I was pretty excited and hyped about going to Anime North today. Why? It’s the first time I’m attending any otaku related events since I started watching anime and collecting figures last year. I didn’t know what to expect from it, yet I had high expectations after reading about conventions in other cities around the world.
This year’s AN convention took place at the Toronto Congress Centre, the Double Tree Hotel, and the Renaissance Hotel. So my expectations were even HIGHER since it’s taking place in three different venues like the Toronto Auto Show…though at a much smaller scale.
Before I go any further with the convention, let’s take a look at some of the cosplays around the block. ^^ I’ll need a lot of help naming the characters. Name this group. Persona 3 cosplay group. Thanks to Kevin for the info.
Link and Dark Link from The Legend of Zelda. One of my all time favourite game is Ocarina of Time. Took me a good month or two to finish the game. ^^
The line to register isn’t really long, nothing epic like the ones you see in Japan. I’ve seen longer lines to the washroom than this at work. ^^;;
Name this robot. I took a good 200+ photos of cosplayers here, but will only show the ones worth showing. This is Arbalest from Full Metal Panic. Thanks to pus2meong, who provide the name for a couple more cosplays in this post.
I noticed a lot of guys are showing their “inner-self” in these cosplay events. “Only if…” There were quite a few that I didn’t take pictures of including Yuki, Haruhi, and a couple Mikus.
Naruto? Sorry, I didn’t watch enough to know if they are…
Name this character… Ovan from .HACK GU.
Name them as well. ^^;;; Bleach group cosplay.
Awesome looking Street Fighter cosplay. They even had different poses for us to point our cameras at. ^^
Name these two fellas, I don’t think they’re from animes. Steampunk cosplay, their gear was awesome.
Some ladies with cool looking cosplay, name ‘em please? they’re Terra and Celes from Final Fantasy VI.
My otakuness is nothing compared to many who frequent my blog. I only play games, watch anime, and collect figures…that’s it. I almost forgot to mention that I got the chance to meet up with a couple DC members. Had lunch with Pandatronics, Tourak, and sorry, but I forgot the third person’s name. ^^;; The banner never showed up neither. By the way, can you name this group as well?
Shinsen Gumi, from Peace Maker Kurogane from Naruto? He’s got the headband. ^^;; I chatted with him a bit and he told me that it took him two days to make that coolsome flag with the help of his brother. Pretty good. Thanks to Cyrius for the info.
Cloud I presume, and who’s that guy with the cross? Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun. Three cheers to wappu for identifying him and a couple more below. ^^ Thanks to Thible, who identified himself as Cloud in this photo, for the info as well
Chun Li and her friends. I like the maid outfit.
SP? Don Kanonji from Bleach, I’m surprised that I didn’t see any Jack Sparrows around.
Awesome cosplay of a NES system complete with two remotes and a Chun Li.
Another awesome cosplay. The sign speaks for itself.
The cosplays are pretty good with plenty of cuties to feast your melons on. Makes me want to see the quality of the cosplays in Japan. Name ‘em please. ^^;;; It’ll be the most used words in this post.
Bleach cosplay group. They are (from right to left): Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Aizen(?), Orihime, and school girl Rukia. Thanks to wappu again for the info.
More Zelda goodness. Darknut and Link from the Legend of ZeldaName that blue armoured giant…I think I can name more Pokémons than the characters in this post. “orz
Even MORE Zelda goodness. I’m currently playing Phantom Hourglass on my DS. It’s a pretty good game with a lot of puzzles and mini-games. I’m only eight hours into it, but I doubt it can be as epic as Ocarina of Time. Have you played any Zelda games?
Princess Zelda anyone?
Krillin from Dragonball. That disc is pure awesomeness, I thought it was a pizza.
Some Halo action. Must be hot in that armour bathing in the sun.
One Piece. I haven’t watch any of it. It seems to be very popular, might I ask why?
Man with big gun. I prefer girls with big gun(s) though. ^^ Jigen from Lupin III and Captain Avatar from Space Cruiser Yamato. Thanks for identifying yourself Section8.
CTV, a local news station was there to cover the event.
