Nostalgia And Memories Ruled For One Afternoon At Anime Central 2026

Nostalgia can be a funny thing sometimes. I've seen it couched as a negative, when people are looking back to the past instead of the future, or as a positive, where we treasure what we had and what was created, so we don't forget.

As I've gotten older, I've tended to look back at what I did or experienced when I was younger a lot more, especially when I've had to talk about things that were a certain way "back in the day" to the friends I have who are younger. I've found that the way younger folks are embracing more "analog" technology and experiences to be at least encouraging - in the sense that I don't sound like an old person stuck in the past. After all, if it's being looked back on with fondness and interest by people younger than me, there shouldn't be any worry or guilt doing the same right?

Anime Central, one of the US's major anime/manga/japanese culture conventions for 28 years, has always held a special place in my heart for me (we'll get to the obvious why in a moment), but my appearances at the convention over the last 16 years have been limited to small get-togethers with friends, or simply not at all. But upon learning Yuki Kajiura and FictionJunction were slated to attend, and to perform at their first-ever concert in Chicago, I knew I had to drop in for more than a cursory appearance.

Being into anime and manga was a big part of my high school and college life, and along with JRPGs and video games, solidified my interest in Japanese media and culture. And while series like the first Neon Genesis Evangelion, the original Ranma 1/2, and more delighted me with stories, cool animations, and intrigue, Kajiura was drawing me into more series that I'd probably never would have otherwise with her brilliant musical compositions. I'd almost argue that series like .hack//sign and Noir would not have had the popularity they did among anime fans back then, were it not for how memorable Kajiura's tracks were (and still are).

But there was another reason I wanted to drop by for more than just a few minutes. For transparency's sake, I'm an ex-staffer at Anime Central, and I put in about a decade's worth of work cumulatively in the event's formative years, back when it was a few thousand attendees, and not the behemoth convention it is today. I pretty much did a little bit of everything over that decade - I was an assistant department head for Registration, then eventually ran that same department, then for two years, headed the event's operational staff as its Co-Chair or Convention Chair in 2003 and 2004. After that were short stints at the officer level and a last light gig as the event's Master of Ceremonies. My long association with ACen got me many memories, great connections, a number of friends, and more - and frankly, I'd highly recommend going through the convention staffing experience once if you're interested in these types of events. But I'd gotten out of the game, content with sitting back and seeing it grow and evolve past me.

Getting a chance to see one of my favorite anime/manga musical composers and her group of vocalists was enough to come back around. Armed with a confirmed complementary veteran's badge issued to prior convention staffers, I set out to ACen 2026 on a Saturday afternoon to meet friends also interested in seeing Kajiura and FictionJunction.

The idea of only attending for a single event, on a single afternoon, when back in my staffing days I'd take essentially a week and some change off to be onsite was in no small part amusing to me, and perhaps an indictment on the fact that I physically would have difficulty doing that now - a reminder that was painfully visited on me when I got just a little tired running the area's connecting and long overpass halls to the convention center and hotel. These feet ain't what they used to be, even despite regular cardio.

It's hard to come to a comprehensive view of how Anime Central was doing as an event based on only one afternoon of being there, but if I had any impression, it'd be that from my ex-staff eye, it was mostly the same, just on a much bigger scale than I remember. The event has taken some practical steps since I've been retired - hiring and contracting with outside companies as needed for logistical, medical, and security matters, having checkpoints, distributing information online and on mobile as much as physical. It was of course great to see things I remember in their infancy - Artist's Alley, Gaming, the Exhibit Hall, the various Dances, and more - now grown to a scale I had hoped would happen back when we were excited at breaking the 5,000 attendee mark.

It's also, as I noted with no small amount of mild amusement, still dealing with some of the same kinds of things I used to deal with too. Moving Registration to the main convention center entrance and seeing the not-so-ideal chaos from mixing lines and crowds reminded me of how chaotic it was trying to do the same in a prior hotel's lobby. Seeing the line for the Kajiura concert form, then break up, then form again with people passing informal info down the path reminded me of smaller crowds but no less need for clear crowd control and line running. And seeing an official response need to come from the event's official social media about an unfortunate oversight about the use and quality control of AI-generated assets reminded me of the fact that attendees can and will see something that's a mistake and will level (mostly constructive and welcome) criticism at you as the organizers for it. Where some problems had been solved, or things seemed smoother than when I was working, others cropped up or didn't quite go as planned, from feedback I've seen online - but that, I think is just the eternal push and pull and improvement of a long-standing event, a cycle I'm all-too-familiar with.

As for the Kajiura concert, my knowledge of ACen and some decent planning ensured that my friends and I got into the show just fine. We weren't as close as the above person, who managed to get right in front, but we were at a decent distance with lots of room. I do have to say, after a few years of attending K-Pop concerts, where international fan culture made things challenging to see and hear, going back to the Japanese style of sitting the whole time for the most part was refreshing - and, perhaps, easier on my already-aching feet.

The Kajiura/FictionJunction ACen 2026 setlist was every bit as great to hear live, and if there was any doubt that FictionJunction needed the vocal backing track and varying levels of its use that I've seen thrown around in K-Pop circles these past couple years, it was erased from the first song. Though only an hour, the songs took me back to a simpler time, with equally simpler needs and priorities, and the satisfaction, after it was over, of another Anime Central event successfully executed.

As I left with my friends, off to find dinner after only a few hours at the convention, I found myself directing my friends to a route that took us through the hotel, down the affectionately referred-to "hamster trail" of corridors leading to the convention center, and eventually to where I'd parked.

In my mind, I remembered ten years of traveling these routes for six days out of the year, working before, during, and after ACen to make sure it was a success.

I was flooded with a decade's worth of memories of shared laughter, incidents that required quick thinking and quicker feet, guests and friends and attendees and feedback and all of it, good and bad, successes and failures. For ten years, Anime Central was for me the culmination of a year's worth of planning, wrapped into a self-contained bubble of anime/manga fandom community of a few days, gone as swiftly as it arrived, just in time to begin the long journey towards the next year's event.

I felt nostalgic as I remembered, but more importantly, felt content to leave things where they were, and remember the doors that were opened to me because of that work - professionally, personally, and otherwise. For if we can both treasure and go back to the things we achieved and did in the past, and know that we used that knowledge and learning to make ourselves better, then there's nothing wrong with putting yourself back there, even if it's for a brief afternoon.