The Anime Boston 2025 Experience

By J.D. Kelly

Thursday - May 22, 2025

It’s 6 AM in Boston and my plane out of California has just touched down. I text my family to let them know I’ve made it safely and then, text the friend with whom I’ll be staying for this trip so he can come and pick me up. Generally, I have trouble sleeping on planes but my seat is the window one so I could kind of rest my head for a bit of the six-hour flight. I’m still really tired but I’ll at least be able to stay awake until my friend arrives. 

I make my way off the plane and out of the airport towards the parking garage and it’s then that I realize I’ve made a big mistake. My friend had told me that it was going to be “warm” (or at least what passes for warm in Boston) this weekend so I decided to leave my jacket at home. Turns out, the weather suddenly took a turn for the colder so I’m waiting in this parking doing my best not to shiver for about 30 minutes. I get into his car as quickly as possible and we set off back to his apartment.

A few missed exits and turns mean that this trip takes longer than expected but my friend and I take our time chatting about life, anime and the convention. When we finally make it to his place, I eat a quick bowl of cereal and lie down in the guest room for what I think will be a quick nap.

Five hours later, roughly 1 PM, I wake up from that quick nap. I take a quick shower before heading to the convention center to pick up my badge. Apparently, the sudden cold weather means the heating is still off in his building and that means it takes forever for the water in the shower to heat up. I do my best to use the cold water but I breathe a sigh of relief as it finally gets hot. I wash up quickly and change into a fresh set of clothes. I wait around a bit just to make sure I don’t get to the con center too early and finally, I walk to the train station. I pick up my pass I’ll be using for my time in Boston and after encountering a few issues trying to use it to get on the train, I finally make my way to the convention center.

About 30 minutes later, I arrive at the Hynes Convention Center, home of Anime Boston and head to badge pickup in the connected hotel. It’s early enough that lines are short, but I’m a bit unclear on what I need to do to pick up my press badge and check in for my panel as well. My panel isn’t until Saturday so I’m only worried about the press badge right now. I ask some staff members at the front and it takes them a few minutes to confirm that I just need to go to the Customer Service section to get my badge printed. I get that done and head back to the train station. On my way, I think I spot another friend of mine waiting for a table at The Cheesecake Factory, but I decide not to check. I don’t want to bother her if it is her and I’ve got plans to eat with my friend anyway. 

I take the train back to my friend’s place. We grab some food from a joint near his place and after eating it, I convince him to help me run a test round of my panel. If you’ve seen any of our Anime Connect streams, you have an idea of how stumped he is. Luckily, he helps me catch some of my mistakes and misspellings so I’m able to correct those right away.

Later, I head off to bed early. I’m still kind of tired from my flight and I want to get up early to be at the con just as its starting. Getting to sleep the first night is hard. The thin blanket isn’t enough for the cold so I have to grab some from the closet and the pillows are uncomfortably soft for me. But, it’s a friend’s place I’m staying at for free so I’m not going to complain.

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Friday – May 23, 2025

I wake up around 6:30 AM. I shower and change before heading out. My friend has work today so he won’t be joining me at Anime Boston. He’s not even awake by the time I leave.

I arrive at the con center around 8 AM and pick up what I am led to believe is the traditional Bostonian breakfast: Dunkin. I get one Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a croissant and then, start asking around about where I have to go to check in for my panel. It’s not until the next day, but I like to be prepared.

I ask at the information desk near registration and they tell me to go to another info desk on the second floor of the Sheraton. As I’m heading up the stairs, I pass my friend Ian, and another one who just got married, heading down the stairs. I say a quick hi and congratulations respectively, but going in different directions leaves little time for talk.

I find the info desk at the top of the stairs but no one is there. After standing around for a bit, another member of staff tells me it won’t be open for a bit so I just wait around until two staff members finally show up. Luckily, they are able to get me the info I need quickly and now I can finally head into the con.

Opening Ceremonies

After getting through security, I finally make it into the con and head to Opening Ceremonies. As always, it’s a fun little introduction to the guests and some of the events that are going on this weekend. The guest I’m most excited for is Yuriko Yamaguchi, the voice of Nico Robin in One Piece. Like the other guests, she has a little reel of clips of her work from her different roles. The clip for One Piece is Robin’s iconic “I want to live!” scene from the Enies Lobby arc. It’s been years since I saw it but that scene still nearly brough me to tears. I had hoped to get her autograph this weekend but I guess I wasn’t lucky enough to win the drawing for the opportunity. Next time.

