Articles
Musings direct from our members
Anime Central 2025 – Across the Board
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…
2024 Annual Report: A Year of Connection
18 years later, and AnimeChicago not only keeps the lights on – we’re strengthening our social ties daily. Tough times call for resilient communities. Our focus is uniting Chicagoans through all things Japanese pop culture but we can aim higher than that. That’s why we stepped up against social isolation, connected people with kindness, and…
Our Digital Future is Now – Recapping AnimeChicago’s First Online Symposium
On March 6th, 2021 – and nearly one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – AnimeChicago hosted its fifth symposium entirely online, a first for AnimeChicago. Titled .future/now, the event fittingly looked at the intricacies of living in our modern always-online world as it is reflected in anime. Opening the session was the YouTube…
Winter 2021 Anthology: Cyberpunk
AnimeChicago’s Art Circle rebooted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as a weekly online meetup for creatives to de-stress. These passionate artists met throughout 2020 and formed a small and mighty studio. As Art Circle built up steam, the desire to share…
2020 Annual Report: Sayonara, Dumpster-kun
We won’t sugarcoat this update – 2020 was challenging for Americans, nonprofits, and our community. The dumpster fire that was this year raged worldwide via global pandemic, systemic inequality, and rampant racism. Suddenly, meeting people and enjoying anime seemed trivial. Despite the hardships, we found a unique opportunity to serve our nonprofit mission within our…
Moving forward…
AnimeChicago is monitoring the COVID-19 situation daily and complying with the state-wide social distancing policy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t support each other in this difficult time. So please join us as we bring our programming online through Spring. Possibly longer. Immediate Changes 1. We’ve launched a Discord server!All AnimeChicago members can create an…
Gift Shopping: Selecting perfect presents for anime fans
So, there’s a special anime fan in your life. Great! Now, what do you get them for the holidays? That question is not so great. With endless series, movies, and games out there that that special someone may or may not be into, finding the right gift can be no simple task. Before we dive…
Onsen Master
AnimeChicago’s Interview series highlights local organization leaders, artists and personalities. Today we’re chatting with Derrick Fields about his team’s upcoming video game title Onsen Master, which exceeded its Kickstarter goal a few days ago! AC: Tell us a little bit about yourself, and what inspired Onsen Master. DF: Like most anime-loving adults out there, I’m…
Announcing – Dream Worlds: The Works of Anime Director Mamoru Oshii + Celebration!
Join AnimeChicago at the Japanese Culture Center to celebrate the groundbreaking and cinematic storytelling of Mamoru Oshii. Known for his deeply philosophical and sweeping epics like Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, and Urusei Yatsura, Oshii’s work is focuses on visual-storytelling and breathtaking action sequences. His works are credited with influencing Western directors such as James…
Screen Time: The Watching Habits of Anime Fans
Eyes Peeled As diverse as the genres are that embody the anime landscape, so too are the viewing patterns of anime fans as they engage with the medium. Although technology and availability has shaped and ultimately eased the pathways to viewing anime works, the overall habits of those fans remain roughly the same. While some…
Developing Tastes: The Evolution of an Anime Fan (Part 3)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been going through the ever-changing tastes of an anime fan. Part 2, released last week, covered the majority of anime fans. In that article, I talked about how the majority of anime fans are Level 1s and 2s – those who build their tastes around genres, subgenres, and ultimately…
Developing Tastes: The Evolution of an Anime Fan (Part 2)
Finding your anime tastes is quite the journey for any fan. Last week, I discussed the very beginnings of an anime fan. I looked at how their tastes are shaped mostly by outside influences and only know one thing: that anime is different than other mediums, which they prefer over those mediums. I gave this…
Developing Tastes: The Evolution of an Anime Fan (Part 1)
Finding your tastes in anime is an evolutionary process that develops over the course of many years and is the culmination of everything you’ve watched, the opinions of the people around you, and the general cultural zeitgeist. As an anime fan for almost 20 years, I’ve gone through this process and I’ve seen others make…
Thank You, Japan Festival 2018!
The AnimeChicago board would like to extend a massive thank you to the steering committee for inviting us to Japan Festival 2018, and special thanks to AnimeChicago member Natsue for facilitating our participation! This celebration took place on June 2nd 3rd at Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights. Here’s a recap of my experience.…
Our Panels at Anime Central 2018
For Anime Central 2018, the AnimeChicago team is bringing back some of the most popular panels from the last few years, of course with some updates and added flash! Whether you’re an AnimeChicago veteran, or new to the scene, we hope to see you there! Chicago’s Anime Scene: 29 Truths; 1 Lie Saturday, May 19th…
What to do at ACen? AnimeChicago Members Pick Their Favorites
Anime Central (better known as ACen) is little over a week away, so I decided to gauge people’s excitement. I talked with some AnimeChicago members at a recent mixer about their favorite things to do at Chicago’s premier anime convention. One member, Sean, was looking forward to all the merch lining the many tables of…