ANIME EVOLUTION 2004
PAN'S CON REPORT


My friend Blue Rose and I went to Anime Evolution on a whim. It was happening the same weekend I'd be in town, so we figured, "What the heck? What do we have to lose except for a few hundred dollars?" and decided to go.

We went with some expectations, but neither one of knew exactly what to expect. It was a smaller convention, and I compared it to Anime North from a few years ago. Going into it, neither Blue Rose nor I knew what we were getting ourselves into, but looking back on it, we wouldn't trade it for the world.

What made Anime Evolution so great? It wasn't one thing in particular, but lots of little practically glowing things. And so, to discover the answer to that questions, we must first go back to the Friday it began and look at what happened at this convention and what made it such a shiny experience. ^^


FRIDAY


And so it begins...

Blue Rose and I got into Vancouver via ferry from Victoria, and so we took a taxi all the way up into the mountains to Simon Fraser University where the convention was being held. The location itself was interesting since how many conventions can say they're located way up in the mountains?

After getting lost a few times, the taxi dropped off at a residence (dorms, essentially), where we checked in, found a map of the campus, met Sailor Saturn in the bathroom, got unpacked and changed into our costumes.

Blue Rose and I decided to wear our Saiyuki costumes that we made for Anime North 2003, because that way we'd match, and we wouldn't have to make new costumes. Blue Rose wore her Sanzo costume and I wore my Goku one. We did make some improvements to our costumes since that Anime North. And since I couldn't take my old staff on the airplane, Blue Rose and I made a new one in less than an hour a few days prior.

May I also mention that it was hot? It was hotter in the dorms we were staying in than it was outside. ><; Thankfully, Blue Rose came up with a solution: "If you stick your head in the freezer, it makes the pain go away." And on that happy note, we got ready to go, and started our trek to the convention to register and let the fun begin.

Before I continue, I would like to state that Blue Rose and I were in the middle of watching Utena when this convention rolled around. And so, we spent some time in Victoria looking for a DVD player that we could take with us to Vancouver. This sounds strange and irrelevant, but it was on the back of our minds for the convention, and well, there's a point to this short DVD player story. You'll see. ^_~


OMGWTF!?

As we made our way to the convention area, it was pretty clear that there was an anime convention going on. There were colorful characters running around, and wanted posters for One Piece characters up all over the place. There also were summer camps going on, and the looks the kids gave us were more than a little amusing. We also found the boats made out of old NDP campaign signs amusing, but that's another story.

I didn't want to take any photos until I registered, so we made our way to a giant line thinking it was registration. It turned out to be the dealer's room line, but before we got the chance to ask where the registration line was, we were asked for our photos.

At most conventions I go to, I usually have a truckload of responsibilities that prevent me from doing everything I want to. I was looking forward to Anime Evolution because I figured no one would know me in Vancouver, and I could hang out and have fun and even blend into the background if I pleased.

And then someone asked a question.

"Weren't you that girl on YTV?"

I looked down at what I was wearing and facepalmed.


Checking in...?

After meeting and greeting some people (and being asked if I was "that girl from YTV" by one in every five people), including a nice Bakura cosplayer who seemed to know quite a bit about me, Blue Rose and I found a staff member who directed us to registration.

But we didn't end up in registration. We ended up in a press interview room, and had no real idea how we got there. o____O;

I played the "figure out which guests are sitting across from us" game, but thankfully, they wrote their names on the blackboard behind them. From left to right were sitting, Anna Cummer, Nicole Leroux, Michael Coleman, Alexandra Carter, and Rob Bakewell.

The panel began, and I asked some random questions, such as "Which do you prefer, FedEx or UPS?" and about cats and such. To my delight, they all seemed to like FedEx, and Alexandra Carter (who I will refer to as "Alex" from this point on), even drew a FedEx logo on the board to show the others how there was an arrow between the "E" and the "x". ^^

Anna and Nicole answered some great questions about their stage work, and along with Rob, discussed the current state of Canadian television.

Rob was actually really informative and interesting. He's a voice director who has worked on numerous titles, including Gundam Wing, and he gave a really unique behind-the-scenes perspective to the dubbing of anime.

