Ahh, Anime North, my first big con. I have been to one called C-kon in South Bend, Indiana before, but it only started two years ago and is really small. So I was really excited to go to AN. Now, why is it that when I live in Ohio I wanted to attend one in Toronto, Canada? Simple, for the past few years I have been visiting Lelola.net and the webmistress would always go to AN, posting pictures and fun experiences she had while there. It sounded like so much fun! And so, for over a year I planned this trip. Why over a year? Well, I had originally wanted to go last year, but I knew that was an impossible goal. So I kept mentioning it to my sister that we should go in 2004. I don't think she much wanted to at first (she's directionally challenged). ^_^;; But I think after attending C-kon in 2003 she was more up for the idea. When my roomie found us a cheap hostel online ($18 per person per night!), I finally convinced her (and my parents) that we should go. Of course, that added up to $140 Canadian for just the hostel and the con itself. So it was still a bit pricey. However, I then heard of a contest online giving away free weekend tickets. Saying "what the heck", I gave it a shot and won! You have no idea how happy that made me. ^_^ So everyone should check out J-MIX, an online anime radio station that airs on Mondays (when I find the site, I'll add a link). ^_~ Thank you, Ina-chan!! And so, our adventure began...
~ Friday ~
After arriving rather late and standing in a LONG line, we eventually got in around 7 pm on Friday. We decided to check out the Red and White Show that was going on for a bit. It was alright, but we quickly got antsy and decided to move on. We wandered around the convention center for a bit, called home (since we had forgot to earlier ^_^;;), checked out the Artist's Alley (which had a lot of cool stuff!), and then headed back to the main stage to see the end of the cosplay skit contest. We soon realized that unless the people had recorded their skit first, we didn't have a prayer of hearing them. ^_^;; Some of them were pretty funny, though. Our favorite (of what we saw) was Miroku (from Inuyasha) telling the audience of the 10 Commandments of Con Going. Rather humorous. It had rules about weapons, glomping people, "Sailor Man", stuff like that, lol. We then stayed to watch the AMV contest. Out of 20 there were about 4 we liked. ^_^;; One was a rather artistic Inuyasha video done in mostly black and white. Another (which I liked better, but my sis didn't) was Kingdom Hearts to "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. Ok, it sounds kinda cheesy, but they usd the available footage very well! I was impressed. Best KH AMV I've seen, I think. Another one was a random dance video (which won best overall) because the effects were just, er, wow, fast. Not sure how else to put it. Let's just say they warned the audience that if anyone couldn't handle strobe lighting, this wasn't for them. ^_^;; And, our favorite which won judge's choice, was an Escaflowne video. But not any romantic HitomixVan video. Oh no, in fact Hitomi was barely in it (wahoo!! lol). It featured Van and Merle and was to the song "Oh I Just Can't Wait To Be King" from The Lion King. ::snicker:: Hahahaha, it was hilarious!! I'm sure it'll be at animemusicvideos.org (if it's not already) because it's by a familiar face around those parts, Daniel Chang. If you can, I highly suggest you check out this video. It's great. ^_^ Anyway, after that, we went to our hostel for the night.
Night one at our hostel was..... interesting. First of all, due to the one way streets (and TROLLEYS!!! they are EVIL!!!), way took the long way there... Anyway, we finally found the ONLY parking spot left, got all our stuff out, and decided to get our water from our ice chest (which we decided to leave in the trunk. Well, the ice had melted to it, so my sis used her key to knock the ice off. Well, when she went to lock the car doors, the key didn't fit! After already having a rough night, that was not what she needed, until by chance (when I dropped the keys...) I noticed that she had been trying the wrong key. Poor sis. It's funny now, but it sure wasn't then. ^_^;; (I hope she doesn't kill me for putting this in here...) Anyway, we then check in, when the guy at the desk tells us that we aren't allowed to park on the street! Realizing we had no where to park, he let us into this little back patio thing that had a large wooden gate (with padlock) closing it off from the street, even though he wasn't supposed to. That really was so nice of him, and he even told us that we could come back the next night and park there again! ^_^ So we were guarrenteed a good dpot that was always locked! It couldn't have worked out better. Well, we finally got our room (see pictures below). It wasn't the nicest, but it suited our purposes and even had cable TV, lol. Not to mention the shower worked better than at some hotels we'd stayed in. Anyway, after I stayed up a bit longer to finish our costumes (no, they were not done by this time ^_^;;), I went to bed and hoped I'd be fine on Saturday with only about 3 or 4 hours of sleep.
