By
The-Real-Link

Traveling to Toronto for my third Anime North was again exceptionally fortunate for me this year. Coming literally off Anime Central the weekend prior and then traveling out of town to Ontario starts to make you feel like you’re living from a suitcase instead of a home at times. Never mind any parental discussion on the matter but I know I had funds in place so it was not a problem.

Having last been to Anime North in 2006, I was curious to see what had changed with the convention, what stayed the same, and what improved or degraded. The easy answer is “all of the above” but it gives little substance to a convention report! No, for this year thankfully, we were not randomly searched or detailed, we were not investigated like fugitive ex-cons running across the border to an anime convention – all was well.

Anime North started off very simply in fact. Went to Ben (Bar1Scorpio’s) house for the usual fun of packing and loading art and other supplies as well as some merchandise for my friend Morgan (Protoblues or Catboi Blues as he is known online) as they both had artist alley tables for the weekend. We left early Friday morning and made it up to the convention around 3pm. Due to how Anime North starts later on Fridays (and their AA / dealer’s accordingly having extended hours), we made great time and had no problems. Dropped off the luggage at the Toronto Congress Centre and parked next door at the Radisson. Thankfully our hotel room was on the second floor – it made bringing Link gear in and out very easy amongst other things. Roomates for this con included Kim (Nyaonyaoneko), Melissa (Hikaruchan), Tracey (_dejiko_) and Ben and myself. As a note, Melissa also works on Press many times for her own photography – feel free to check out her coverage as well at icosplay.com!

Friday of the convention consisted of heading right to the Doubletree host hotel and stopping at the press office for the badge. Although there was some confusion of not finding me in the system, it was eventually sorted out and things worked out fine. From there I again did the usual excursion of roaming the halls and taking photos. Frequently moving between the host hotel and the TCC to explore both venues and actually catch some events like wrestling (amongst others) held in the large convention center made this con incredibly fun, and the cosplays seemed not only to be in ever larger numbers but to a higher quality than in past years in my opinion.

Due to how things are structured at Anime North, their Masquerade is actually Friday night and more of a walk-on and shorter skit competition is Saturday night. Normally I’ve attended only Saturday but this year I leapt right into coverage and went to Friday’s competition. Overall, there were a good deal of skits that had solid effort and the rare couple that were exceptionally well done and funny. If it must be said than unfortunately there is still a dearth of Yaoi combined with Kingdom Hearts combined with dancing acts that made up the meat and potatoes of this year’s masquerade. Now, I might be mistaken in calling Friday’s event the true masquerade but I was not mistaken when it came to (for the most part) acts I’ve seen done before…. Badly.

That does not mean to say the show was horrible. No, in fact it looked somewhat well managed, lit to an average amount with a simple black backdrop, and audio / technical was fine after some tweaking. Many of the skits were also enjoyable of their own effort, it was just that I might have seen the same thing or close to it at say, three other events prior. The material was not new but it was great to see people perform their parts well at any rate. Awards were plastered to some of the meeting rooms at the far end of the hotel the next morning but I never got a chance to make it over to see who had won (though communication told me that the few skits with above-average effort took the prizes which did not surprise me).

Saturday marked by far one of the most beautiful convention days in recent memory. Clear blue sky, comfortable temperatures, and cosplays a plenty. For most of the morning and afternoon I was outside and had an enjoyable time photographing and stopping at the dealer’s room. By Saturday afternoon I had already changed into Link and took a short while out of the day to meet with some very special friends “IRL”. Two friends of mine named Ian and Mikka whom I had known for over three years while playing the online MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, were actually from the outskirts of Toronto but had never attended Anime North. After some encouragement before the convention, they attended and were shocked to see it was different than the stereotypical “Star Wars / Geek Con” that they thought it would be. They were so enthralled that they should be back next year now for all three days so there you go Anime North – two more happy attendees added to your numbers! *end plug*. Also I was able to shoot my one private shoot for the convention which was the huge Eternal Sonata group created by most of our roommates as well as Rogue and Flexi (Melissa and Trubie), so that was very fun.

Saturday evening was spent just roaming around with Mikka, Ian, and myself as Link. Though not much was done shooting-wise, it was a good time to simply take an evening to relax (as much as can be done when wearing the full Link costume), and hang out with friends.

Sunday was a more thorough day for this convention as I had to wait until both Ben and Morgan tore down their booths at Artist Alley for the evening. This gave me time to continue shooting for Consplayers on Sunday and actually it was a good thing I did as there were still a tremendous amount of cosplayers roaming the halls and streets. During the afternoon I also caught a Photography Panel run by none other than the exceptional Amanda (Elemental) who used to be a representative for Consplayers Photography, along with many other well-known convention photographers from the Toronto area. Amanda’s coverage can now be found at www.elemental-photography.net. Even as a “veteran” con-goer and perhaps above-average photographer, I still learned many techniques and tips to use for my work down the road. Thanks to all you guys who worked with a packed room and a receptive crowd. Around 5pm, the convention had finally ended and I assisted Ben and Morgan in moving merchandise to their cars. The ride home was the same as how it was when we came to AN with just Ben and I chatting and having a good time on the way home.

Overall AN continues to uniquely impress me in how things are done for a Canadian convention. There is just as much planning and commitment to judging, security, and everything else just like a convention in the United States but there seems to simply be little to non-existent drama or communication breakdowns compared to other events. Things for the most part (of the little in the way of events that I actually attended) seemed to be solidly run and basically on-time. Now that doesn’t always explain why half the people seem like they can speak French, nor why they have to use the Metric System for stuff, but after all jest is done, they run a very solid and fun event worth looking into attending! Be sure to jump on your Passports, folks, as you’ll need them by the time next Anime North rolls around. Barring any border situations though, this continues to be a very fun event with plenty to do for all ages; a neat table-top gaming area, expanded programming which utilized yet another local hotel for gaming and panels, two events for the masquerade, a large artist alley and dealer’s room, and much more.

Overall Grade: B+