Anime Midwest Will Share a Convention Center With Exxxotica Porn Convention
AnimeCon.org’s Anime Midwest has been held every July for the last half decade, and since 2013 has been held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. Their 2016 convention, scheduled for July 8-10 continues this tradition.
…but this time they won’t be alone.
In a bizarre coincidence, this year Anime Midwest will end up sharing the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center with the Exxxotica Expo, a touring convention for “Adult Entertainment.” Exxxotica bills itself as “the Largest Adult Event in the USA Dedicated to Love & Sex.”
While Anime Midwest’s management (I’m just guessing) probably wants to distance themselves from Exxxotica publicly, Exxxotica management has embraced the proximity between events. Apparently, anyone with an Anime Midwest badge is being offered discounted admission to the porn expo and is planning “adult anime” events including a cosplay contest and “sexy anime seminars.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
This is… probably terrible? Pretty sure this is terrible. Frankly, many anime convention attendees are under the age of 18, and the idea that these underage attendees are going to be in immediate proximity of this kind of event doesn’t really do anyone any good. There are a list of bad things that could happen from the merely uncomfortable to the dangerous that are racing through my head.
I want to be clear that this is patently not Anime Midwest’s fault. It’s not a big enough event to rent the entirety of the Stephens Convention Center (which also is the home to the much larger Anime Central), and they cannot control what the owners of the site do with the space they don’t have under contract. We’re not huge fans of AnimeCon.org around here (for both obvious and not so obvious reasons), but honest to god there is no way they could have seen this coming.
And it’s kind of amazing.
Update 5/12: Anime Midwest organizer Ryan Kopf has released an official statement about the situation.
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Since when does AnimeCons.org “run” a single anime con itself?? I’m pretty sure AM is run by the same folks who do Anime CENTRAL, rather. Where did you get your info?
AnimeCon.org (notice the lack of an “s”) is the operating name of Ryan Kopf’s company Chrono LC. Kopf runs a handful of cons through this business including Anime Midwest, Metacon, Animinneapolis and Con Alt Delete.
AnimeCon.org and Ryan Kopf have ZERO affiliation with Anime Central, which is run by a nonprofit called the Midwest Animation Promotion Society (MAPS). Kopf is actually banned from promoting AnimeCon.org events at ACen last I checked, and the newest Kopf convention (Yoi Con) is actually scheduled on the same weekend as ACen.
As for how I know this, it’s literally listed on the convention websites.
Same weekend as Acen? Good luck with that.
Well Yoi Con IS in Ohio, so it should get the attendees who can’t travel. Vendors and guests though? They’re all probably all in Chicago. 😛
Not gonna lie, I laughed.
I didn’t see that coming.
The funny thing is, I have cosplayed at almost every Exxxotica I have appeared at. Now I have even more reason, LOL
If there isn’t a panel at one of the cons about hug pillows, then someone’s missed a wonderful opportunity there!
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