Time To Choose Your Own ACEN Adventure - 2025 Edition

ACen or Anime Central is happening this weekend (May 16th through the 18th) at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and we're psyched! Sandwiched between C2E2 and Nightmare Weekend, but ACen is its own special beast. Known throughout the Midwest as a cosplay mecha, it's not unreasonable to expect more than half the attendees to show up in full cosplay. People watching is one of our favorite activities here, admiring the artistry and detail people put into their work. To go along with this, ACen is host to dozens of themed cosplay meet up groups and one of the biggest cosplay contests in the region. 

If cosplay isn’t your thing, there’s still lots to enjoy though-- from anime creator panels, to autograph signings. You can enjoy some video game tournaments, take lessons in Dungeons and Dragons, or even do some arts and crafts: it’s all here for you.

Did I mention the two giant dance parties that occur after hours in the hotel across the street? ACen tends to go late into the evenings with these raves as well as old style 80’s anime watch parties in the side rooms. There’s always something going on during ACen weekend, so let’s dive into some of the events you’ll have access to if you are attending ACen 2025!

Friday, May 16th

Opening Ceremonies start at 10AM and can help you to get sneak previews of what’s to come. Start by the front entrance to see an art piece created by Pepper Ink that will continue to be worked on throughout the weekend.

At 11AM check out a spotlight on AMV creators to see what’s new in the fan space regarding some of the best anime of 2023 at the Hyatt. If you are less into that, you could take some lessons with the How To Run Tabletop RPG’s 101 class or go to the community stage for the Super KPOP Random Dance Play. There are also live demos and lessons regarding many of the popular trading card games like Lorcana, Gundam, Dragon Ball Fusion World, Magic the Gathering and Digimon. All at 11AM. 

If you are looking to get active, there are formal dance lessons at noon and a virtual reality gaming zone opening at the same time. You can watch a live drawing event with famed anime creator Akio Watanabe at 1PM, and there’s an exciting panel of Hiroyasu Kobayashi and Dan Kanemitsu from Studio Khara who are currently working on Shin Godzilla, Gundam GQuuuuuuX, Rebuild of Evangelion and more at 3:30PM! Then later there’s Sparks and Spirits with Satomi Arai, who has voiced some of anime's most beloved characters. She will be doing a panel discussing her time on Loveless, Digimon Frontier, Trinity Blood, Hell Girl, and even the video game Octopath Traveler II. 

The hot ticket though for Friday is Thunderbolt Fantasy The Final Chapter Movie US Premiere presented by Studio Pili. If you haven’t checked out Thunderbolt Fantasy, it’s a full show created using traditional Taiwanese puppets. It went for a full 4 seasons with the movie being premiered on Friday at 7PM.

Also don’t forget the Friday SoapBubble event which is a full on foam party with 7 DJs lined up, so dance the night away!

Saturday, May 17th

Saturday starts strong with Talking Games with Keith Silverstein, a voice artist providing a history of Voice Over in Video Games panel at 10AM. Then a Sailor Moon panel with famed drag queen Oriana Peron, as she takes time to roast everyone’s favorite anime at 11AM.

At noon we’re checking in with The Work of Hiroyasu Kobayashi, a CGI art director who helped build the world of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. If you want something a little different, check the Health + Medicine in Anime to see how anime has represented our health systems in society at 3PM. 

One of my personal favorite events is 4:30 Pm's Oriana Peron’s Drag Cosplay Show. Watch these queens slay in the nerdiest drag show this weekend! Then check out Stage Combat Basics with Kamen Casey at 5PM if you want to get some tips from a hollywood specialist who’s been in the likes of Black Adam and Landman. Then, the biggest cosplay contest in the midwest: The ACen Masquerade at 6PM. This year promises to be one of the best! Also at 7PM is All About Dandadan! With the cast of Dandadan Abby Trott, AJ Beckles, Anairis Quinones, Ben Diskin, Kari Wahlgren and Kirk Thornton. If you’ve seen any of the anime you know this promises to be a wild ride. 

You can close out Saturday with musical Dungeons and Dragons improv, 18 and older Oregon Trail play alongs and finally Synergy, the Saturday night dance party in the main Hyatt ballroom. I’m tellin’ you! These parties go late. 

Sunday May 18th

After two days of partying, maybe you want to wind down with an Influential Women in Japanese History Panel at 10AM, or take in a rousing Taiko drum performance at 11. Keith Silverstein is hosting a panel at Noon about The Art of Being Evil, speaking on his time voicing villains in such animes like Hunter X Hunter, Bleach, Naruto, Persona 5 and My Hero Academia. There’s also a Mobile Suit Gundam 46 year retrospective panel at 2:30PM.

Throughout the entire weekend there will be gaming tournaments both tabletop and video games, cosplay photo meet ups and children’s read along events every single day. There’s so much to do, so many vendors to check out and a massive artist alley. ACen really is an all around convention that appeals to families and partiers alike. Don’t believe me? Check last years coverage where I wrote about attending ACen 2024 with my mother!