When asked if he had any advice for people wanting to go into voice acting, he gave some great advice. Long story short, in the world of voice acting (as well as many other things), people are always going to tell you that you can't succeed. Rob quoted a Vietnamese guy that used to buy houses and turn them over for profit, and when someone told him that he couldn't succeed, he'd say, "You loser! Get out of my way!"

Needless to say, Blue Rose and I really liked Rob. ^^


Shiny costumes and smiling faces

After the panel, we hung out with Alex a bit before heading downstairs and finally getting to registration. We got our passes, and then I took out my camera and got trigger-happy. There were so many shiny cosplayers. *_*! I was in heaven!

We ran around taking photos, and explored the layout of the convention as we did so. I got asked way too many times about YTV, and at one point was even asked what my staff was made out of (in this case, wood), because some people wanted to know if their were foam golf balls attached to end. ^^;;; Well, my dreams of blending into the background were officially thrown out the window. ^^;;;

Blue Rose and I ended up back outside and took more photos. We ran into a girl with "bishie pants" and Fruits Basket cosplayers covered in Prince of Tennis merchandise.

Right from the get go, the friendliness of the con-goers was obvious. There was such a positive and optimistic atmosphere. Almost everyone was smiling and friendly, and so it was really easy to get to know people. It was really quite refreshing. ^^

At some point, we made our way to the dealer's room, where I fangirled permanent marker on a kid's shirt, and the abundance of doujinshi. I also met a huge Goku fan, and ran into Amiboshi.

I met this girl dressed up as a JROCK artist whose name I can't remember. I kept running into her everywhere, and every time I did, I'd point at her and shout, "You!" and she'd point back and shout "You!" and I'm a dork. ^^;

It wasn't long until I spotted really shiny tennis cosplayers. There was this artist's alley table that had ever-changing tennis cosplayers. I swear it was impossible to walk down that hallway without being distracted by the shiny tennis.

Speaking of tennis, I ran into (by that I mean tackle glomped) an Inui cosplayer. He was sooo shiny and amused me because his nametag said "Ron Stoppable" on it. But more on that later... oh, and I ran into a Ryoma cosplayer who I fangirled. She called me her "Number One Tennis Fangirl" by the end of the weekend. ^^;

We also ran into an adorable Eiji cosplayer. She let us know about a "Tezuka" cosplayer that was apparently running around. It wasn't until after the convention that was realized that many people mistook Inui as Tezuka. Oh well. Anyway, since the Eiji, Inui and Fuji cosplayers were nearby, I managed to get some mini-group tennis photos. I love tennis. ^^

Random: Did I mention that security peace-bonded the tennis rackets? That amused me for some reason. *heh*

Oh, and there was this guy that wasn't cosplaying, but looked like Tezuka. It was uncanny. He wouldn't let me take his photo until Sunday though. ^^;

Anime Evolution was tied in with a cultural festival, so there were some amazing displays of Japanese culture, kimonos, demonstrations... it was a sight to behold. ^^ After some more photo taking/exploring, we passed by the Gundam SEED cosplayers playing go and paid a visit to the duck pond (<---best semi-random con anything ever!).

The other great thing about the cultural festival was that there was a mini food court set up in a courtyard in the middle of the con, which served food. This along with the other food-serving places on campus assured that the con-goers wouldn't go hungry. Blue Rose and I ate this glowing food at the food court for dinner while this statue of Gandhi watched on. Err... moving on...


If you have no idea what you're doing, you can't go wrong

As the sun started to set, Blue Rose and I went back and changed into civilian clothing before checking out what the evening festivities held.

We stopped in on the karaoke for a bit, which consisted on winamp and AnimeLyrics.com (oh yeah!). A BlackMagicianGirl cosplayer sung Shuffle, which made me happy. ^^ I ran into Inui and Ryoma again, and after some craziness in the lobby featuring an Atobe plushie, and a random dance demonstration with random people, the night came to an end. Sort of.

The campus was under construction, but at night, between the lighting and the fumes, it looked like they were pumping weird chemicals into the air. Blue Rose and I stopped to watch the construction workers for a bit. Blue Rose pointed out that there were mysterious barrels of what looked like toxic waste being lifted by crane.

Blue Rose: Is that toxic waste?
Pan: Yes.
Blue Rose: That's what I thought.

Afterwards, we saw a worker wearing a gas mask pushing around one of the mysterious barrels.