Stopped an Umbrella officer for a photo…
His comrade thought I was a trouble maker. ^^;; I’m surprised I didn’t seen any Jill Valentines around. She’s hot I have to say.
Name this character. Kamina from Gurren Lagann. This wouldn’t of happened if I’ve already watched it. ^^;;
Have I really missed THAT MANY animes/games to not know who these people are? Thanks to Cyrius again for identifying this group from Trinity Blood.
Again…name ‘em for me please. “orz Naruto x Guitar Hero cosplay. I feel stupid posting these pictures and not knowing who they are…
Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
This group seems to be very popular. They were just standing around for a couple hours posing for pictures. I don’t know who they are though. The Ouran Koukou Host Club, thanks to Matteas for the info.
Two holy warriors poses before battle. I don’t know who they are though. Abel and Petros from Trinity Blood. Thanks goes to Candy for IDing them.
Don’t need to know who she is, just need to know she give free hugs. ^^
Char Aznable from Gundam. Zechs from Gundam Wing. Many thanks to Kurai who corrected me…he definitely looked like a Char to me. ^^;;
Name this group.
Domo. A cute girl is hidden under the armour. My appologies to Domo-kun, who is not a girl. I thought I saw a girl peeking out of the Domo cosplay…I must’ve been seeing things. ^^;;;
Most of the cosplay are from series’ that are popular in North America. I didn’t see any Nanoha, Lucky Star, Idolm@ster, Louise, To Love-ru, or Queen’s Blade cosplay.
A huge Soul Eaters gathering. There were about three more people on either side.
Final Fantasy toons. Tifa looks cute.
Sailor scouts and Tuxedo Mask. I loved the Sailormoon transformation sequence.
Yoko and the Gurren Lagann gang. See that Yoko on the right? She’s pretty cute. Speaking of cute, are you wondering where all the cute girls are? Be patient and you’ll see them.
Awesome Haruhi Gekisou cosplay. This Haruhi is probably the cutest one I’ve seen today. I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere before.
Some maid action while deciding where to eat…Thanks to Lenners who identified these cuties from He is my Master.
I’m seeing triples!!! Gotta love Dragonball hair. ^^
One of the better Haruhi cosplays…there were many…
Power Rangers…where’s Green, Pink, and White Ranger? When I asked them for a photo, Red Ranger said “We can’t walk for one minute without being asked…”. Could’ve been more polite, or just say “sorry, we’re tired, no more photos”. Sounded like he didn’t expect people to ask them for photos. Soon, 20 other souls were taking pictures of them.
Name this character. Barry the Chopper, thanks to Savvi for the info.
Finally heading inside the convention after lunch and taking loads of pictures outside. The line wasn’t really long, and we got into the dealers room in a couple minutes. To be honest, I was quite disappointed after browsing in the dealers room. They had nothing that I wanted. I was expecting to drop at least three bills on figures, artbooks, and dakimakuras at this convention. But I ended up spending $0, yes $0…Their figure selection was so small that I can find more variety of figures in my room. “orz
This is as “epic” as the dealers room gets. Most of the dealers in there were selling mangas, plush toys, cosplay accessories, artbooks, wallscrolls, and anime DVDs. So it would be heaven if you’re into those stuff, but I haven’t picked up buying any of those other then artbooks.
The dealers room is actually quite small compared to other conventions/shows I’ve been to before. There are about 35-40 dealers (at most) selling pretty much the same stuff left, right, and centre at regular prices. None of the dealers had any full size dakimakura, so that’s one thing off my list. None of the artbooks caught my eyes (and no Queen’s Blade game book!!!) so that was off my list as well…
So that leaves all my money for figure buys, great!! Not really, since 80% of the female figures at the convention were either Kotobukiya or dated releases…or both. They didn’t have any of the newer figures like Hiyori Pixy, Unity Mei, Konjiki no Yami, Alter’s Louise, Nanael, etc. You name it, they didn’t have it. I think the newest figure they had was Alter’s KOS-MOS swimsuit ver.
There was nothing there that was on my buy-list either. No MegaHouse Yayoi, no MegaHouse Haruka, no GSC Melissa Seraphy, no Alter Hayate, no Yuki nendo, no Queen’s Gate Alice, no FREEing bunnies, no Shuraki Char, no “hard-to-find” figures that other people were dropping money on in their local shows…no nothing!!
