building, also a convention center, regarded as "ungainly." The 1988 design "attempted to relate in scale and materials to its...
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
The Pillows
The Pillows are a Japanese rock band. The group has released more than a dozen original studio albums, along with several EPs, singles and compilations...
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 also got to see Kalafina
Kalafina
Kalafina is a Japanese band formed by composer Yuki Kajiura in 2007, mainly to perform theme songs for the anime Kara no Kyōkai. The band debuted in January 2008 with two original members from Yuki Kajiura's FictionJunction project, Wakana Ōtaki and Keiko Kubota...
for their first-ever North American performance. Attendance jumped again to over 17,000 attendants in 2010, and Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
made a greatly anticipated appearance at the convention, entering in a surprise appearance with the Video Game Orchestra
Video Game Orchestra
Video Game Orchestra is an orchestra that performs contemporary arrangements of video game music with an orchestra, choir, and rock band. The orchestra consists of the regional and international award-winning musicians from over 20 countries...
, 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.
Event history
| Dates | Location | Atten. | Guests |
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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.External links
- Official Anime Boston web site
- Official New England Anime Society web site, Anime Boston's parent organization