Pan: What are you doing?
Toxic Waste Worker: Uh... nothing...? *rushes off*
Pan: o____O;

And on that happy and con-related note, Friday came to a close.




SATURDAY


Good morning, starshine~!

Bright and early Saturday morning (that's a lie; we slept in), Blue Rose and I got ready for Day 2 of Anime Evolution. I dressed as Jam from Guilty Gear (yay for costumes that haven't been worn on TV) and Blue Rose went as Kagami from Get Backers. We headed over to the convention to find that it was already glowing with energy.

After some photo taking, and watching Blue Rose be fangirled, I ran into some more Guilty Gear cosplayers (some of which I had met the day before). I took some photos with the Chipp cosplayer and he reminded me freakishly much of my friend Richard. o___O; Moving on...

I spent the morning taking photos and talking to people. We ran into some familiar faces, and the awesome Rayearth cosplayers. ^^ We found Inui again, except today he was dressed as a random Anbu from Naruto. He had a Hamtaro mask, and to this day, that amuses me to no end.


Masquerading in the daylight

I was a little confused when I found people lining up for the masquerade at noon. It took me awhile to figure out that the masquerade was going to be held at one in the afternoon.

At first, this seemed strange since most conventions have their masquerade on Saturday evenings. Apparently, due to the amount of minors and campus rules, it's beneficial for Anime Evolution to hold their's on Saturday afternoon. And as an added bonus, it doesn't go on until really late at night.

The masquerade was originally going to be held outside, but due to rain, it was held in a rather large science classroom. Moreover, the masquerade only started five minutes late. I think we have a new record. ^^;

I can't really say much about the masquerade, except for the fact that I loved it. It was great, amusing, and impressive all at the same time. I loved the creatures hiding behind the sink, and the Super Mario skit blew me away. It was... great! ^^

The voice actors were the judges. I know that may seem weird, but it worked. Everything about this con was like that. It shouldn't make sense, but oh, it did. ^^


Ack... no... RUN AWAY!

On the way out of the masquerade, this girl screamed something along the lines of "Kagami-kun!" and Blue Rose turned around to find a fangirl clinging to her. This fangirl seemed to really like Kagami, because she cut off Blue Rose's circulation and almost pushed her down the stairs. Being the supportive friend I am, I pointed and laughed. But then the fangirl clung onto me. ><;

She dragged us out into the hallway, and although I somehow managed to get away, she wouldn't let go of Blue Rose. She finally did after Blue Rose promised to wear the same costume on Sunday so she could cosplay as Akabane and have a Kagami.

And then we ran away as fast as we could.


Punching yourself in the face = teh win!

After talking to the photographer Gir cosplayer girl (yay for remembering names!), I was stopped by a Chichiri (Fushigi Yuugi) cosplayer. He turned out to be a huge fan of my site, and I talked to him and his friends for a bit. ^^

Meanwhile, Blue Rose hid in the stairwell from the crazed fangirl of doom. She ended up talking to a Panther (Saber Marionette J) cosplayer, who turned out to be the same cosplayer as the BlackMagicianGirl from the day before. She and her friend (who was dressed as Faust) were awesome. ^^

After lunch, where we saw Ryoma again, Blue Rose and I wandered around the hall and met up with this guy we had met the day before. He didn't recognize us in our costumes, but that didn't matter. He was holding an award he had won at the masquerade in one hand, and holding a piece of ice to his face with the other.

Pan: What happened?
Guy: I punched myself in the face. ^^

In the masquerade he punched himself in the face as part of his skit. Apparently, he punched a little too hard. ^^;

Soon after, I ran into the Anji (Guilty Gear) cosplayer. He was getting people to sign his back and was posing for all sorts of interesting photos. He was a lot of fun, and I kept glomping him just because I could. We took some photos together, and discussed finding each other later with other Guilty Gear cosplayers for some sort of Guilty Gear photoshoot.

In the hallway, Scott McNeil, Michael Dobson, and some of the other voice actors were sitting in front of a computer station answering some fan questions via a chat room. I greeted Michael Dobson, and received a "It's so nice to see you, my lovely wife" hug.