There WAS a nendo Mikuru for $22 Cdn that caught my attention, but it was a bootleg…it still sold out when I went back before I left. Overall, the dealers room is a bust for me because they had nothing that I wanted. So we browsed around to see what the convention had to offer…
The true face of Mr. McD!! Some original artwork just outside the dealers room, but nothing spetacular. Headed over to the two other sections of the convention, anime viewing and games, that were located two and fifteen minutes away from the main building respectively. They were showing many animes from every era, including recent releases such as Tears to Tiara…which happened to be fansubbed material. “orz So that wasn’t as exciting as I thought since I’m way ahead of what they had to show with recent releases, but it might be exciting for those who haven’t seen them yet.
To the games section we go!! Which happened to be another bust because it’s just a room full of people playing PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, NDS, board games, etc. There wasn’t any companies to showcase their latest releases or previews to upcoming games. There are shows and guests that were scheduled to appear later in the day, but I didn’t stick around to see it…might’ve made the trip more worthwhile I guess.
Walked down this sidewalk where I got about 8 free hugs, 20 high fives, and a load of fun doing it. ^^ I’m not sure if my expectations were too high, but I found Anime North to be a bust in terms of a show/convention. I definitely think the convention would fare much better if it took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The cosplay festivity is really nice, but you don’t need pay the entrance fee to take part in the gatherings outside the building.
All in all, I think the $40 entrance fee is better spent elsewhere. You can go to Anime North with your friends to take part in all the cosplay festivities then head over to one of their (or your) house to watch some animes, play some video games, and order some merchandise online. The $40 you saved can be used to order some delicious food.
But that’s just my thought talking. Afterall, I’ve been working in Toronto’s premier sports arena for three years, Canada’s premier theme park for two years, and most of the previous events I’ve been to took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. Needless to say, I’ve become desensitized to the “WOW” factor in going to events. ^^;;
The cosplay is really nice. I’ll definitely go again next year, but just to snap photos of the cosplayers. ^^ I’ll definitely take more photos next time. So how are the otaku conventions in your area? Cosplay common in your area? Do you give/receive weird looks for cosplaying?
More on the cosplays tomorrow. ^^
PS: Let me know if you don’t like your picture being posted here, if any of you will frequent my blog. :P
Edit: Thanks to those who helped me identify the cosplayers, and my apologies if I didn’t credit you for identifying them. If you see yourself here, and would like a clean+full size version, please let me know in the comments and I’ll send it to you provided you entered a valid email address when commenting. Cheers!!
Damn, too bad I missed the meetup. Been hoping to meet with some a-bloggers.
There’s always next time, I guess. Or we can always plan something if you’re from the GTA area.
Awesome cosplayers, I can name a few XD
I see Barry the Chopper! Cool cosplay. (The skull head armoured guy with two choppers!)
:) Conventions over in the UK ain’t that great sadly. :S
Thanks for the info Savvi. The convention wasn’t that good, but the cosplays made my day. ^^
I do not know most of the characters either. From those you asked, I think the group in blue uniforms are from Ouran Koukou Host Club.
I need to watch more anime and play more games. Thanks for the info.
1.The robot name is Arbalest, from Full Metal Panic.
2.The guy with giant cannon and golden padlock on his left arm is Ovan from .HACK GU game, and the pic below him are chars of Bleach
3. Pic below SF cosplay is Steampunk folks.
4. Those two lady in cool looking cosplay are: Terra (Tina) and Celes from Final Fantasy VI
5. The Guy in blue jacket with flag is Shinsen Gumi.
6. The guy with big white cross is char from Trigun.
7. The guy with SP emblem is char from Bleach
the rest of them. I don’t know ^^
Thanks for the info pus2meong.
Going backwards XD
Cleaver guy is Barry the Chopper from Fullmetal Alchemist, the maids are from He is my Master (though there are too many… might just be a common maid costume? XD), pair with the guy with a giant hammer is from D Grayman, 2 holy warriors are probably Assassin’s Creed? the group in blue is a huge collection of Ouran Host Club people o_O
I really wish I could’ve gone to AN Q__Q
Thanks for the info Lenners, there’s always next year.