At some point during the ceremonies, I get a text from my friends Nick and Ben that they’re at Cosplay Bingo so I head over there to meet them. The panel doesn’t look too eventful and wraps up not long after I arrive.

It's now roughly 11:30 and my schedule is looking kind of full for the rest of the day so I decide now is probably the only time I’m going to have to get lunch. I say bye to my friends promising to meet them at the next panel and exit the con center. I head to the nearby food court to old reliable Anna’s Taqueria. With a burrito and a Coke, I’m good for the rest con that day. Somewhere in all of this, I also check in for my panel. I’m a day early but the staff there say it’s okay.

Um, Actually

I’m so used to running that at other conventions (and occasionally on stream) that actually getting the opportunity to play it is a rare treat for me. I arrived early enough that I’m there for when the host goes out to pick out the first group of contestants. I volunteer and get chosen. I head inside early and let the friends I’m supposed to meet up with that I’m already inside the room.

As we wait for the game to begin, all the contestants talk to each other about our experience with the game. It seems most of us have seen some form of the game online. I chat with the host about how I run this at other cons and had submitted it for Anime Boston as well. 

After about 15 minutes, the game starts. I get the first point and am mostly able to keep up even as question about shows I don’t really know pop up. I’m able to steal the Dragon Ball Z question when I realize the first time we see Trunks go Super Saiyan, it’s not the young version but his older self from the alternate future. One of the Shiny Rounds is identifying whether a show was a manga or an anime first and I manage to tie for first with three other contestants.

It’s a pretty close game as we go into the final Shiny Question. It asks us to order a set of characters from Sailor Moon based on how far the celestial body they represent is from the Sun. I’m apparently the only one who has seen enough to be able to recognize all the Sailor Guardians so that’s a big help as now, I only need to put them in planetary order plus Moon between Venus and Mars and Pluto at the end. With that, I win the game and get $60 in gift cards and a figure of Itsuki Nakano from The Quintessential Quintuplets. 

I head back into the audience where my friends Nick and Ben are waiting. They congratulate me on my performance and we stick around to watch the second round. Honestly, I think I could have done better in that round. It feels like there are more shows I know in that one. This was a great time overall. I hope I can see more of it in the future.

Beyond Gundam: The Amazing Yoshiyuki Tomino

This started almost immediately after Um, Actually so I missed the first few minutes of this one. I only know of Tomino from Gundam and the occasional joking reference to Ideon so getting to see his work on other series like The Wings of Rean and Brain Powered was very interesting. I think the panelists had some interesting insights into how he tends to follow up his much darker works with lighter, comedic works similarly to how Zeta Gundam was followed up by ZZ (Double Zeta). We also got to see how he his work can get pretty bonkers when he doesn’t seem to have anyone reining him in. Great panel. Sadly, I couldn’t get a photo from the start of the power so instead, here’s a picture of some cosplayers I thought looked cool. 

2.5-Dimensional Seduction Dub Special Screening

DISCLAIMER: After this event, I was interviewed by a team from HiDive about my thoughts on the dub. I don’t know if they have used or will use any of it but those were my honest thoughts. I received no compensation from them and they have not seen this article before posting.

If you read my coverage of Anime Expo last year, you’ll know that I was excited for 2.5-Dimensional Seduction after seeing the premiere. I kept watching the show through the end of last year and really enjoyed it. It was a serious contender for Anime of the Year so I was really excited to see the dub. I thought this was a premiere but it turns out that the first episodes of the dub are already available online.

After watching the first two episodes at Anime Boston, I can say that I think it’s a solid dub. I think the actors and the scripts are able to capture the kind of madcap energy of the series which is one of the things that endeared me to the series in the first place. I think the pronunciation of Ririsa’s name feels a bit too unnatural and stiff but it doesn’t really detract from anything. If you’re a fan of cosplay and/or the sort of lewd, kind of romantic comedy of fools, I think you’ll like this in English or Japanese.

Anime Squares

Based on the Hollywood Squares, this game was a chaotic time. My friends Nick and Ben both got called up to be on the board. There were lots of interesting questions and there were also a lot of questions about the currencies from anime series like Fairy Tail, Spy x Family, Hunter x Hunter and Fullmetal Alchemist. Those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. The board members were a mixed bag. The Cruella de Vil who got called up at the end was the best. She did her best to answer in character and was super entertaining when giving answers. Others were serviceable but it was generally easy to tell when they had no idea what they were talking about. The panel needs some work but if the host is running it again next year, I’ll definitely check it out.