The Stephs were there. I swear they're at like every convention I go to. I go to Montreal; they're there. I got to Vancouver; they're there. ^^; We stopped and talked to them for a bit, and shared our latest stories of wondrous doomy doom. Now that I think about it, we hung out the night before too. Uh... long story short, we amused ourselves with voice acting goodness. ^^

After some more photo taking and exploring, I ended up running into the Anji and Bridget cosplayers. We found Chipp nearby and arranged an impromptu Guilty Gear photoshoot. It was so much fun. ^^

Afterwards, Blue Rose and I ran around, socialized and took some photos. On our way out, I met a nice guy named Devin, who made me smile, so I ate his brains. ^^

On our way to the Guest Reception Dinner, we ran into a girl who dressed up her dog in a matching kimono. At some point, we saw the dog run by. There's something to be said about a cute little dog running by wearing a kimono.


It's dinner time... Now let's steal the guests and run!

Blue Rose and I arrived at the Guest Reception Dinner and met up with the Stephs. We sat with Rob and started talking to him. (We really liked Rob. ^^)

Soon after, some more of the guests arrived, and I heard Andrew Francis (who I had technically never met before) say that he didn't know where to sit. So naturally, I ran up to him, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to our table. ^^; Soon after, Alex joined us, so needless to say it was one awesome dinner! ^^

This was the first convention experience for Alex, Andrew, and Rob, so we talked a lot about what conventions were like and their experiences so far.

Natalie was there too. Just so you know, Natalie is a huge Kirby Morrow fan. She runs The Kirby Morrow Fan Site, which has a ton of stuff on other voice actors as well. Although Kirby wasn't at Amine Evolution, she flew all the way to Vancouver from England (!!!) for the convention. O_O!

After we finished eating, the Stephs, Natalie, Blue Rose and I kidnapped borrowed Andrew and Alex and ran off to interview them. Steph interviewed Andrew first. Since there isn't that much information available on him, she asked all the general questions.

While that was going on, we had some bonding time with Alex. She's not exactly an average voice actor. She's still in highschool and is very much a teenager. ^^ It was refreshing to spent time with her. She was also a blast to hang around. I'm glad we got the chance to even meet her! ^^

After Steph finished her interview, it was my turn. (A huge thankees to Natalie for video taping the entire thing. ^^) I asked Andrew all sorts of weird questions, like about Power Rangers, and made him say "BURNING!" Taka-san Dilandau style. ^^; To add to the amusement, Alex massaged Andrew's shoulders the entire time. When he answered that he liked cats, she stopped (Alex is not a cat fan). It was really funny. ^^

In the traditional style of my interviews, I also got to play Andrew in rock-paper-Zazel. I won at the end (go team me!) and was pronounced the Lizard Queen. Then I asked Andrew if he'd like to be my 43rd husband. He agreed, and so I married Andrew Francis. Bwah~!

While all this way going on, Blue Rose was being fangirled by the Panther and Faust cosplayers. (They were so cool!)

Anyway, after some crazy photos were taken, I interviewed Alex. Steph recorded the interview, so I don't have a copy of it handy, but it was a fun interview. I hope I get a chance to meet Alex again in the future. ^^

After more crazy photos, we returned Andrew and Alex to the Guest Reception Dinner, which was still going on.

Pan: Sorry for borrowing them. ^^;;;
Security: What? Huh? Oh! Oh good. They're not dead.

The rest of the Guest Reception Dinner was fun. There were a lot of autographs signed, and someone gave Scott McNeil, Andrew Francis, and Michael Dobson Naruto headbands. Some fans also got them to recite "Ninja in the Night". They got Scott and Andrew to read it out as well. The Naruto fans were dying with laughter. It was so much fun! ^^

During the rock-paper-Zazel games, we used cutlery and a paper plate we stole from dinner. I got Andrew and Alex to sign the plate. I really need to scan it. It's awesome!

At some point I took the cowboy hat of Scott's head and put it on Andrew. Scott's reaction and Andrew's innocent look were priceless.


Ah! The fog is everywhere!

At some point, Blue Rose and I made our escape. We ran into Rob on the way out and spoke to him briefly. We took some photos and then made our way back to the dorms.

Did I mention it was foggy? No, seriously. There was fog everywhere which is great for photos! We could barely see the campus through the fog, and as we walked, it got thicker and thicker. It was actually quite amazing to watch everything around us become engulfed in fog and disappear.

