We’re a few days from Anime Central, Chicago’s biggest anime convention fondly known as ACen. So we asked AnimeChicago teammates what they were most excited to see and attend. Plan your weekend along with us so you don’t miss out on your favorite panels, events, and industry talks! Download Guidebook to draft your schedule.
What’s your top 3 Anime Central plans for next weekend?
From Grace, Board Member —
I am most excited for the Sailor Moon Panels and Cosplay Meetups. I am bringing back my Sailor Galaxia cosplay of course! I am also looking forward to the SuBLime panel and Akio Watanabe panel.
From JPod, Board Member —
ACen came through big this year with a stellar line-up of industry guests. Top among them are Keiichiro Saito and Kiyotaka Oshiyama. Keiichiro Saito is the director of two recent huge hits – Bocchi the Rock! and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – both of which are personal favorites. Kiyotaka Oshiyama recently directed the best film (anime or otherwise) I saw last year – Look Back.
And if that isn’t enough, staff from Production +h will also be there. That’s the studio behind another great adaptation from 2024 – Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction. My schedule is overflowing!
From Jamie, Board Member —
I love when pros talk shop. So I’m headed to Live Drawing with Akio Watanabe, character designer and chief animation director of Monogatari fame. Plus Hiroyasu Kobayashi and Dan Kanemitsu from Studio Khara are delving into Eva Rebuilds, Shin Godzilla, and GQuuuuuuX production. Hoping to sneak a peek at Sarah Natochenny who recently retired from Pokémon after 16 years as Ash Ketchum!
Offbeat panels on my schedule include “How I Educate Educators About Anime,” “German Philosophy in Anime,” and “Intro to Japanese Horror 101.” And bonus: our AnimeChicago Member dinner on Thursday night is always a blast! Wait that’s more than three…
AnimeChicago is there all weekend!
Sound off in our ROLL CALL meetup to let members know you’ll be there – plus get helpful tips and access to our dedicated Discord chat.