Anime Boston review!
I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while, because I believe this Anime convention is worth the spotlight. If you couldn’t guess, Anime Boston is an Anime convention located in…well, Boston of course!
Surprisingly, I don’t hear many people talk about this convention online. Perhaps there are so many wonderful cons these days (like Holiday Matsuri) that Anime Boston gets overshadowed. But that doesn’t mean the con isn’t great. In fact, I had an awesome time when I attended the convention. I wanted to share my experience with you and what’s it like.
In this post, you will see Senpai’s Anime Boston review and what you need to know about this convention in Massachusetts. I’ll go over the pros and cons, as well as my overall grade. In general, Anime Boston is a solid convention worth attending if you live in the New York or New England area.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
What is Anime Boston?
Anime Boston is not only the largest convention in Massachusetts, the event is also one of the biggest Anime conventions in all of America. With so many attendees showing up every year, you can bet that Anime Boston is a huge event with lots of big activities and guests!
The convention usually takes place between late March or early April, which is close to the start of prime convention season. I think that is a good time to have a big convention, as a lot of them are saturated in the summer months. So it’s nice to have a major one like Anime Boston in the off-peak season.
Unlike most conventions where I just show up as an attendee, for Anime Boston I actually volunteered for the convention. Yes, me and my friend from Canada decided to sign up to volunteer at a convention in a foreign country; how crazy was that! But it was a lot of fun and I learned so much being a volunteer. In terms of Anime Boston though, I got to see a different view on things.
Anyways, let go over some of the pros of Anime Boston.
Pros
Great location and venue
Anime Boston takes place in a wonderful location for so many reasons. To start, the convention takes place in the wonderful city of Boston, Massachusetts. Such a lovely city with a lot of charm and beauty. Reminds me of San Francisco, but on the east coast and a little hilly. I love my big cities, and Boston is no exception. It’s always nice to attend a convention in a big city.
In terms of Anime Boston itself, the convention takes place at the Hynes Convention Center and the Sheraton Boston Hotel in the neighborhood of Back Bay, a really cool area of Boston. The convention center is massive inside; multiple stories, big hallways with tons of different rooms for panels and activities.
There are so many restaurants in the vicinity (Cheesecake Factory my favorite!). On top of that, you have the Prudential Center, which is a nice big mall that’s connected to the Hynes Convention Center. When you’re attending Anime Boston, you’re right in the middle of the action in the city! That also means things will be expensive (more on that in the Cons section), but convenience and amenities are top notch at Anime Boston.
A variety of things to do.
Much like any big Anime convention that’s been around for this long, Anime Boston has a variety of programming and activities. You’ll find all sorts of guests that show up for Anime Boston. And of course, you’ll have your usual fare of things to do at the convention such as panels, the Masquerade, and concerts.
But what really was intriguing to me was the number of big companies at the convention. Companies such as Crunchyroll were present.
Well organized.
Anime Boston has a great reputation for good reasons. Because I also volunteered for the convention, I got to see both sides of the “floor,” and wow what a perspective I got! This convention is run by really smart and well-managed staff and they absolutely know what they’re doing. It was completely organized with everything run so smoothly.
I’ve been to a lot of conventions and I can see sometimes when things go wrong or disorganized. But man, Anime Boston is nothing like that. As a volunteer, I was simply amazed how their system worked. I helped out with so many things at the convention such as setting up rooms, sorting program guidebooks, delivering food to guests, watching over an area, etc. It was truly a fun experience that I’ll never forget!
I think the only time things got chaotic was when the lineup for the convention got too long and we did our best to organize the crowd. Fortunately, we got things under control.
Alright, let’s go over some of the cons with Anime Boston…
Cons
Very expensive hotels
Because Anime Boston is definitely one of the biggest Anime conventions in the U.S. AND being located in a prime area of the city, that means the costs for everything will be more expensive. By far the biggest expense is the hotels. As of 2024, the official hotels for Anime Boston will cost you over $200-300 USD a night (for us Canadians, that’s like over $400 CAD a night). That is insanely expensive.
So if you plan on staying in the nearby vicinity of Anime Boston, then you should definitely save up. But if you don’t have the money to afford a hotel in the area, you can always take public transit to/from the con. As mentioned previously, the convention is located right along the streetcar subway station.
Nothing stands out?
If you’re a local who lives in the Boston area, then you can ignore this point. But as someone who travels a lot and goes to different conventions, I always look for events that are different. So I suppose you could say there isn’t much that stands out for Anime Boston. I don’t really hear about the convention online or from my friends like other cons you would hear about.
For some conventions, they have features that make them stand out. Whether it’s a beautiful gazebo inside the convention (e.g. MAGFest) or being located in a unique venue (e.g. YetiCon), there is always that convention that stands out from the rest. But I would say Anime Boston isn’t that type of convention. So if you are someone that wants to travel to an out-of-state Anime convention, then Anime Boston probably won’t give you a lot of reason to do so.
Overall
Even though there isn’t a unique feature for Anime Boston, the convention is incredibly solid and well-run. In my opinion, Anime Boston is best for attendees who live in the local area or only a few hours from Massachusetts. If I lived in New York or in England, I would absolutely go to Anime Boston all the time! It’s a great convention that’s been around for so long. I’m just glad I got to experience it once as a volunteer AND attendee. I want to do that again in the future at some point.
Grade: 8.5/10
My name is Roger Senpai. I’m a cosplayer that’s been in the community for well over a decade now. I’ve traveled all over the world to Anime and Comic conventions and hosted my own cosplay events. Now I’m writing articles for new and experienced cosplayers like you to help inspire, save you money and improve your cosplays!