Anime Jeopardy!

Did I mention I like game shows?  This one was chaotic. 

There were a lot of technical difficulties. Piece of advice to potential panelists: Always make sure that your panel can work offline and as many aspects as possible are stored locally. 

The questions were interesting and even audience members who got questions correct got prizes. I was able to recognize Soichiro Yagami from Death Note and won a One Piece TCG card. It was still a kind of fun panel but not one I think I’d attend again unless than panelists greatly improved their processes.

Who Wants to Be an Animillionaire?

Behind maybe Um, Actually, this is probably the best run game show I attended at Anime Boston. It follows the classic format of Millionaire with a few of the extra flourishes including Jump the Question and an additional Wild Card lifeline if contestants make it past the $32,000 mark. 

Sadly, not many of the contestants make it that far. One of the last contestants make it to the half-million mark but miss it. I don’t think the questions were that difficult but I’ve been doing stuff like this for the better part of a decade so I have a large collection of random trivia and an above average guessing ability. I think of all the questions asked, I only wouldn’t have been able to answer or at least correctly guess one or two. I don’t get called up so I recognize that’s the comments of an observer with no stakes in it. Maybe next time I can become an animillionaire.

At this point, it’s getting late. There are other things I want to go to. Nick and Ben tell me the Taskmaster panel is great but I have my panel and an interview panel the next day so I head back to my friend’s place and go to sleep.

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Saturday – May 24, 2025

My friend joins me today. He has the day off from work so we head out at about the same and I grab breakfast at Dunkin while he grabs his badge. He and I have different things we want to do but after we get inside, we part ways with him saying he’ll be back to watch and possibly help out at my panel.

Mada Mada Dane! 70 Years of Sports Manga and Anime

I love sports anime so getting to see this look into the history of the genre. I run into my friend Andrew in line at the panel and we spend the time before we get into the room talking about the con, life and his recent appearance on UPZ. 

I learn a lot at this panel. My actual experience with watching the genre only really goes back to watching The Prince of Tennis and Hikaru no Go when they were on Cartoon Network or at least its video website. I also appreciate that they include some nontraditional sports anime like Hikaru no Go and Chihayafuru along with Initial D. They also include my favorite sports anime: Big Windup! That alone makes this a nearly perfect panel. 

The portion on Yowamushi Pedal also includes a hilarious clip from it that makes me want to watch it just to get the context behind why they were singing that song.

The Weakest Weeb (Weakest Link Parody Game)

That’s the full name of the panel. That’s not my attempt to explain what it was because barring the music and asking players questions with a time limit, this panel doesn’t really have all that much to do with The Weakest Link. Each player is called up individually and their score is determined by the number of questions they get right in the time limit. The top three which includes my friend Nick are then given a second round of questions and whoever gets the most comes first. Nick manages to get second. 

Honestly, my two big complaints for this panel are that it has nothing really to do with The Weakest Link and that the cohost who was supposed to be keeping score had trouble doing so which makes figuring out players’ placements difficult.

This is the panel right before mine and in the same room so I talk to the host afterwards and he even gives me three Rice Krispie Treats I use as prizes for my panel.

Anime Connect (AKA My Panel)

It’s finally time for my panel. My friend reappears ready to help me run my panel and I thank them dearly for that. 

If you’ve already seen one of the streams where I’ve run the game before or attended one of the other conventions where I’ve done this panel, you have a decent idea of how this went. For those that don’t know, the game is played across four rounds:

• Connections – Find the connection between up to 4 mostly anime related clues. Includes a picture question and a music question.
• Sequences – Find the fourth in a sequence of mostly anime related clues. Includes a picture question and sometimes a music sequence.
• Connecting Wall – It’s like the NYT Connections. There are 16 clues that have to be sorted into 4 groups of 4. Teams get a point for each group the successfully find and another point for each connection they know even for groups they didn’t find. Get all 8 for 2 bonus points.
• Missing Vowels – I give the teams the connection between clues like “Anime Films Not Directed by Hayao Miyazaki” and then, a clue with no vowels. For consistency, Y doesn’t count as a vowel. For example, “PRFCTBL” or “Perfect Blue” directed by Satoshi Kon.

At the start, there are enough people to fill the room. Last year, I ran this game for a room of maybe five people so having a room full of people at a large convention means a lot to me. The game goes about as well as I could have hoped. The teams get stumped a lot but there’s usually someone in the audience who gets it and even when no one knows it, they all have the sudden realization when I walk them through it and reveal the answer.

