Anime North (for Canadians)

Is anyone here going to Anime North in May? I'll be living in the Toronto area during that time and I'm wondering if any Gotwooters will be attending. I can get a group discount (from another forum) if I buy tickets before mid-March.

I'll likely be going, however I usually just go for one day. Any more than that is too much for me.

Do you know what goes on there? I've never been to these conventions before. Do you just walk around checking people's tables?

I probably wouldn't buy merchandise, but if the price is right...(could use a poster or two)

If it's a convention, there will likely be different lectures, group debates, cosplay competitions, and other preplanned program each day. So, you'll have to look through the program no doubt posted at some point at their web site and pick the most interesting day and the most interesting events you wish to check out. And naturally reserve some time for that merchandise checking (somewhat lots of time because moving can be slow due to the dense throng of people milling around). And eating is nice as well...

Well, I've been a couple times, so I'll give you the run-down from my point of view.

Firstly, one of the biggest draws for me is the dealers room, filled with people selling anime and manga-related items. A lot of it is overpriced money-sucking garbage, however you can sometimes find really good deals on dvd's, wallscrolls, manga, etc. I also like to look at the little toys and accessories they're selling and think so myself, "I bet I could make that...." You'll likely have to wait in a line to get in this room (but not TOO long of a line) and it's pretty crowded since they pack a lot of tables into a small space. Any tables offering really good deals you'll have to fight your way to approach because they'll be surrounded by throngs of people.

Off to the side of this room is usually the artist's alley, where you have your skilled, and not so skilled, anime and manga artists. They'll be selling artwork, taking commissions, and being bored looking for someone to talk to. Some of them are known to give some free sketches/stickers/what-have-you to people that stop and spend a while chatting with them.

There will be a large auditorium style room where they hold the Saturday masquerade. I went to this once, since my friends that I went with were cosplaying and had joined the competition. It was nice to see some of the costumes one at a time, but some of the people had decided to do short skits "in character" and they were pretty awful. When I was there, they showed AMV's on the screen in this room during down-time.

There's the 'official' events, which are on the website, and the non-stop anime that shows in various rooms around the facility throughout the con. Each room will have a schedule posted outside of which episodes of which animes it's showing each hour. These are great if you need to get away from the masses of people, or just need a place to take a nap where it's dark and you won't be bothered.

Then there's the requisite video games. Usually DDR makes it in somewhere.

So, it's kinda cool, but in all honesty, I like CNAnime better since it combines with a bunch of other cons for a more diverse event, with more to see and do.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm mostly interested in posters/wall scrolls. I assume they have that stuff on sale every day, right?

Been to both, CNanime is definitely better. It was boring though, I mean if you are just there to look at cosplays, then its cool. The things for sale are usually left overs from previous years. Artist's den is something to look forward to. That's about it.

If all you want is to buy posters and wall scrolls, I usually get mine at AnimeXtreme in downtown Toronto. Last I checked their wallscrolls were $20, and you could get three small posters for $10. You won't find them too much cheaper than that at the con, and if you do, it'll be the ones they're trying to get rid of that no one wants to buy. I guess there will be a bit more variety at the con too, if you're looking for a wallscroll of a more obscure series.

I'll have to see. The deadline for group discount registration is this Friday and I already got two friends to go, so I might as well go too.