~ Saturday ~
The next morning, we packed all our stuff and left for the convention. Mind you, we had to drive through downtown Toronto to get there. In other words, it took us about 45 minutes to get there. We did get to drive through China Town, though, which was pretty interesting (my sis later made me take some pictures when we were stopped, and at one stop there just happened to be a China Town Dollar Mart which we found amusing, lol; I mean, of all the things available to take pictures of, we stopped in front of a dollar mart, lol). Anyway, we eventually got there, and my sis had to go to a weapons seminar. Since I needed her to spray my hair before I could change, I had to wait with her. But it was taking so long for everyone to get checked that we left and decided she could come back when she was done spraying. ^_^;; The problem with that was that we had forgetten to bring a plastic trash bag with us!! After trying muliple things, my sis eventually checked the bathroom's trash can (an old cleaning ladies trick, lol). Lo and behold, there were trash bags under the one being used. And so my hair got sprayed, which took forever, btw, and turned her fingers yellow, my sis left to get checked, and I got dressed. By this point I wished I had just left my hair brown, even if Ed is a blonde. ::shrugs:: Ah well, what was done, was done. She came back and we finished up getting her ready, and we were ready to take on day 2 of Anime North!
After eating and walking around a bit, we made our first visit to the Renaissance hotel where the rest of the convention was located. We walked there (a good 10 minutes) to find where it was so we could drive ourselves the next time (did I mention directions aren't our strong point?). ^_^;; It was so cool seeing tons of people (most cosplaying) just walking across this bridge all day, might I add. Very cool, lol. There we listened to some of the J-Idol prelims, but that was unfortunately cut short. We were there, just hanging out listening to people sing a bunch of familiar (to me, anyway, Kasenai Tsumi was sung first (first FMA opening), a favorite of mine ^_^) Japanese songs, when we got thirsty. When I told my sis they had water we could buy, we decided to split a bottle. That's when we noticed that we had a problem: our Canadian money (a LOT, might I add) was missing! We immidiately left to search the only place we could think it would be: a bag in our car. We took the bus back this time, though, since we didn't feel like walking. Luckily, once we got to our car, we realized it was indeed in that bag. ::whew!:: We still aren't really sure why it was there, but it was. Anyway, since we were back at the convention center, we decided to check out the dealer's room. It was HUGE!! Only problem was that it pretty much only had anime and manga. Okay, yes that's good, but I was hoping for some CDs or posters or at least a cool keychain! Over the weekend we ended up buying a fan and wallscroll (for our apartment at school next year, we are going for an oriental theme with our two roommates) and a Naruto poster for myself (since I hadn't yet gotten one and I was jealous of my sister's, lol). They had a SWEET towel, hanging cloth thing of FMA with a scene from the first ending (or rather, a similar scene showing both Ed and Al in the same shot looking out rather than at the ground/away) that I wanted SOOOOOOOO badly!!! But it was $139.99..... >_< Why did it have to be so freakin' expensive??? And it was about the only FMA thing there! GRR!! ::ahem:: Anyways... We then went back to the Ren. to check out the Angelic Layer doll contest that was going on. We were supposed to have an hour to design a doll using the given materials, but there wasn't much left except army stuff. ^_^;; We didn't have time to finish, though, since we had walked in mid-hour, but what we had so far is here. After, we walked around some more, ate dinner, and decided to get in line for the Masquerade. Unfortunately, trouble seemed to follow us everywhere...