I stumbled upon your page while looking for pictures of our cosplay group that others may have taken, and felt like answering some of your “name them please”s! =D
The guy with the cross is Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun. And the “SP” guy is Don Kanonji from Bleach. The characters in the shot under the motivational poster are from Bleach; from right to left: Grimmjow, Ulquiorra (final release form), another Grimmjow, potentially an Aizen (I can’t see his zanpaktou so I can’t fully tell), Orihime, and a schoolgirl!Rukia.
Further down in your post, I see you ask about One Piece. As any OP fan will tell you, One Piece is so popular because it is honestly incredible; it deserves every inch of popularity it’s got, and much more. Some people avoid it because of the individualistic art style, but if you sit down and read it, I guarantee you will be astounded by the genious of Oda-sama’s (mangaka’s) storytelling abilities. In terms of manga series popularity, One Piece beats Bleach and Naruto even in Japan, last I checked, and there’s good reason for it to do so. You will never read a more unique, compelling, heart-warming, heart-breaking, moving, powerful, hilarious, and just overall amazing series. I have watched a LOT of anime and read even more manga. One Piece has never once fallen off its secure placement of all-time #1 favourite series EVER.
… On a side note, imho One Piece’s manga in better than the anime, if you’re going to be looking into it~
… Further down in your photos, guy with the red cape and blue hair is Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.The picture with the guy with the guitar hero sign is reather hilarious: they’re all from Naruto. But the girl on the girl on the right is a genderbended!female!Kakashi, the guy in the middle is a guitarhearo!Kakashi, and the guy on the left is a … rapper?!Sasuke. I saw those cosplayers too; they were lulz.
Also, it’s too bad you didn’t enjoy AnimeNorth as much as I did, but I guess for a figure collector that’s understandable. The dealers’ room biggest appeal for me was all the manga I couldn’t find elsewhere, so I spent quite a bit. And if you were actually in cosplay yourself, I guaranteed you’d have had a lot more fun – participating in photoshoots is the ~best~. Plus if you’ve got friends with you to chill with, you can’t go wrong ! Though I agree with you that the cosplay aspect of the con was the highlight. Now if only I could find some people who snapped shots of our group; I forgot my camera orz. And it’s odd that I can’t find any because we were constantly being stopped for photos, too! OTL I am in despaii~~r.
Thanks for the in depth listing of all the characters I didn’t know. I only started watching anime last year, so I’ve avoided really long series’ like Naruto, and One Piece because it would be an overwhelming task to catch up…so I’m not familiar with them. Thanks for the insight on One Piece. ^^
Like I said, Anime North would be awesome for those who are into mangas and anime DVDs because there were TONS of them in the dealers room, sadly I haven’t picked up those hobbies yet. But the cosplay was definitely worth my time. I might’ve missed your group since I didn’t take pictures of everyone, something that I should do next year.
Plus, it’s a pain to upload the pictures in wordpress, so I didn’t upload all the photos. So I’m really sorry that I might’ve missed you. “orz But if you give me a description of your group I’ll check to see if I have a photo of your group.
We were only there on the Saturday, so it’s likely you might not have seen us – we also spent much time hidden away in the dealers room, too, lol. But we were a Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS Game) cosplay group; if you have any pictures of us, I’d be delighted!
Ref: http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=all2.jpg
I’m on the far right, with the green hat, ehe.
I was there on Saturday too, but unfortunately, I think I’ve missed your group. There were many more cosplays that I missed, I’ll try to get everyone’s cosplay next time.
I had great fun hanging out with you! It’s a shame that I could not have had my hearing fixed before the convention ^^; I did watch you run around getting photos while I was trying to flag down DC members haha.
I really had a hard time taking photos and just generally doing anything with such a great lack of hearing. I saw you gaming during waiting at lunch so maybe the next DC meet up we could go gaming some place.
Too bad I missed a lot of them, I think I’ll just hang out outside next year just for the photos. I’m not that much of a gamer anymore, I just play games casually nowadays. But it would be nice to meet up with you guys next time.
