It’s that time of year again! It’s time for my yearly Anime North report! I’ve been attending AN since 2004 and every year it gets better! This years Anime North was held on May 25 to May 27 at the same location. Anime North this year was a blast to just go and I pretty much had a fantastic time there! Well, on to my coverage of the entire event! This is once again going to be a very long post!

This post is going to be slightly shorter that my previous convention posts. I still hope you enjoy the photos!!!

The Convention:

Anime North is the time of year where everyone comes out with amazing cosplays and just hang out with friends. This Anime North was very hot, meaning that the temperature outside was really boiling. There was a lot of times I remember we went back to the hotel just to rest from the insane heat. This Anime North, I stayed at the Holiday Inn which is a 5 minute walk from Anime North!

Day 1:

Weird things happened during the morning before Anime North starts. Something was wrong with the ventilation system in our hotel my friends and I were staying. The fire department, EMT and the police all gathered for over an hour to fix the problem and check if people were okay.

Everyone, including employees were escorted outside of the hotel. Most people including the staff of the hotel just sat around and pretty much just waited.

My friends at that time decided to go to the pool. At the time of the evacuation, they were still in the pool.

My friends who came back early from the pool and did get changed or the ones that just didn’t want to go to the pool went to Tim Hortons for some food!

Must carry back all these ice caps to the people waiting for them…

After we were let back into the hotel, I got ready for the convention that was suppose to start soon!

Even before the convention started, there were a ton of people already there in cosplay!

Everyone is either lining up for a day pass to Anime North or lining up to get into the dealers room!

What I noticed walking through Anime North that it was extremely hot. It was around 27 degrees that day and it was almost unbearable in terms of heat!

Anime North set up a big stage outside for DJs and people dancing to the music!

There were many guest DJs at Anime North this year!

Was finally able to get inside and checked out the dealers room!

I tend not to buy anything on the first day due to no good deals and me going to the dealers room very late!

The autograph section of Anime North!

I haven’t went for an autograph at Anime North in years and this is my first time in years to get one. This years guest is Yuu Asakawa (The voice of Luka Megurine) and Akira Sasanuma (The voice of Link)!

After the autograph, I decided to wonder around for a bit!

Day 1 of the convention was coming to a close at the time so I decided to leave…

Day 1 ends with me walking back to the hotel and ordering some pizza for dinner! There was a lot of leftovers in the end…we ordered a bit too much…

Day 2:

Morning of day 2 started a bit late. This is due to everyone in my room oversleeping. When all of us were ready to go, we decided to grab some breakfast first!

Breakfast was great and at a good price too!

After a filling breakfast, I hurried to Anime North day 2!

When I arrived, there were already a ton of people there…

Just like Friday, Saturday was pretty hot but a cool breeze from time to time helped a bit!

Walked around inside for a bit to check out what is there I might be interested in buying.

Headed outside once again for some cosplay photos!

During the middle of the day, it got really hot to the point my friends and I took a break in our hotel rooms and rested for a bit. I think it was a good idea in our part!

I just missed the Reboot photo shoot…

For some reason cosplayers and other con-goers alike love climbing trees…

The DJ guests are really good. I would dance but I can’t dance to save my life.

When the sun goes down, the weather cools.

What I hate about sunsets is that when taking cosplay photos somewhere with no shade kinda messes up my photos.

Went to check out the dealers room before it closes for the day!

Outside of the dealers room and artist alley, there is just a ton of people!

A sea of people!

Hello Kitty balloons anyone?

People lining up for the late night rave I think…

What I noticed that there is a lot of ice cream trucks this year. I mean a LOT!

Day 2 ends with my friends and I going back to the hotel and resting up for the next day! This was the time I did a photo shoot in my friends hotel room.

Day 3:

Day 3 starts off with a major pack up! Sunday is usually the day I check out of the hotel room of Anime North. We all packed up and checked out of our hotel. We pretty much placed our luggage in the car.

With hotel check out done, I hurried for the final day of Anime North! First stop is the Vocaloid photo shoot that was going on from 11am to noon!

There were a decent amount of Vocaloid cosplayers on Sunday…

A lot of people crossing the street…

At the end of the Vocaloid shoot, there were some dancing to vocaloid music happening!

