May30

Anime North Coverage 2011

By , posted under Anime Conventions

100% sushi-fueled cosplayer photo-stalking

I’ve just managed to get home alive from Anime North, probably Canada’s (or at least, Toronto’s) biggest anime convention. It’s 3 days long and is filled with otaku who are 10x more crazy about anime than you are, no matter what stage you’re in. It’s a hectic place saturated with people, colours, excitement, and a whole lot of merchandise that will drain your bank account. Maybe some of you go to cons, some of you don’t, but I’m going to try and give you the highlights of what it’s like to get out there and push through throngs of people in insane costumes all day. It’s like all the visual amusement without the body odour! Convenience at its best!

THE ARRIVAL

It is a bad, bad day to be an employee at Harvey’s.

The great thing about Anime North is that you are bombarded with crowds of otaku the moment you get off the bus. The akatsuki swarms around Harvey’s, Tim Horton’s is surrounded by at least 5 Naruto’s and there are lines of Hatsune Miku as far as the eye can see in front of ice cream trucks. Half of the shock is just walking outside to get to the bloody entrance and seeing all these cosplayers: some magnificent and others, well, they AIM for magnificence, I guess. It’s all about the atmosphere of feeling “unified” with your fellow otaku, which is very hard to put in words. Just know that the first I went I started screeching like a parrot and hitting my friend in excitement. All. day.

ARTIST’S ALLEY/DEALER’S ROOM

Some of the swag I got for myself and/or my friends

I’ll get back to cosplay later, I promise. Skipping the waiting in line part, the first thing you see when you get in the building is row upon row of DeviantART artists sitting in booths and selling their art. Pins, posters, keychains – you name it! It’s a bit expensive at times, but the art is often worth it. For whatever reason, this section often features wrestling. Yes, wrestling. I WISH I KNEW. Attached is the dealer’s room, where all your anime and manga goods are. Pro tip: go early on Friday if you want to snatch up all the good manga before it’s gone. It’s obscenely cheap, and they have a huge selection. Want neon green dog ears? Red contact lenses? Spikes on spikes on spikes on a collar? You’re also covered. They literally have everything.

PANELS

I didn’t want to take a creeper pic inside the panel, so enjoy MOANING LESQ instead

Across the street is a hotel in which there are panels (also, a maid cafe. Maybe next year, guys). You go into a room and hear about 4 otaku talk about a certain topic for a while. It’s like a podcast except you see the people, it’s live, and you can interact. To be honest, most panels at AN are kind of lame since they’re all hosted by anti-social otaku and ANYONE can be a panelist as long as they e-mail the dude in charge. Nonetheless, I went to a panel about Food in Anime which raised some interesting points such as how the food preferences of a character often define them, food-based anime like Toriko, gender roles and cooking…It had a lot of awkward pauses, but at the very least it gave me a GREAT editorial topic *wink wink*

Aside from panels, the hotel is also used for letting people watch anime. I watched some Steins;Gate, Hanasaku Iroha and .hack//Quantum. All of which I’ve seen already and like (Hato and I command you to watch Quantum if you haven’t already) but it’s more fun with more people. They also played My Little Pony, but I missed it. XD

PHOTOSHOOTS

Cosplaying is really, really fun. It’s expensive and I suck at it, but I don’t really care. You’ll find all the best cosplayers either outside, waiting patiently for people to take photos, or in the hotel. If you end up cosplaying as someone from a popular series, you can always participate in a photoshoot! This year was my first photoshoot, so hopefully you don’t mind a little extra Durarara!! love in this post. Special thanks to my buddy for taking photos of everyone with my camera! (Fun bonus! Guess which Izaya I am!)

DRRR!! photoshoot: Show ▼

COSPLAY

DAWWW LITTLE KIDDY COSPLAY

And now what you’ve all been waiting for. You don’t care about the raves, how I made new friends or even how temperamental the weather was. Just sit back, click the spoiler tags, and enjoy some fanservice. If my crop of screenshots weren’t enough, slide on over to Daifuuku and read Orange-sama’s post. Overcooled over and out! (BONUS! Try to guess who everyone is cosplaying as!)

Cosplay Pic Barrage!: Show ▼

About

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
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80 Responses to “Anime North Coverage 2011”

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  1. Miyu says:
    May 30, 2011 at 10:24 pm
    POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments

    Thanks for sharing! 😀

    I’d really like to be there T.T
    We have the Anime Festival Asia here but the range of products available is rather pathetic :\
    Although we got to see SCANDAL. 8D

    Reply
    • baka_girl says:
      May 31, 2011 at 1:18 am
      POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 107 comments

      Hey, if you talk about AFA, don’t forget to mention Kaname-sama and May’n!! 😀

      Reply
      • xMiyu says:
        May 31, 2011 at 12:06 pm
        POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments

        Yup hehe Kaname is so smexy x.x
        He looks cool/hot/awesome even without trying to be 😛 HIS CLOUD C

        Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:53 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      No problem! I took even more pictures than this, but these are the good ones XD

      Awww, at least you get to be amongst other otaku for the convention though. SCANDAL is a major plus too, gaahhh, so lucky!