The worst part is the technical issues. My attempt to film the panel with my GoPro is cut short when it overheats with about 5 minutes left in the first game. I don’t even both to try recording the second. I think I’m just going to stick with using my iPhone to film panels now. 

The only major issue is with the new iPad app I’ve been working on to handle the Connecting Wall. It allows me to just hand it off to the teams and I can still display it on the projector using OBS but somehow, one of the teams manages to open the dev menu. I’ve never even done that so I have no idea how to fix it. Luckily, they only had a few seconds left and didn’t seem to be too worried about any potential loss of points. Definitely room for improvement there.

I’m hoping to take the footage I have and upload it to my YouTube channel even if it doesn’t have an ending. I’ll just call it an homage to X.

The other big mistake is going 15 minutes over my time because of a discrepancy between the app and the website. My apologies to the panel after me for your shortened prep time.

Blue Encount Interview

After spending the last 4 or so hours glued to that one room, I go grab lunch. I want to try Wagamama but as soon as I see the line, I decide that Anna’s Taqueria doesn’t sound that bad. I grab another burrito and eat quickly before finding somewhere quit to sit and prep for the Blue Encount press panel.

I am always astonished by how few press outlets seem to be at Anime Boston. There’s only one other press member in the room with me:  Seth from Anime Herald. We have totally different styles of questions. I’m asking some of the basics trying to help readers no more about their style of music, their taste in anime and whatnot. He seems very well versed in interviews the band members have done before and is probing them on that. We each take each other’s questions and occasionally build off them. I ask what their favorite anime are. He asks a question that deals with that to one member. I do the same with a different member and after he replies, I quote one of the inspirations he mentioned in a previous question to show I understand. We went for the whole time with just the two of us talking to the band. It was a great time.

I’ll have the transcription for that later which will hopefully make its way to the A-to-J website. Please look forward to it.

Masquerade

AKA the Cosplay Contest.

One of my favorite parts of the convention and because the interview was right up against this, I’m late. I miss all the craftsmanship presentations and I think a few of the first performances. I do however manage to get a decent seat on the balcony level and take some time to relax while watching the performances. There are a lot of good ones especially those in the Masters Division. 

One called “Meistermaxxing, Brainrotting and Cringe! No Cap?  What the sigma?” makes me feel like I’m too old to be here but it is a funny skit of the Soul Eater crew trying to beat up witches and wizards from other media.

Another Ranma ½ themed skit uses the vending “Transformation Tensions” machine scroll to make the change between Male Ranma and Female Ranma feel seamless. It’s also kind of meta in its humor and I appreciate that.

My personal favorite was one called “Little Kingdom of Horrors” which mashed up Little Shop of Horrors and Super Mario with Peach in the role of Seymour and a talking Piranha Plant as Audrey II. I thought the work to make the plant look like it was talking was really cool and it used the screen to display the little shop and Bowser who became the victim to the plant.

Another one I want to discuss is “Anime Food Network Presents Chopped!”  It pitted Sanji from One Piece, Laios from Delicious in Dungeon and Link from The Legend of Zelda against each other in a monster cooking competition hosted by Senshi also from Delicious in Dungeon channeling the energy of Guy Fieri. My only big complain is that Guy Fireri doesn’t host Chopped but I guess as the most recognizable person on that Food Network, he’s an easy drop in for people to understand.  

The last one I wanted to discuss is called “Pillow Talk” about a fangirl of Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen somehow bring her body pillow of him to life to be her actual husbando. I thought it was funny especially because it felt like it was either written for or written by my friend Ghostie and I’m not sure which is funnier.

Overall, another great year. Just wish I hadn’t been late. With that out of the way, I don’t see much else that interests me in the late-night panels so my friend and I both head back to their place and get some sleep.

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Sunday – May 25, 2025

My friend has other plans so I’m heading out solo again this morning. I once again grab breakfast at Dunkin but this time, I run into Andrew. I don’t know how but it always seems I run into someone at breakfast on Sunday. We discuss how our weekend’s been going and our plans for this last day before parting ways as he takes food back to his wife.

Charity Auction

This is in a different room than usual which throws me off but a very helpful staff member is able to point me in the right direction and I even run into my friend Ian in line. We chat for a bit about what we’re interested in getting for the auction and how our weekends have been. 