Upon trying to get in line, we were (rather rudely) informed that the line was closed and no one else would be able to get in to see the Masquerade. This, of course, pissed us off, along with many others. So we sat and waited, funing and trying to convince the Klingon guards that we should be allowed in (not JUST us, anyone that wanted to see it). After a while, we gave up and went for a walk (to the bathroom mostly ^_^;;). When we finally came back, people were lining up again! They had calculated wrong or something and were letting more people in. So we quickly got in line and got fairly decent seats (due to the front rows being forced to leave no empty spaces in between and no one else moving into the ones that were left). And after about an hour (yes, it started that late due to the complications), we were finally getting ready to start. The first group got on stage ("German Hamtaro") and began their little cosplay. All of a sudden, right in the middle, everything went black. We had blown a fuse. Personally, we found this really humorous, which is good, I guess. I found the timing hilarious (right in the middle of that annoying theme song!). Well, they eventually started screaming at us to shut up, which didn't help, of course, but after several minutes (and people getting called to the back by their parents ^_^;;), we were ready to start again. The skits themselves were mostly lacking, but some were funny. The Pocky boxes were awesome, lol! Their was also one about two villans, one trying to give the other an annoying sidekick. When the one asks why the other doesn't keep her, she replys "I already have a sidekick" and out walks a person dressed as a "Sidekick", one of the packets of instant noodles you can buy at the store. ^_^;; It was really funny (but perhaps you had to be there). There was also a DBZ one which for the most part wasn't anything exciting. The "plot" was that the good guys had beaten all the bad guys and so were left to fight each other. They had a backdrop and everything. The funny part was when two of them went "super saiyan", in other words, they took out colored hairspray and sprayed it in there hair while growling and making weird faces, lol. Then, they had this light (one of the ones shaped like a ball with a bunch of different colors in it) that was suspended from a "fishing pole" (held by a person behind the backdrop, of course) that one of the DBZ people used as their "ultimate attack!". So it (REALLY slowly) made it's way to where the other were huddled and "blew them up". Sorry, it sounds kinda dumb, and it was, but it was really quite funny. ^_^;; We also got mooned by a Sasuke that had the sharingan symbol painted on his butt. ^_^;; There were so many skits, though... Over 100! We left around there, though. Not only were we getting kinda tired, but the announcers were so ANNOYING! This guy had a girl with a REALLY high and squeaky voice "helping" him pronouce the Japanese names. The sad thing is that I think the guy could have done better. Heck, they should of just had someone from the audience go up and help them! They couldn't say Kinomoto ("Kimoto...") or even Sakura, for crying out loud! It was bad. Anyway, we then stopped by the dance for about 4 songs (do you know how AWESOME it is to hear Outlaw Star's opening theme blaring throughout a room??), danced a bit (yes, for all my friends out there, I DANCED; don't believe me? ask my sis), including jioning a really long train that didn't really work so well, and then decided to leave.
When we got back to our hostel, my sis made me (who happened to be wearing the fake looking hair, leather pants, and long coat) go up to the door and ask the guy to open the back gate while scary people stood not far away. >_< As I walked towards the hostel, this guy was like, "Yo, girlfriend." ...I just kept walking... I got to the door, and when the guy came out (it was locked already), he looked at me strangely and was like "May I help you?", sounding very annoyed. I told him that I was one of two girls that had stayed there last night and parked in the back and that he probably didn't recognize me since I was in costume. ^_^;; He then realized who I was and let my sister in. I really think he thought I was some kind of freaky prostitute or something... ::sigh:: Anyway, I took a shower and then went to bed.
~ Sunday ~
On Sunday, we woke up, left our hostel for the last time, and returned to the convention. We hung around the dealer's room a bit, peeked in on the Japanese guest's (Atsuko Enomoto) concert, and then went to check out Marmalade Boy in one of the veiwing rooms (my sis wanted to see if she liked it since she had been thinking of buying the manga someday, let's just say I don't think she will ^_^;;). While watching the overly dramatic teen romance (which could have been so much funnier), we started hearing shouts coming from the hall. I decided to check it out, not knowing at the time that a Naruto discussion was going on in a room practically right next to ours. I came out to a giant circle of people gathering around a Kakashi cosplayer being pinned to the wall by an Iruka cosplayer... A yaoi girl's dream come true, judging by the squealing. ::ahem:: Anyway, I stuck around a bit since most of them seemed to have nice costumes and not all the picture opportunities were yaoi. And then, the best Sasuke I had yet seen that weekend showed up! Had I been one of those weird fangirly type people, I would have glomped him then and there because he seriously made a great Sasuke (wish his picture had turned out better, but he didn't seem much into the picture thing and they started doing some SasuNaru...). Anyway, I then went back to MB. After that, we headed back to the dealer's room for the last time (hoping for some end of the weekend deals, and there were some, but nothing we wanted) and were then on our way back to Ohio.
And that was our weekend in a nutshell. Ok, a rather large nutshell, but oh well. And now for some interesting random moments!
