Anime North kicks off yet another sucessful convention on May 28-30.

The convention ran at three different locations; DoubleTree Hotel, Sheridan Toronto Airport Hotel, and the Toronto Congress Centre. Special appearances such as Nobuyuku Hiyama and Yaya Han were featured for the event. Prices ranged betweem $35-$40 depending on the day you attend. Dealer’s room consists of 82 vendors of 270 tables. Let’s get started.

Missing our target arrival at 9:00AM, we arrived an hour later. The official entrance are located on the side of the building.

Just across the street would be the DoubleTree hotel. Alot of traffic distruption occured as I witnessed a sirened police car trying to get by, having a crowd continuing to crossing without giving them priority.

As I make my way around the Congress Centre, cosplayers posed and gathered together. I can’t imagine the building fitting everyone at once.

The line-up for the registration line was the biggest line I’ve ever stood in. It went all along one side of the building..

..And continued around the corner; ALL the way to the end of THIS wall.

This is what it looks like 1/4 into the line. Cosplayers would walk along the pathway on the right side, and be stopped by almost all photographers standing in line for a picture. Must’ve taken them decades to make their way to the end of the line.

We finally make it to the front doors of the building. That took about an hour and a half to reach here.

The pre-registration line was about the same as our line. It kept growing bigger.

We entered the building and YES, more lining up!! The little zigzagging maze eventually leads us to the registration tables.

Our first glance before the dealers room would be a wrestling match featuring Sailormoon and Tuxedo Mask. Other matches included Mario trying to save Princess Peach. The funniest moment would be an audience member wearing John Cena’s “You can’t see me” t-shirt being picked on by heels.

Before the dealers room would also feature Crafters Corner, Display Tables, Art Rooms, and the Comic Market.

I’ve never seen that many pillow cases in one place. I would purchase one, but it would take up about 1/3 of my bed.

I didn’t like how the figurines were displayed far behind the tables. My vision isn’t great and it’s impossible to see what the figures or the prices are. It led me to not buying a single figurine for the day.

Again, another example of how placement can effect your sales.

DVD’s were on bargained prices. All the good ones were already sold.

I like how these figures were placed to let the buyers know what they are buying. The only catch was the overpricing for normal petit boxes.

Gundam modelkits are popular at conventions. In my opinion, they all look the same to me.

A gaming store selling oldschool games for the Xbox and PS2. Futher down had Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo games.

This booth was my favourite place. 10 manga’s for $20!! I came back here 2 hours later and the prices dropped to 5 manga’s for $5! That’s $1 for a manga. Best deal ever!

Original Japanese printed artbooks are rare to find in Toronto. This shop sold these exclusively, but prices were high due to importment.

I cannot get over the fact of the terrible placement!!

More pillow cases displayed along the tables.

Rare artbooks displayed in the back [yet again].

Biggest manga booth in the whole convention. It had 18 tables taking over one block.

It was difficult taking pictures due to high numbers of people crowding the walkways. I had a lucky break here.

These figures were pretty. The prices were unpretty.

I found one of the busiest booths to be the Adult Doujinshi table. They sold many comics, DVD’s and posters. There was one guy who purchased a stack of 40 comics valued at $800.

Figures displayed in the front! Two thumbs up for this guy.

Alteil’s Card Game had a demo booth for people to try out. I didn’t understand what was going on [Alt+F4].

As the convention was closing, Eikostate held a free concert. The sound was very loud due to the small room used. I found it hard to hear the vocals properly, which sounded more like humming. Other than that, they put on a great performance!

Right after Eikostate’s performance, Selia and Takuya Angel set up for their concert. It took half an hour to prepare, but it was worth the wait.

This would be Selia. I was afraid to flash him with my camera.

Throughout my journey, I would personally rate this convention 3 out of 5 stars. I wasn’t able to find the merchandise I was looking for, and the way they positioned the figurines really bugged me. I found that alot of booths were trying to get rid of their old merchandise. They had DVD’s dating back 6 years ago. I paid about $40 for the entrance fee, but did not receive any free gifts or compensation. Overall, I only bought 4 things.

On the bright side, I was able to attend the concerts for free. I liked how majority of the people had cosplayed for the event. The dealers room had wide walkways which made it easier for people to get through. They had free water machines ready at every corner. My point is, although the convention was able to accommodate the space and needs, the booths needed more work satisfying the buyers.