Anime Central (ACen) is an annual convention that takes place at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont within the realm of anime, cartoons, cosplaying, artwork and replica goods from anime franchises. This year’s edition took place from May 16 to 18, 2025.
The expo was organized similarly to other conferences where the exhibitor hall is in the largest warehouse-style room, and the outer classroom-style rooms allow the panelists to talk to their fans, give details of upcoming seasons and answer their questions. Unlike science conferences, the exhibitors are selling their goods directly to the consumer instead of to industry professionals.
The main purpose of the exhibitor hall space is to sell goods to patrons, take group photos of patrons while cosplaying within the same franchise, play arcade games together in groups or eat in the food court.
The Independent received the opportunity to interview Rick Heinz, Chicago-based author of “The Seventh Age” series. He is a writer of science fiction and fantasy. Heinz wants more attendees to connect with his work and similar work at the convention. “Let’s be real; nerdom is not just an anime-centric thing anymore [because] we’re all geeks of something and there’s a lot of cross[-over].”
At Anime Central, “we’re showcasing Storyteller Forge Studio,” Heinz said. At the company, “we create immersive tabletop RPGs [Role-Playing Games], full novels, sarcastic novels about the end of the world, fantasy novels from rogue punk, [appeal to] Starcross lovers, and things like The Black Ballad, the perfect campaign to run after you TPK [Total Party Kill] your party.” Heinz primarily sold the first two editions of “The Seventh Age,” while offering to sign the books.
Over the last several years, Heinz has had a history of exhibiting at ACen, and according to him, it is his “home show.” “I started off in Artist Alley—I started off as a staffer at ACen years ago and I used to run main programming here,” he said. As indicated by Heinz, at the time that he published his first novel, he and his friend had half a table in Artist Alley, which is a section of ACen. Over the years, he migrated to a full Artist Alley table, and then eventually the main exhibitor hall space, which is where he remains at the latest ACen.
Heinz gave some professional advice to NEIU students who aspire to be professional artists or authors by trade. “Always have original artwork in your portfolio, because as studio heads, we will walk around and go commission and find artists but we can’t accept fan art as a submission,” Heinz said. “Now for novelists, you [have] to finish your book. It doesn’t matter if you’re [currently] writing, [but] you actually have to have it fully done.” Heinz’s closing statements were a reminder to NEIU students that “you can’t be creative, if you aren’t reading,” Heinz said. “But just remember that everything does start with books.”
The Independent also interviewed Julia Coletto, a veteran ACen attendee and Chicago-based freelance photographer. “I’ve been coming to ACen, I think, since 2015. So, I’ve been coming [for] almost 10 years,” she said. “It’s just a community that I like to keep coming back for.” Her favorite part at the event at time of the interview was Artist Alley. “I really love the variety of artists that we have here,” Coletto said.
“I think [conventions] are important so everybody feels like they have a community and like a support group and [find] people that are like-minded,” Coletto said. In other words, having a space in one’s life to share common interests is important. Likewise, while being a current student, there are opportunities for joining student organizations at NEIU, but it becomes more challenging after graduating because it’s a great big world out there, and finding individuals who like the same content could be like finding a needle in a haystack. In regards to Coletto’s sentiments, it would be most optimal to take advantage of as many student organizations as possible while at NEIU by meeting fellow students, sharing ideas, collaborating and growing.
As stated by Coletto, anime is not the only reason to attend ACen, as the name suggests. “Even if you’re into games or any reading or just anything that’s kind of in that kind of culture like fandom culture, you’ll have a good time.” ACen offers opportunities to connect with other people who share similar interests by meeting different artists and attendees, bonding with them and complimenting others’ costumes.
Furthermore, even if NEIU students do not have somebody to go with to hobbyist conventions like ACen, Coletto had some words of inspiration for them. “So, I’ve been alone for the last few hours, which I don’t think it’s too bad being alone because then you can kind of just do what you want, go at your own pace and figure it out for yourself, which is nice.”
In addition, “I’m most excited, [and] I really like seeing the guy that draw[s] the big drawing up at the front,” Coletto said. “So I like watching up there and seeing him do his work.” Artistry is not Coletto’s only interest at the exposition. She had plans to cosplay during the following day at ACen. Her costume was Eevee, a Pokemon character. “Eevee is just my favorite Pokemon, and I like to be comfortable,” she said. “So, it’s not going to be anything too crazy, but that’s kind of why.”
Coletto concluded the interview by trying to inspire NEIU students to “just come on out. It’s fun. It’s a good time. It feels—it’s homey because it’s with people that are into the same things that you’re into,” she said. “So you’re not going to feel judgment of any kind or anything like that, which is I think the best part about it.”
The Independent also received the opportunity to interview another exhibitor at ACen, Shauna Aura Knight, artist and exhibitor of Mythic Arts. “My booth has—it’s called Mythic Arts by Shauna Aura Knight—and so I have paintings that I’ve done, [and] I have prints of my artwork, and I have jewelry, all of which kind of evokes that kind of mythic feel,” Knight said. “And I’m also a fantasy and paranormal romance author.”
Her work centers on themes of heroes, quests, swords, dragons and the mythical nature of fairy tales. “It’s just a dragon horde of treasure,” she said. Knight sold many items at the exposition, such as jeweled pocket watches, hair sticks, big giant piece necklaces, crowns and tiaras. As of Friday near noon, when this interview was conducted, she said that there was not really a trend of which items were the most popular yet.
Knight has exhibited at ACen three times over the years. She gave a detailed description of her booth: “It’s very shiny. It’s very well-lit, [and has] lots of sparkly things catching people’s eyes. My art’s very textural. The jewelry is very shimmery,” Knight said. “And so people just come in and they go, ‘Oooh, shiny.’ And it makes me very happy.” Thus, “people love coming to my booth” for those reasons.
“I tend to connect to the audience for anime conventions better than I do at a comic con.” Knight said. “Other places where I connect really well to the audience are [for] an entirely different demographic, which is more of the science fiction and fantasy, like the literature conventions.” As a result of having back-to-back shows, “that’s just life—is making more jewelry and prepping things and shoving more shiny things into my cargo van to get ready for the show,” Knight said.
As a salesperson, Knight had words of advice for business and marketing majors and future salespeople from NEIU. When Knight sells items in her booth, her tactic is to avoid hovering over the potential customer with eagerness and just let the customers leisurely browse her items for sale. “I think that that really resonates [with] a lot of my customers that come here because there are so many more neurodivergent people I think within the geek community,” she said.
Knight also pointed out how her customers have appreciated the lack of her hovering over them, “I have people tell me all the time [that] they’re like ‘Thanks for not like hovering [and] just letting me you know look at things and take my time.’” Knight wanted to ensure that neurodivergent individuals are comfortable when seeking potential purchases. Knight concluded by saying, “I hope people who have never tried going to a convention before to consider checking it out because it can be a really good time.”
Workshops outside of the exhibitor space included panelists talking about fandom, anime celebrities, voice artists, and career advice for aspiring writers, game creators and world makers. The workshops allowed visitors to learn about their favorite celebrities, upcoming episodic content, their personal lives and how they achieved their current roles.
Next year’s edition of ACen will take place from May 15 to 17, 2026.