Yaoi Fangirl ~ We first met Yaoi Fangirl in the dealer's room on Saturday. She came running up to me going "Oh my gosh! Ed!! Can I take a picture with you!" kinda thing. She was dressed as a normal school girl (think Catholic school, or just see the picture below) with the words "Yaoi Fangirl" and random doujinshi images of SasuNaru, AkiHika, and Taito (among others) taped to her shirt. She seemed so excited to be there and couldn't stop talking about her favorite scenes with both Ed and Haku. ^_^;; She then had my sister take a picture of me crouched down (since I was too tall) pouting while she stood next to me and made fun of how short I was (FMA fans will get it). She then proceeded to talk to us about her favorite anime moments (all of which involved two boys which she interpretted as "love"). The funny thing is that even though I'm really not into that, she was just so happy and excited to be there that she was a lot of fun to hang out with, lol. We ran into her again on Sunday and asked if we could take a picture with her. She again seemed just so happy. Yaoi Fangirl, we may have many differences in opinion, but it was nice meeting you! ^_^
ACFTM (and the other Ed) ~ Being a member of Gaia (see Links page), I have gotten to meet a few fun people through the cosplay guild I joined. One of them has the screenname ACFTM. She was one of the three of us going to AN. On Saturday, my sister and I were going to leave the convention center, when I heard someone calling out "Ed!" I turned and this girl asked me if I knew of Gaia. I was confused at first until she asked if I had a screenname of Gwydion. I was like "Oh!" and noticed that she was wearing a name tag with her screenname on it. So we chatted it up a bit, asked how each other liked the con, if the other was going to the Masquerade, etc, when another Ed came up to me. She asked if she could see my watch because she was curious how other Ed cosplayers ahd made theirs. Well, I really didn't have one, so I told her that I wasn't taking any chances showing anyone since last time Winry almost destroyed it (FMA fans will understand...). But of course my sis has to blow my cover ::coughyeahrightcough:: and say, "Don't let her fool you! She doesn't have one!" So we talked a little bit and I decided to get a picture with me, ACFTM, the other Ed, and her friend (Duo). They then left and ACFTM and I started talking again. She then pointed out some giant walking Pocky boxes and was off to take their picture. I would have followed, but as I said, my sis and I were heading out (I don't remember where we went though...). And so, that was my meeting with my fellow guild member (and the other Ed)! ^_^
Saucy Wench ~ Ok ok, before you look at that name and go "Uh.... ok....", that happens to be another screenname of a person I met (though very briefly) at AN. On the last day, we were checking out the Artist's Alley for the last time, when we passed a girl sitting behind a picture that looked very familiar. I stopped my sister and went to take a closer look. It was a picture of Ed and Roy from FMA with three post-it notes. Roy's said "I'm at least two heads taller than you." Ed's said "Shut up!" And the last one said "Please buy me! $5" lol Anyway, I asked her if she had a website, and she said yes. When I told her that I recognized her work from there, she asked me if I had seen/heard of something else she had done, but since it had been a while since I was last there I couln't remember. ^_^;; Anyway, she told me I should buy one. I didn't really feel like paying money for fanart (especially when I could find the same pic online... isn't that terrible??) so I told her we were almost out of money. At that, she handed me a black and white print of Duo (from Gundam Wing) for free (which had a price of $0.50 on it) and said she'd take a dollar off of the price for the FMA one. At that I felt bad saying no, and since I liked her work anyway, I did buy a copy. I'm glad I did since I do like it and also it makes me feel like I've somehow contributed to the starving artists of the world fund. ^_^;; But yeah, I now own a lovely piece of work done by Saucy Wench, whose website can be found here. ^_^
"$10 for 2 hamburgers??" ~ Okay, yeah, seriously, we were hungry and wanted hamburgers from this place called Harvey's across from the convention center. They looked so good! Well, they didn't have the price of just a burger on the menu, but we figured they coulnd't be THAT expensive, right? Well, we decided on just hamburgers and added cheddar and Canadian bacon to them, thinking we could afford to spend a little extra snice they were just hamburgers. Oh no! We got our total and it was a few cents under $10!! For two hamburgers!! Talk about expensive! They were really good though. ^_^;; But yeah, even though they were huge and good, they were not worth $10. We learned not to assume that just because it was only a hamburger it would be cheap. And that is my moral for the day.
Ok, last thing, I swear! A Top Ten list of the WORST experiences we had at AN since I feel like it. ^_^;;
10.) My sis having to spray my hair
9.) Having to go to another building
8.) Rude Masquerade line guards
7.) The annoying people yelling and making rude comments during the Masquerade and the AMV contest
6.) Being hit on by the weird guy who probably thought I was a hooker
5.) Coming home and realizing all the pictures I took were WAY off center
4.) Not running into human Renamon so I could get a picture
3.) Thinking we lost our money
2.) The REALLY annoying chick reading the Jap. names at the Maquarade
1.) LEAVING MY GLOVES AT HOME!!! GRRRRR!!!
And I believe that is it for my commentary. I don't believe I have anything else to say. ::asks sis:: Ahh, I think I am finished now. All I have left is to show you the pictures of cosplayers that we took! So below are all of the cosplayers we took pictures of (well, most, I left some out ^_^;;). We only took less than two rolls of film total (it's too expensive!). And did I mention that you couldn't go two steps without seeing a different Naruto cosplayer? Yeah, there were a LOT of characters from Naruto! Anyway, have fun!