Dude that was wicked!!!! Thanks for posting my picture! I was the Krillin lol. Those power rangers were pansies man. God I must have been stopped almost every 20 feet I stepped and I was more then happy to show off my big round destructo disk. lol and no it was not a pizza, or cheese :P
Thanks again for the comment on the disk lol ps the Jigan and Captain Yamato were my buddies too
It’s my pleasure to post them! :D Your cosplay was awesome, I really loved the destructo disc!! I thought it was a pizza at first because I saw you when your back was facing me. My initial thought was “Dragonball pizza delivery cosplay? Cool!”, then realized it was the destructo disc when you turned around. Your buddies had really cool cosplays too.
Mind me asking what material you made the destructo disc from?
The disc was made from the big pink insulation foam. 2 pieces of 2×8 sheets that i cut, stuck together and wrapped with umm… yellow fabric lol the kind used for like sweat pants. As of now, its being used as a pillow for my dog lol
LOL, thanks for the info, the disc was great. I hope your dog is having a blast sleeping on the destructo disc. ^^
The “man with Big Gun” is Jigen from Lupin III, Castle Cagliostro. I’m the white-bearded guy in the same pic. I’m playing Captain Avatar (aka Tai-cho Okita) from Starblazers/Space Cruiser Yamato fame.
The skull in armor character near the end is Barry the Chopper aka 66 from Full Metal Alchemist.
Bare-chested guy with the flag is Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Thanks for the info Section8. You guys had really nice cosplays; is that beard real? Would be even more awesome if it was. ^^
The beard is real, the color is not.
Yes his beard was real. Coloured white, but it was most certainly real lol
LOL, it makes your cosplay that much better. :D
OH MY GOD I FOUND A PICTURE OF ME ONLINE.
I just had a heart attack.
Which Zelda were you?
cool event ^^
Yes it was, the cosplay was the highlight.
A rather nice post!
Loved to see so many Haruhis and Zeldas around. ^^
BTW, answering one of your questions that seem to not have benn answered yet:
-the blue armoured giant is a boss in one of the Zelda (toon style) games, although I do not remeber which game exactly. [useless remark, I know...]
And I’m impressed you’ve found just one girl offering free hugs. I mean, placards and free hugs are a commonplace in Brazil. You will even find some of girls offering free kisses, but the matter is that they do not say who they will kiss for free (most of the times it’s her boyfriend or girlfriend (!) ).
Thanks. There were more “free hugs” girls, but not all of them were cosplaying. I’ve been told the armoured giant is Darknut. Thanks for the info though. ^^
Btw, i was the domo in that picture up there and i’m not a girl
Sorry about it. “orz I must’ve been seeing things…nice cosplay though. ^^
The third picture you have is the Persona 3 cosplay group. Im the guy in the middle with the greenish blue hair.
Thanks for identifying your group. It was really nice. :D
Yo great pics! This was such a good weekend. I’m Cloud in the 16th picture and the guy with the cross is Wolfwood from Trigun
Thanks, the weekend was great indeed. That was a nice cosplay, and sorry I couldn’t identify your friend. ^^;;; Let me know if you want a full sized version of the photo. Don’t need to provide the email address since I can already see it. Cheers!
:D A full sized pic would be great. To be totaly honest I wouldn’t have been able to identify my friend just from seeing him either. XD I’ve never actually watched Trigun. Well, G’day!
*swings sword*
I just sent it to you. It might’ve landed in junk/spam. Cheers!
your Char is actually Zechs from Gundam Wing
but since they’re all “Char clones” i guess you could call him Char
Thanks for correcting me. Char was the first character that came to my mind.
Yo!, Jill Valentine was at anime north, and i was here. There were four other Jill’s too, 1 from RE1 2 from RE3 (including meself:)) and 2 versions from RE5
How did I miss the Jill Valentines…
Actually, it’s shinsengumi from Peace Maker Kurogane.
The one photo with the caption “Have I really missed THAT MANY animes/games to not know who these people are?” is a picture of a Trinity Blood cosplay group.
Oh! HEY LENNERS :D
Thanks for the info once again Cyrius. :D
Did you happen to take a photo of the Fai and Kurogane (from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles) cosplay?
