Anime Boston 2026: Best Of The Schedule Panels, Part One

In seven days Anime Boston will commence, running from April 3 through 5 at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston. It’s a massive con, and covering much of it is going to take several days and several articles. Just look at this panel schedule. JUST LOOK AT IT.

There are hundreds of them listed. It’s impossible to attend them all unless you can figure out the Shadow Clone Jutsu. However, through the completely unscientific method of randomly poking around the screen, we have collected our list of the most interesting sounding panels…from just Saturday. Sunday brings with it another boatload, which we’ll deal with at a later time.

So if you’re in Boston next weekend, you might want to think about….

Pretty Cure: The Best Magical Girl Anime You’ve Never Heard Of
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 1:30 PM in Hynes – Panel 202

Maybe I’m just old but I find it hard to believe no one has heard of Pretty Cure. Mind, I’ve never seen Pretty Cure and I don’t know anything about it. But I at least know OF it.

Anime You May have Missed
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 10:30 PM in Hynes – Ballroom C

Ever feel like you’re the only one who’s seen an amazing anime that no one talks about? Or maybe there’s a show you love but wouldn’t dare mention at work? This panel dives into the incredible but overlooked anime that deserve more love, along with the ones you secretly binge when no one’s looking. From underrated masterpieces to guilty pleasures you wouldn’t admit to your grandma, we’ll cover the best-hidden treasures and the most scandalous indulgences in anime. Come ready to take notes, confess your sins, and maybe even discover your next obsession!

This is likely to be one of the most interesting ones on subject alone. Maybe they’ll cover Pretty Cure twice.

Macross & Music: Hear My Song!
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 6:00 PM in Hynes – Panel 202

Over the last 40 years, the Macross franchise has used both contemporary music and mecha as a backbone for stories of epic space travel and romance. This panel will be both a musical and anime retrospective of one of the most influential, long running series in history. Hear my song!

Is this a musical panel? As in the hosts will sing their speeches and dance in numbers throughout the entire thing? I sure hope so.

Living in the Database: An Anime Fandom Data Deep Dive
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 12:00 PM in Hynes – Panel 310

Everyone has opinions about how anime has changed, but what does the data actually say? Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University team up with FanserveUs to dig into industry reports and anime database archives, exploring genre trends, generational differences, and where things are headed in the industry. We’ll share our findings and demo a tool that answers your anime questions using real data!

Take this one with a healthy dose of skepticism if you go. No computer will ever be able to predict the future, as there are too many random variables involved. Did you know it’s impossible for a computer to generate a truly random number on its own? Instead they rely on outside forces like user input to throw randomness into a calculation. If you’ve heard “RNG Manipulation” come up in a video game playthrough, this is what that’s about. Anyway, this panel is bound to be wrong.

An EMT’s Guide to Anime Injury Logic (18+)
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 10:30 PM in Sheraton – Panel Constitution B

Adult – (L)(V) Have you ever been watching a good anime fight and asked yourself, “HOW DID THEY NOT DIE!?” Well, now’s your chance to get answers to that age-old question. Join Sparky_Cosplays, a NYC 911 EMT who has treated absolutely every kind of injury you can imagine, as they go over some of your favorite anime fight scenes and evaluates the injuries and suspected mortality of these combatants through an emergency medicine point of view.

This sounds entertaining (and I guess the injury discussion will be too frank for the kiddies). I’m guessing every single one of these cases will get the verdict “they’d totally die in real life.”

Anime On Trial
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 5:00 PM in Sheraton – Panel Constitution A

Order in the court! We’re putting anime’s biggest controversies on the stand in this mock trial style panel. Choose your role as defense, prosecution, or jury. Was Light Yagami really the villain, or just misguided? You decide!

Come on now, Light WAS the villain. Look how he strung along poor deluded Misa.

So You Wanna Start An Anime Magazine
Fri, 04/03/2026 at 1:30 PM in Sheraton – Panel Constitution B

The anime community lives and dies on the passion of its members. From the fanzines of the ’80s, to elaborate Geocities shrines of the ’90s, to the AniTubers of the ’00s, there has always been a group of folks who’ve rolled up their sleeves, and gotten their hands dirty to spread the word of fandom. Many of these intrepid fans persevered through a combination of passion, grit, and a heck of a lot of learning by the seat of their pants. In its early days, though, the anime media landscape was vastly different, though. Publications like Anime-Zine, Protoculture Addicts, and Animag gave way to Animerica, Anime Insider, and Newtype USA. These publications provided vital news and commentary for the growing community, while providing a time capsule of their era.As the years went on, though, the anime world has changed, and the humble magazine has begun to evolve for this new era.Samantha Ferreira founded Anime Herald in 2010, and launched Anime Herald Magazine in 2025. In this panel, she aims to provide a brief history of the anime magazine, while pulling back the curtain as she discusses just what makes for a successful anime publication, and outlines the many pitfalls and “things to know” with regards to starting an anime magazine in the modern era.

I’d imagine it’s hard to run any kind of magazine in the 2020s; you can’t rely on ad revenue subsidizing costs, for one thing. I salute anyone who wants to give it a go, though.

More to come!