      Reply
  2. umi_no_mizu says:
    May 30, 2011 at 10:33 pm
    POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 58 comments

    Gah i so would have gone but i was working all weekend T__T

    I think i would have died from happiness seeing massive drrr cosplay like that XD

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:54 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      I had to take time off work to go actually..ehehe.

      The DRRR!! shoot was good fun, although we didn’t have a Mikado XD

      Reply
  3. pp says:
    May 30, 2011 at 11:12 pm
    POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 29 comments

    aww you should have gotten more stuff like fan arts.. i try to get like a few fan arts and stuff whenever i go to convections

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:55 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      I don’t really want more posters in my room though. I just bought some phone charms from the artists.

      Reply
      • pp says:
        June 2, 2011 at 12:51 am
        POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 29 comments

        T__T these days phone makers do not make phones with those tiny slots for you to hang phone charms.. i cant decorate my iphone with em like i can on my nokia back in the days…

        Reply
        • Overcooled says:
          June 2, 2011 at 8:40 am
          POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

          Ahh that’s true. D: My phone has a hidden one when you remove the cover for the battery, luckily enough.

          Reply
  4. Kyokai says:
    May 31, 2011 at 12:09 am
    POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments

    Woo~ Awesome coverage, Cools. :3

    My favourite has to be the Naruto kiddy ones. SO CUTE! And of course, Izaya/Shizuo orgy! xD Also, this reminds me of all the pixelated censors that come at weird times in animu and the lonely deatheater hollow was so foreveralone.jpg. ;3;

    Btw, is that a Drr dj I spy? xD

    Reply
    • Alynn says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:45 am
      POWUH: 400-499 with 406 comments

      They remind me of the pixel censors as well! I think those people are cosplaying minecraft.

      Reply
      • Overcooled says:
        May 31, 2011 at 3:57 am
        POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

        Thank you very much, Kyokai! And yes, that’s a Shizaya doujin…*cough*

        I saw those kids at the Naruto photoshoot and just had to take photos of them. Awww~

        Haha, the pixel-y duo are from Minecraft, yeah.

        Reply
  5. baka_girl says:
    May 31, 2011 at 1:29 am
    POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 107 comments

    Aww, nice coverage! I really wish I can go to (but that’s just impossible :p)

    Let me guess a few cosplayer ^^
    This one is cardboard robot from Yotsuba&!
    This one is Black Rock Shooter
    And the last pic was obviously Sailormoon :p

    Reply
    • Sachie says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:30 am
      POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments

      Hey! 😀

      I was cosplaying Black Gold Saw, from the same series as Black Rock Shooter XD

      Reply
      • Overcooled says:
        May 31, 2011 at 3:59 am
        POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

        You’re a bit off. The cardboard folk are from Minecraft and as Sachie said, the second one you linked is actually Black Gold Saw.

        I must say, that Black Gold Saw cosplay is fantastic. Thanks for letting me take your picture hehe~

        Reply
        • Toori-chan says:
          May 31, 2011 at 9:15 am
          POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments

          Just wanted to know. How many BRS cosplayers were there? (BRS fan side of me doing the talk here XD)

          Reply
  6. Bass says:
    May 31, 2011 at 2:01 am
    POWUH: Metanorn Regular and Bassun-yo~ with 118 comments

    OMG Harveysssss I’ve heard so much about them from Robyn in HIMYM haha.

    And wow, those are a lot of Shizuo cosplays 0_o Guess they really need to announce that second season already

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 4:00 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      LOL of course you comment on Harvey’s. Only you, Bass.

      There were indeed a lot of Shizuos and Izayas. Not as much as there were Mikus though…<_<

      Reply
  7. Dan-go says:
    May 31, 2011 at 2:02 am
    POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments

    GLOOOOOMY BEAAAR

    Reply
  8. Dan-go says:
    May 31, 2011 at 2:10 am
    POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments

    HOLY CRAP PNS COSPLAY HAWT, dunno, heavy from TF2 and something else, minecraft, Naruto, cliche angel anime (i dunno), gundam, black rock shooter, no face, nyan cat ( http://nyan.cat/?f=1 ), jack sparrow…and…uhhh…?, CRAP I SHOULD KNOW THIS ONE PS3 character from Katamari Dasomething,missing no ash and evees, Dark Magician, Sailor Moon, anyone wanna help fill the gaps?