In case you don’t know who they are:
http://rimfrost.deviantart.com/art/Fai-and-Kurogane-22276851
If you did, I would REALLY love to see them. I WISH I had thought to bring my camera, but being the retard I am, I didn’t even think of it. -_-”
Sorry, I just checked and it seems that I’ve missed your cosplay. I didn’t get the chance to snap photos of everyone, I need to do better next year. “orz
*sigh* Oh well.
Thank you for responding and I’m glad you too had a good time. ^_^
Those two holy warrior cosplays – they’re from Trinity Blood, I believe ^^ More specifically, it looks like Brother Petro Orcini on the left in red and Father Abel Nightroad on the right in black *loves Trinity Blood* xD
I actually enjoyed myself a lot at AN’09 but I’m in agreement about the Vendor’s Market. I had a hard time deciding what to buy, mostly because nothing really caught my eye. It was pretty much the same as last year and there wasn’t really anything spectacular unless I wanted to spend over $100 on one item (which was NOT happening – hey, I have rent and bills to pay!). I mean, I liked a lot of the stuff I saw but not enough to cough up the money for them. My friend and I spent most of our time attending events, snapping pics of cosplayers, and lazing around the manga library when we wanted to rest for a bit without going back our hotel (by the way, if you attend AN next year, check out the manga library – it’s a really good chance to look into series you wanted to check out but didn’t want to buy in case you didn’t like it!)
I really enjoyed the time spent taking photos of the cosplayers, but the dealers room was a bust. Thanks for the tip about the manga library, I will give it a shot next time since I can do the anime viewing at home. XD
i’m the ‘link to the past’ link cosplayer with the golden sheild
I loved the Zelda cosplays, hope to see more next year.
nice photos
i was also there that day, but forgot to bring my camera (not a huge camera fan)
lots of good cosplayers this year
thanks for the uploads
i only briefly browsed thru ur comments underneath ur photos
i gotta admit that you might have felt what the power rangers said were rude, but i’m sure they must have been tired
not everyone is dressed up and ready for pictures to be taken every minute
you could probably give a heads up to cosplayers in the future:
- if u r going to cosplay, don’t complain about having pictures taken
i mean that’s better than not being asked at all right haha.
but yah =p
Thanks. I know that they might’ve been tired, but there are much better words to express their fatigue than that.
The 14th picture down with the 3 people is from Persona 4. : )
Thanks for the info Yazz.
Your pics are pretty good! I went to this event,too =) I’m glad many people know about Japanese anime! My favorite characters are Cloud and Kadaj from Final Fantasy Ⅶ =D
Thanks Ryu. Would you happen to be the Ryu in the Street Fighter cosplay photo? ^^ I’m really surprised at the number of cosplayers too, love the passion that filled the air at Anime North.
Great coverage.
Love the zelda pictures and groupy pictures. Zelda is one of my favourite games and it’s just great to see them at con.
I’m surprised there were anything interesting at the stalls which attracted u. I read many ppl left there with loads of stuff.
Did u attend for the full 3 days or just 1 of them?
Thanks. I’m surprised that nothing caught my eyes as well. I only attended Saturday because I had work on Friday and Sunday.
Picture 14. The three guys. Thats Persona 4 cosplay. I’m the one on the right with the yellow tie =D Found your blog of DC.
Nice cosplay, sorry I didn’t know who you guys were. ^^;;; Nice to see another DC member dropping by.
Just to let you know, the Ronald McDonald rape face picture was by Allegna.deviantart.com
:3
Thanks for the info Sachie. :D
This was actually my 7th Anime North this year and I think it was a HUGE improvement after the fiasco from the previous two years. You also have to take into consideration, that Anime North is a not-for profit organization and isn’t company based. Which means no big trade show gimmicks like say compared to Fanexpo, which is backed by huge companies.
I do however agree about the Dealers room, but that’s understandable. With the recession and the hurting anime industry, it may of been harder to get those items. I also found it the most expensive compared to the last seven years I went.
