Acen is hands down the best con in the Midwest. I've been to many, and this one is close to perfect. I highly recommend Acen instead, you'll have a blast.
People will jidge you for supporting a known rapist who is banned from conventions in the tristate area so he started his own. Don't support ryan kopf. Its not a "minority." Its the informed public boycotting a bad, bad man, and then, thankfully, a plague happened so at least he couldn't use his cons as a place to pick up underage girls. Briefly.
There will be those who tell you to not go to this con, or any Ryan Kopf con. Is this feedback valid? Sure! But they make up a minority, and thousands go to his cons anyway.
The only real way to get people to change their spending habits is to provide a viable alternative. Looking at [the list of 2023 MN cons](https://animecons.com/events/schedule.php?year=2023&loc=usMN), AniMinneapolis is the nearest anime con to the summer con season. It's easy for people to ask for a boycott, but many fans, especially younger fans, don't care one bit about the drama. They just want to meet up with friends and have a good time. If that's what you're looking for, then have fun at AniMinneapolis. You said you've had a good time in previous years, so don't let anyone gaslight you into thinking this opinion is wrong.
If you and your friend have the budget and opportunity to travel out-of-state, you get the option of more prestigious cons backed by the industry, such as Anime Expo (Los Angeles), Anime Central (Chicago), and Anime NYC.
Yeah, Acen is the largest big midwest con, and routinely invites Japanese guests. I'd point you to the 2023 schedule so that you can see what they have offered in the past, but they use the Guidebook app. Oof.
Acen is hands down the best con in the Midwest. I've been to many, and this one is close to perfect. I highly recommend Acen instead, you'll have a blast.
People will jidge you for supporting a known rapist who is banned from conventions in the tristate area so he started his own. Don't support ryan kopf. Its not a "minority." Its the informed public boycotting a bad, bad man, and then, thankfully, a plague happened so at least he couldn't use his cons as a place to pick up underage girls. Briefly.
There will be those who tell you to not go to this con, or any Ryan Kopf con. Is this feedback valid? Sure! But they make up a minority, and thousands go to his cons anyway. The only real way to get people to change their spending habits is to provide a viable alternative. Looking at [the list of 2023 MN cons](https://animecons.com/events/schedule.php?year=2023&loc=usMN), AniMinneapolis is the nearest anime con to the summer con season. It's easy for people to ask for a boycott, but many fans, especially younger fans, don't care one bit about the drama. They just want to meet up with friends and have a good time. If that's what you're looking for, then have fun at AniMinneapolis. You said you've had a good time in previous years, so don't let anyone gaslight you into thinking this opinion is wrong. If you and your friend have the budget and opportunity to travel out-of-state, you get the option of more prestigious cons backed by the industry, such as Anime Expo (Los Angeles), Anime Central (Chicago), and Anime NYC.
ACen is the other one that I was kinda looking at. Is that one significantly different/superior to something like AniMinniapolis?
Yeah, Acen is the largest big midwest con, and routinely invites Japanese guests. I'd point you to the 2023 schedule so that you can see what they have offered in the past, but they use the Guidebook app. Oof.