Anime Boston 2021

In March, Governor Charlie Baker announced a ban on all gatherings of 250 people or more in Massachusetts. Over the past several months, the state of Massachusetts has been enacting a phased re-opening. Based on this plan, Anime Boston would be part of a Phase 4 reopening. Massachusetts is currently in Phase 3. We are closely monitoring the Governor’s reopening plans. We anticipate that once Massachusetts reaches phase 4, the Governor will have a set of guidelines on how to proceed with reopening conventions. We are patiently waiting for these instructions.

UPDATE APRIL 2021:  We at Anime Boston and the New England Anime Society (NEAS) have been closely monitoring the status of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on events of our size. Although the recent developments with vaccines is fantastic news, the governor's order prohibiting larger gatherings is still in effect. With less than two months until the scheduled dates for Anime Boston 2021, it is extremely unlikely the ban will be lifted before then. As such, we unfortunately have no choice but to cancel Anime Boston 2021.

Our executive board has reviewed the possibilities of postponing the 2021 convention for later in the year or hosting an online version of Anime Boston. After careful consideration, we have decided it would not be feasible to do either at this time. We are a completely volunteer organization and all of the preparation is done on our personal time. Reorganizing the convention for later this year would be extremely difficult to achieve especially with the added uncertainty.

For our pre-registered members who had 2020 memberships transferred to 2021, by default we will be transitioning your memberships to Anime Boston 2022, set for May 27 - 29, 2022. Anime Boston is operated by the non-profit New England Anime Society (NEAS) and all revenue goes back into the operational costs of our convention and NEAS. Members who allow us to transition their membership to 2022 help us remain financially stable and cover expenses we already incurred for 2020 and 2021.

Our executive board has decided that we will continue planning for the 2021 convention, scheduled April 2nd-4th, as normal until such time that we can no longer hold the event. A virtual Anime Boston experience is not planned at this time. However, we are organizing a one day virtual event in collaboration with the Japan Society of Boston to be held on Saturday, October 24th.

We’d also like to take a moment to thank all members who rolled over their memberships to 2021. We can not express how much it has helped us manage this new environment.

We hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy. We miss you and look forward to seeing you soon.

Anime Boston is a three-day convention held annually in Boston, Massachusetts, USA under the supervision of the New England Anime Society. Our focus is to celebrate and promote Japanese animation, comics, and pop-culture.

This event has been a cornerstone of the North East Anime Convention circuit since our inaugural event in April, 2003. Following unprecedented growth, we quickly outgrew the space in the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and moved to the Hynes Convention Center in 2005. The Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston have allowed us to grow in ways we could not have imagined since the idea was first conceived.