I also wanted to point out that Anime North is the 4th largest in North America falling behind Anime Expo, Otakon and so forth. The reason people love Anime North is because it’s more like a big family and people can enjoy themselves at their own leisure. If you were looking for something more flashy and more sponsored base, then Fanexpo might be for you.
Honestly I hate Fanexpo with a passion because their gutless, greedy pigs that care more about the money then the attendees. -shrug-
I took over 500 pictures and 2 hours of video this year!
And you didn’t go to the dance it seems. It was pure epic.
Like I said in the post, that was just my opinion given that I don’t know much about these anime conventions/events since this was my first. My thought is just that it didn’t meet up to my expectations from what I’ve read about other otaku-related conventions from fellow bloggers. It’s nothing personal, and I’m glad everyone (including myself) had a great time at Anime North.
Congratulations on breaking your convention cherry XD
I think AnimeNorth is probably still bigger than the first convention we had in Vancouver ^^;
Umm…thanks(?) ^^
I’m jaded from work…
Must be a very big event there with bunch of cosplayer around. I did not know that Anime North this epic. Really must get a chance to go there.
I don’t really like some of the cosplayer as there don’t know follow certain rule in making there outfit for example the tengen toppa gurren lagann group picture, you can see that one of the Yoko wear black bra instead of the burning fire bra. Why low quality cosplay is running around these day? T_T
Overall I spotted some good cosplayer around. Do take more pictures next time when you are there.
The cosplays are the highlight of the event.
I care less about how “complete” their cosplay is and just enjoy seeing all these cosplayers. If they were all excellent cosplayers, then you won’t see any “amazing” cosplays…right? ^^;;
I didn’t expect a huge turn out on my blog for the Anime North coverage, I’ll definitely take more photos of the cosplays next time around.
Dude – where’s the other half of the convention. You know, over the bridge? Don’t tell me you didn’t go to the Renaissance Hotel. The anime game shows they do are hilarious (or so I think), there’s a manga library to check out manga (not necessarily new stuff, but you can read the first couple books of a series to decide if you’re interested before buying it), as well as a bunch of video gaming stuff there too. There’s also Yaoi North over there. And panels. Like “how to get a con girlfriend” and it’s counterpart “how NOT to get a con girlfriend”. And the Saturday night masquerade is totally worth seeing, and the late night 404’s comedy was worth it, just to see good looking guys all take off their pants at the end. If you’re into concerts, there was a couple things going on during the day as well.
Did you see that heavy metal guy? It was a guy walking around with a massive gun about half again his size.
I did go to the Renaissance Hotel, but I didn’t take much pictures there. Not too interested in the Yaoi stuff, but I think there was a Yuri room in there as well. Didn’t go in the manga library since I’m not into mangas just yet, if I start I’ll most likely start with the Japanese stuff.
Like I said, I didn’t stick around for the events in the evening which might’ve made the convention more worthwhile. Nonetheless, the cosplays outside was definitely worth the trip down the 401. ^^
Oh yeah, by the way – this years Anime North wasn’t as bigtime as it has been. Less major line ups, fewer sellers, not as much recent stuff. The dealer’s room was smaller this year. Recession sucks, doesn’t it?
Not sure how much of it can be blamed on the recession, but recession does suck.
Your “two holy warriors” are Brother Petros and Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood.
Thanks for the info nambnb. :D
hey I was at AN09 and was filming cosplay interviews with a friend, im not done editing it but here is AN08, my 1st time there http://www.vimeo.com/5151632
Great video. I’ll look forward to your AN09 coverage. :D
I have a request. i love to watch cosplay so if you could please make a torrent of your photo collection of anime north 2009 full size pictures. please please please
I’d like to say awesome pictures and I just found your site a few days ago on my search for good figure review sites (I just recently really started getting into figures (mostly revoltech) and I think I know who the two are in the one photo though it’s been a while.
The photo where you posted ‘Two holy warriors poses before battle. I don’t know who they are though.’ I’m pretty sure are from Trinity Blood. The silver haired one being Abel and the hooded one being brother Petros. I’m pretty sure on it now.
Just thought I’d tell you :).
Thanks Candy, welcome to the world of figure collecting. I’m glad you like the pictures. :)
Also, I’ll be sure to make the changes.