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Anime Midwest

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Anime Midwest

Anime Midwest is a huge anime convention in Chicago that returns for its second year this summer! The conference brings together hundreds of like-minded fans of Japanese animation to celebrate for a weekend of costume-related events, anime screenings, and discussions with voice actors.

Voice actors from the first year included top-tier characters like Goku from Dragon Ball Z and even GLaDOS from Portal 2. Every year includes almost a dozen of special guests, with each guest talking about their various roles, upcoming shows, and even giving out autographs to fans for free.

Other than voice actors, there are dealers who sell all kinds of anime merchandise. This stuff includes everything from retro video games to anime wallscrolls and anime plushies. A huge part of the con is finding cool anime swag to take home.

Anime Midwest is also pretty special because of it's ConSuite which gives out free ramen, free Mt. Dew, and more all weekend - leaving more money in fans' pockets for buying stuff! This is a huge advantage over other conventions!

First Year

The first year of Anime Midwest was held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois. It included a half dozen amazing voice actors, more than most conventions have, including people from Soul Eater, Dragon Ball Z, and Portal 2. This first year was officially announced just 2 months before it happened, and yet they still brought together over 500+ fans. The convention's small size and large number of guests made it a unique opportunity for fans to interact with guests. There were small, intimate Portal & Portal 2 sing-alongs with Ellen McLain, and long discussions with voice actors like Micah Solusod.

Second Year

This is the second year, and it looks like Anime Midwest will be a lot bigger. Not only does the guest list look even bigger and better, the convention had its advertisement on the very back cover of the program book for Anime Central. That means over 25,000+ people took home a copy of the ad, which looked quite nice. This year's convention also moves 30 minutes closer to downtown, in Lisle, which is just a little east of Naperville, and roughly 25 minutes from downtown. The con hotel is a very nice spot for a convention, with unlimited free parking and quite a bit of con space - it's easy to expect 2,000 to 3,000 people could be coming this year.

Music Events

Lots for everyone.

Anime Midwest's selection of music events is hard to match. For cosplayers and elegance enthusiasts, the fantasy ball is a formal dance for formal outfits. Supporting the fantasy ball are formal dance lessons, in addition to a date auction for those who come dateless. For ravers and EDM-fans, there are NerdRave's on Friday & Saturday nights. And for all fans of things geeky and fun, there are concerts featuring Nerdcore, Japanese cover bands, and metalic style music as well.