I swear, this is the reason I haven't posted in a while, beyond my usual procrastination. And since I'm here and posting, I think I'll just give a written report of the con, rather than the sort-of-accompanied-by-pictures report I wanted to do... Been a whole month, for the love of God...
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Considering that this was my first con, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from Anime North '11. I've read one manga series based around a convention, and seen some con videos, but I never really saw what the con itself was like. Let's just say I had a few surprises from it all.
I might actually edit this later and post a mediocre drawing of my actual self with a description, so for now, imagine a seventeen-year-old that looks a bit like a nineteen-year-old carrying around a Reimu plushie. I swear that my description is remotely accurate.
Now, from what I knew about conventions, I could tell only this: there would be lots of people with similar interests to myself, there would be stuff to buy, and there would be cosplay. LOTS OF COSPLAY. Needless to say, my expectations on those notes were met. There were three separate areas where stuff could be purchased, which was split amongst used items, artist work, and commercial goods that haven't been owned by others before purchase. The cosplay was so vast, I'll dedicate an actual paragraph to it later. It was only when it came to the stuff that I didn't really know much about that I was caught off guard. The panels, as far as I understood them before the event, were just rooms of people talking about stuff, particularly the topic of the room. As for the games and such... Well, I didn't know what to expect of those.
I carpooled and roommated with about sixteen other people from my school and town, and most of them had at least one year of experience with AN. They kind of agreed that the con was slightly less exciting than the year before that. I'll admit, the weather on the first two days was rather gloomy, and I myself couldn't get into the mood of it all. The con was still pretty successful, though, no doubt about it.
I only went to two panels during the span of the three days, one of those being the Touhou panel, naturally. Like I said, I thought panels were just where people discussed stuff about a certain topic. I found that I wasn't that far off the point, but it was more like a group of people were leading the discussion with occasional audience input in one scenario and slightly more constant in the Touhou example. I was incredibly surprised by the absolute maturity held within the panels, as most people listened and entered logical input to the conversation. This isn't to say that I was expecting some sort of chaotic mess within the room, but considering that the con is a place to have fun and enjoy, I didn't see a polite and sophisticated discussion of Great Fairy Wars, Ten Desires, and other recent developments, occurring. After the panel, they apparently set up some computers with some of the series games, but I never got a chance to check it out.
The cosplay at the con, I will admit, was absolutely amazing, both by the sheer amount of cosplayers and the amazing effort they made in their outfits. Props to all those that crossplayed for two reasons: you have more guts than I do, and with you, there'd probably be half as many Touhou cosplays. There were certainly outfits that still stand out to me today. As I might have said before, there was a Medicine Melancholy cosplayer that actually looked doll-like, and I snapped a nice pic of her on my phone. Don't think I can upload from my phone, sadly, but someone else on the forums probably has a good shot of her. There was also a well-made Utsuho crossplayer, wings and all, along with an arm-cannon that lit up on the inside. There was also several amazing Final Fantasy cosplayers, such as an absolutely gorgeous Yuna that I saw as I was walking back to the hotel, and one pair of Panty and Stocking cosplayers. As far as obscurity goes, though, two teen cosplayers took the cake, as they were dressed up as characters from S4 League, an MMO that I happened to have experience within. An MMO, mind you, with no real NPCs.
Like I said before, there was a huge shopping district, which took up a large majority of the actual con centre. One section of the shopping area, the used items, I browsed through. Didn't buy anything, since nothing piqued my interests that much. The artist corner was where I bought the most items. Several of the people in the district had dA accounts, unsurprisingly, and all made me look amateur. Or at least, they made me look more amateur than usual. Though there wasn't much, I found a few Touhou artists here and there, and I bought quite a few pieces of con gear, i.e. two keychains, five PINS, and two posters. I think I might've bought more, but I can't remember for the life of me what else. Moving on, there was the big part of the con shopping, being the Dealer's Market. This is where all the commercial stuff was. Needless to say, there was Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Bleach, and furry gear ALL OVER THE PLACE. The mainstream had its way with this place, but that didn't mean the slightly more underground stuff didn't pop up. You'd still see work from series such as Ouran High School Host Club and such. There was also some nice weapon dealers, with one of them selling me a bokken.
What really caught me was this one seller which had a particular plushie in sight. First thing to catch my eye on that table, and I'm pretty sure I already mentioned it, there was a Reimu doll sitting in the middle of the table. I checked around quickly, after picking up the doll, to see if there was any more of the Touhou merchandise. Nothing. I saw my opportunity, though, to finally own some Touhou merchandise. As I purchased it, and began to walk happily out of the Dealer's Market, I decided I would carry this Reimu plushie with me for the rest of the con. Several people asked me where I got it from. I swear, everytime was the same conversation about the plushie: "Where'd you find that Reimu plushie?" "Oh, I got it at the, eh, marketplace." (Kept pausing, trying to remember the exact name. One or two confirmed it as the Dealer Market) "Cool. Did you see any others." "No, this was the only one I saw." "Dang. Touhou merchandise is pretty rare." etc. etc.. Not hating on anyone who asked, but it felt like I was in an infinite recursion of time. It felt like I was in an infinite recursion of time. It felt like I was in an inf-- *shot*
The gaming was vast. I'm exaggerating, really... There were a few rooms near where the Touhou panel took place that were dedicated to games, with the 24/3 DDR directly beside the panel room. That was actually really annoying during the panel, since I stood right beside the door, and couldn't hear a word whenever someone opened the door. I embarrassed myself horribly at the DDR room, actually. Apparently, even Standard mode is too much for me. Basically, I screwed over on both the DBu Doll Judgment, and the regular version of Heian Alien. Basically, after I finished, I just said, "Well, that was fun." And then I abandoned ship.
So yeah, in general, it was a pretty good con, for my first con. If I can still remember details like this after a month, then clearly it was worth the time. At least I think that's how it works... Regardless, I had a fun time, and it was worth the group fee I paid to the others of $140 CAD. Fun times were had, and my only big regret was that I didn't talk to people there! I'll make up for that next year, and I'll even try to give some input at the panel, so that some forum people can validate my existence.
Right, now it's time for me to actually wrap my mind around doing the visual novel wor-- Wait, what's that? My graduation ceremony's in two days? Well, great... Way to stress and distract me, Brain... Not like you haven't done that for the past few weeks already.
I'll post my progress on the Visual novel next time, I swear.