Decided to head to the dealers room one last time to check out on Sunday deals!

Big line for Yuu Asakawa!

My friend who is cosplaying as Miku with Yuu-san!

Ack, my long hair in the way…

Walked around the artist alley for a bit and checking out the awesome artwork!

Went manga hunting but wasn’t able to find much.

There were a lot of people trying to bargain for cheaper prices!

One last look at the dealers room before I leave Anime North!

Heading back to the car!

It was still hot but not as hot as Friday and Saturday. This doesn’t stop many people hitting the ice cream truck though! I believe that the ice cream trucks that caters to Anime North makes a lot of money from con-goers! There’s always 7 or more trucks around Anime North!

Blue Eyes White Dragon for sell!

Walking back to the hotel!

Getting ready to leave Anime North with a ton of luggage in the trunk!

One last look at Anime North!

Till next year Anime North!

The Cosplays:

Going to do something different with the cosplay section of the report this year. I took way too many photos of cosplayers so I decided to change this into a gallery like section. There were just way too many good cosplays this year! So I hope you all enjoy the photos!!!

Photo Shoot:

I was able to do some indoor photo shoots at my friends hotel room at this years AN. She wanted some photo shoots and I was more than happy to help out. Our other reason is because it was really hot outside at the time. For this photo shoot my friend did 3 versions of her C.C. cosplay from Code Geass. We had 2 different photo shoots and completely different times! One was during the day and other was during the evening! Hope you all enjoy these photos from the photo shoot!

Black Knight Version:

Under garment version:

Shirt version:

Overall Impression:

This years AN was a lot better than last year. I really enjoyed this years convention. I had a ton of fun with my friends and just hanging out at the convention.

Positives:

The amount of cosplays this year is just wow! A lot of cosplayers went above and belong my expectations this year. Sure, you can nip pick but I prefer not to. I believe that this years Anime North, cosplays were sure one of the best. It’s just wow on how there was so many awesome cosplays and how these people made them! Thanks to the awesome cosplays, I was able to leave AN with a ton of photos to share with you all!!!

Another plus for Anime North this year are the guest. Bringing Yuu Asakawa was a big plus! I love Vocaloid music and bring the real actual voice of Luka, I’m sold!

Lastly is me being able to do photo shoots with my friend. It was fun and it helps me grow in a way as a photographer. I hope to do more photo shoots in the future!

Negatives:

The negatives are the staff this year. I know you have to pull some legs when it comes to keeping a large convention like Anime North organized, but don’t be a jerk about it. I did encounter some rude staff members this year. Some staff were pushing other con-goers around to bad mouthing others. Sometimes I wonder if the staff gets a kick in doing this.

Besides that, Anime North was very enjoyable and fun!

Loot:

The loot this year is pretty small as I’m still saving up for my trip to Japan in a couple of months. I did come home with some really nice items though!

Autographs:

My autograph goodies I brought back from Anime North. I got a signed Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword and an autograph blue-ray of the Vocaloid concert in Tokyo!

Doujinshi and Artworks:

I bought some doujinshi from the artist alley and inside of the dealers room. First up is the artwork of K-On! I bought in the artist alley. Second is a Saki print. I love the show and seeing this makes me happy to own one! Next are the doujinshi. The 2 Vocaloid doujinshi with Miku on the cover is bought in the artist alley. A lot of artists now are making doujinshi and a lot of them are very good! Next is the 3 other doujinshi I bought. I bought them from Twinbell who is a good friend of mine and I love what she saved for me!

Video Games:

Being a gamer, I love playing video games. I especially love playing fighters. I have heard and seen the brand of arcade sticks called Qanba but was never really able to get one. At AN this year I finally got my hands on one and a limited edition to boot. The best part of this is that it is a numbered arcade stick and I got 17/300. The other gaming related item is Arcana Hearts 3 for the PS3!

Toy:

The only toy I bought but it’s just something I want! I love the game Portal and being able to own a 1/1 scale of it is just damn awesome! Sadly the potato GLaDOS is not included!

Well, that ends my Anime North 2012 coverage. I hope you all enjoy this post!!! Be posting again real soon!!!

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