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Toronto’s largest, fan-run anime convention saw a nother successful year with a capped attenance of 20,000 people. Good weather, a variety of guests and events, as well as plenty of opportunities to make new friends added up to a great convention for all attendees and guests alike.
I attended on behalf of Moon Chase with Blake (a.k.a. SixthCrow) who was Moon Chase’s official photographer this year. He captured many photos and even recorded videos of various panels we attended. We hope to share more videos with you soon! He is working on processing more videos to upload to our Google+ page for all of our readers to enjoy.
Panels and events we attended over the weekend included:
- Ask an Anime Character (one for the actresses, one for the actors)
- The Cruncyroll industry panel
- The Funimation industry panel
- Canadian Voice Acting Industry
- Café Nocturne
- The Sailor Moon Merchandise panel (hosted by me)
- Totally Lame Anime After Dark
- Ask the Experts
- Your Art Doesn’t Suck (on which I was a panelist)
- Closing ceremonies
We also checked out the Dealers’ room, Artists’ Alley, Crafters’ corner, the Nominoichi, the Momiji art gallery, the Sailor Moon photoshoot, and the parking lot rave.
The Sailor Moon guests were featured in many panels and events. This was also Linda Ballantyne’s first anime convention and she LOVED it! When I spoke with John Stocker, Linda Ballantyne, and Susan Roman later this summer at FanExpo, they described Anime North as the crème de la crème of anime conventions. Sounds like they all very much enjoyed Anime North and would love to go back again 🙂
Crowds were pretty well controlled at Anime North, and this year saw the addition of ATMs in the parking lot (I’m sure this helped many fans who needed cash for purchases). The industry panels for Crunchyroll and Funimation were standard fare, including a list of upcoming releases and taking some questions from the audience. The Crunchyroll panel however seemed awfully short, at about 30 minutes instead of a full hour. However, I did get Moon Chase added to the mailing list to receive press releases from Crunchyroll so we can keep an eye on any releases that may be of interest to Moon Chase readers. Both companies were promoting giveaways at their booths. Crunchyroll was giving away trial subscriptions, Funimation gave out slap bracelets and their usual assortment of prints (post cards, etc.).
This year’s Anime North was also the first time I got to see firsthand what accessibility access is like at the event. My feet swelled due to a chronic medical condition and I had to be pushed around in a wheelchair for the better part of Sunday. It was pretty easy to get anywhere we needed to, and everyone was courteous. I’m glad we were still able to see many events at Anime North so that we can bring you lots of convention coverage.
Sorry for the delay with this report. The last few months have been very hectic for us. We hope to publish more parts of the report soon so we can give you a good overview of Anime North, in case you weren’t able to be there.
Stay tuned for more! Next up is the ladies version of “Ask an Anime Character”.
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