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 4:03 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      Very nice *claps* and it’s Katamari Damacy, a great game~~

      You’re mostly missing the penguin and the character with the team fortress character. They’re both from games, ironically. As for the cliche angel anime, I’m not sure if it’s from anything or not…lol

      Reply
  9. Snowley says:
    May 31, 2011 at 2:35 am
    POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 199 comments

    Convention, haven’t been at any since winter… and this is always so much fun~~

    Haha, even nyancat got a cosplay. Cool meme os cool.

    Reply
  10. Amutofan123 says:
    May 31, 2011 at 2:50 am
    POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 304 comments

    Aww, I wish I could go to a con! I love the little Naruto kids! So cute!

    Reply
  11. Alynn says:
    May 31, 2011 at 3:28 am
    POWUH: 400-499 with 406 comments

    Sobbb I was so sad I wasn’t able to see you askgrjhqe. Anime north was so fun! Also the Black Gold Saw Pic you have is of my friend. : D
    I watched Summer Wars, it was so good asfjhqe.

    I’m suffering from after-con depression at the moment. D;

    Reply
    • Alynn says:
      May 31, 2011 at 3:56 am
      POWUH: 400-499 with 406 comments

      Guessing game time 😀 I actually can guess more than not, so I’ll go in order of pics
      Show ▼

      Reply
      • Overcooled says:
        May 31, 2011 at 4:07 am
        POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

        Awww, next time I should just say “I WILL BE HERE, AT THIS TIME, COME AND FIND ME” because I missed seeing Orange-sama too…D: I’m feeling after-con depression too. I have to go to class soon…

        Woot, nice one! As from Dan-go’s answer, the TF person is Heavy (yeah, I only knew they were from Team Fortress but not the character lol)

        I’ll wait and see if anyone fills in the blanks for the Naruto cosplays XD

        Reply
  12. Orange-sama says:
    May 31, 2011 at 4:49 am
    POWUH: iLurker with 16 comments

    HOLY ORANGES! I didn’t see the Minecraft people! That would’ve been epic!
    MOANING LESQ! XD Hilarious!

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 10:58 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      It’s hard to see everyone in a con this big @_@ but the Minecraft people were indeed glorious

      Reply
  13. TSRL says:
    May 31, 2011 at 5:03 am
    POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 24 comments

    Was planning to go… but it ended up not happening -__-
    Though, next year… everything is now possible thanks to the fact that I won’t be in highschool anymore (YURAH!)
    If ever I need a place to stay, and I don’t want a motel, would you be kind enough to offer me a place to stay XDDD Joke joke

    BTW: I totally know which Izaya you were XDD Hope more people do recognize you XDD

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 11:01 am
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      Awww. Hopefully you can come next year! We actually might need people to help pitch in for a hotel room though XD

      Haha, I wonder which one people think I am? Although to be fair there are only 2 fem Izayas in the shoot XD

      Reply
  14. Elyon says:
    May 31, 2011 at 7:04 am
    POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments

    That looks like it was fun 😀 So many amazing cosplays (and a swarm of Shizuo’s O.O )

    Reply
  15. Foshizzel says:
    May 31, 2011 at 7:09 am
    POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments

    Wow! So many Shizuo’s!

    Looks like you had a great time thanks for sharing all the cool pictures!

    Reply
  16. chimney says:
    May 31, 2011 at 7:36 am
    POWUH: iLurker with 19 comments

    Awesome! I love the Gloomy Bear you bought! I almost got that one at Anime Boston, but ended up going with one I already had in a different color. The Black Gold Saw and Godot cosplayers are amazing.

    Reply
    • Overcooled says:
      May 31, 2011 at 9:03 pm
      POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments

      Thanks~ I’ve been dragging that bear all around the house with me, it’s just so cute.

      Reply
  17. Karakuri says:
    May 31, 2011 at 8:57 am
    POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments

    Whoawhoawhoa. Someone actually cosplayed Missingno? Anime North looks awesome!

    Reply
  18. amado says:
    May 31, 2011 at 10:10 am
    POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments

    wish there was something like that near here…

    Reply
  19. Moni Chan says:
    May 31, 2011 at 10:58 am
    POWUH: 400-499 with 489 comments

    omg anime north was epic my friends and i started the dance line again. V and luigi were awesome. i huged pedo bear and he slaped my ass -______- and i meet a guy that was in my kindergarden class.

    Reply
  20. Hato-kun says:
    May 31, 2011 at 5:12 pm
    POWUH: 400-499 and Manly Russians lover with 401 comments

    Dat BGS.

    Reply
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