Eventually, we are let in and we both take seats up near the front. The emcee gets us started as we figure out what exactly we’re yelling at each of the big increments. If you’ve been here before, you might remember me at the guy who yells quickly and loudly for all of them and to the emcee’s amazement, without caffeine in my system. I just use sugar instead. Thanks, Dunkin. #NotSponsored

There’s only one thing I really wanted in this auction and it’s a set of CLAMP merchandise from one of their Japanese exhibits that I was too late to see when I was In Japan. I don’t have much in the way of funds but I’m hoping I can make a decent showing with the $200 I’m willing to part with. The only bad problem is the one competition I know I have is my friend who got me into CLAMP. She’s not there but Ian is serving as her proxy and I know she’s willing to pay a lot for CLAMP goods. 

As soon as the auction for the CLAMP goods starts, I jump to $200 just to make it easier on myself. Another person and Ian quickly outbid me and start going back and forth on it until it finally hits the $1050 mark which is sadly too much for my friend to beat. I guess there’s always next time.

Even if I don’t win anything, the charity auction is cool. I like to see all the merch that’s there and seeing people passionately bidding for items and raising money for charity is nice. Hopefully, next time I have a job and can afford to play more competitively. 

Interlude: Vendors

After that, Ian and I walk around the convention center and head to the Dealer’s Room where we both pick up a few pieces of merch. I grab the enamel pins for 2025 and 2024. I blame Brandon Sanderson (and also Fangy) for this new addiction of mine. 

Eventually, Ian finds another friend of his running a booth and they start talking. I walk around the area mostly in sight for a few minutes before realizing that the last panel I want to go to is starting soon. Without saying a word, I slip out of the Dealers Room. Make a quick trek through Artists Alley looking for an artist a streamer I follow mentioned and then, head to what will be my last panel of Anime Boston.

From Gum to Gundam: Anime Funding Through History

This was another cool history one looking at the different ways anime production has been funded through history from direct sponsorship and advertising to modern media mix integration and merchandising. I think it’s a little too dry to appeal to a super wide audience but I really like it. I’m just really sorry to leave when they start the Q&A because I need to meet Nick and Ben for the last, last thing of Anime Boston.

Closing Ceremonies

I want to see if they have balcony seating for this one but Nick and Ben already let me know that they’re on the ground floor so I go in the main entrance and ignore the person telling me where to go (Sorry.)  when I spot Nick and Ben by the entrance. I grab the seat next to them and a few minutes later, we see another friend of ours and she ends up sitting down in the row behind us. We say hi to her but by that time, the ceremonies are about to begin and we don’t want to disturb the people near us.

Like Opening Ceremonies, Closing Ceremonies is a way for the guests who are still there to say goodbye. Before they start coming onto the stage, the karaoke contest winner comes out to perform a song and that makes Yuriko Yamaguchi want to start singing as well. She starts singing the first One Piece opening “We Are!”  I start singing along and by the time she gets to the words “One Piece!”, a lot of the crowd is singing along with her. It’s a lot of fun.

The Anime Boston mascots also come up on stage to discuss the theme for this year and for next year along with showing the dates for Anime Boston 2026. 

I don’t know if some things were moved around in the Closing Ceremonies schedule because they show a video that ends with credits and a lot of people get up and start walking out of the room. Generally, they would show the AMV Contest winners before the end of the convention and some other people around me are wondering where they are. It turns out, they’re after the credits. I’ve already seen them at the Masquerade but I stay to watch them with my friends. Plus, that corn one in hilarious. I wish I remembered the name to post it here. There’s also a Pokémon one that is really sentimental so as a kid who grew up playing the games on the Gameboy he got for Christmas at like 7 years old, it really moved me.

After all of that, Nick, Ben and I got out of the auditorium and started talking to the friend who was seated behind us. She introduces us to her new wife and one of her best friends since childhood. We hadn’t really talked in years so it was just nice to see her again but sadly, all of us have somewhere to go. Nick, Ben and I had back to Nick’s car and pick up his wife from his house to have a post-con dinner at a Chinese food place. 

Afterwards, they drive me back to my friend’s place and that ends my Anime Boston 2025. I’m still out of work so this may be my last Anime Boston for a while. If for some reason, it was to be my last ever, I think I could be satisfied with that. See you next time, Anime Boston.

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Aftermath

I stayed in Boston for a few more days and my friend and I checked out a taiyaki shop near Harvard. I got in all the “Hahvahd” jokes I could out in that time.

While we were in the area, I had to go onto the campus and find the statue of John Harvard because my sister loves The Social Network. It was apparently commencement day so there was a long line to see the statue.

The next day, I flew home and now, I’m busy getting all of the writing and editing done just in time to do it again for Anime Expo in July!

-J.D.