After changing into civilian clothing, we made our way back to the convention to find that although the dinner was long over, Michael and Scott were still signing autographs. They had moved to the main lobby area of the restaurant so the dance could take place upstairs.

Blue Rose and I talked with Rob a bit was we watched the fans devour Scott and Michael.

Pan: Squee. Fangirls. Squee. It's like a bad DOS program. ^^;

I guess that's a huge plus of having a Vancouver-area convention. A lot of the voice actors are within driving distance, and therefore are free (and comfortable) to stay as long as they wish. At some point, I noticed Michael was on the phone. One of the Stephs came up to us and told us that he was on the phone with Kirby Morrow!

Michael Dobson, knowing that Natalie was a huge Kirby fan and that she had come to this convention from England, called Kirby and let him know. The next thing we knew, Kirby was on his way.

Anime Evolution: The only convention where voice actor guests invite other voice actors to show up randomly at midnight.

Have I mentioned how much I loved this con? ^^


Of Kirby, dancing, and markers

The next thing we knew, a bunch of us were walking with Michael to find Kirby, who got lost on his way (Kirby: "Who said there was only one Lot B?"). We finally found him in the parking lot and general greetings took place. Kirby got to meet Natalie, and Kirby said hi and hugged everyone there. He recognized me, which I really shouldn't have been surprised about. ^^;

We walked back through the campus (there was even fog indoors at this point!) to the restaurant, where Kirby joined Michael and Scott in signing autographs. Natalie gave Scott and Kirby some sketches she made of them, and blew them away with her artistic skill. I managed to take some great photos of Kirby hiding Natalie in his coat, before Scott yelled at me for not saying hi to him yet. ^^; I talked to Scott for a bit, and he amused me in ways only Scott can. *heh* He also told me that he's been getting lots of flamingos as gifts ever since I interviewed him. *nervous laugh*

At some point, I actually went upstairs and visited the dance. They weren't playing anime music and although the music had a 4/4 beat, it wasn't steady. It would stop and start in random places, which made dancing really hard. I ran into Inui there briefly and bothered the DJs. ^^; I then tried to teach some people the dance for "Ultra Relax" from Kodocha (Child's Toy). It didn't work that well, but I met some interesting people before I gave up on the dance and headed back downstairs to the autograph session that was still going on despite the time of night. ^^;

Blue Rose and I hung out downstairs some more. I took photos of the cosplayers that popped in now and then. The Anji (Guilty Gear) cosplayer showed up at some point. He had taken off his sleeve things, so the writing all over his back was more obvious. Michael remarked on the amount of writing and Scott chose this moment to pay attention.

All of a sudden, Scott looked over and exclaimed, "Dobson! What have you done to that poor boy's back?"

I fell down I was laughing so hard.

After some more crazy photos and other miscellaneous random acts of insanity, Blue Rose and I decided to call it a night and wandered back to the dorms.


Normality is for the weak!

Blue Rose went to visit the Stephs (who were in the same dorms as us) and I went in search for a DVD player (and failed ><; ...we really wanted to finish watching Utena). I ended up waiting by the elevator. I ended up sitting with these two girls we had seen and talked to earlier at the convention. Since none of us were in costume, it took awhile before I figured out who they were and they figured out who I was. ^^;

I found out that one of the girls was going to be wearing DragonBall costume on Sunday, and we talked about DragonBall Z and how some anime fans treat it. We agreed that we'd be different people if it wasn't for DragonBall Z.

Blue Rose returned and the two girls, Mei and Kae, invited us for pizza. At this point, it was like one in the morning, but there we were sitting with people we just met eating pizza in the dorm kitchens. *heh*

Long story short, Mei started making paper towel hats. Before long, we were all wearing paper towel hats. I labeled Blue Rose's "BOB (teh ninja)". Mei and Kae seemed to find this very entertaining. Kae was stabbing a frozen icebox with a spoon. Of all the things I was expecting to do be doing at one in the morning on Saturday night, this was not one of them. ^^; Go team us!

People kept coming into the kitchen telling us to shut off our music. The problem being we didn't have any music. However, in the lounge next door were around twelve people over the age of thirty (not related to the anime convention) and a dog. They had instruments and were playing what sounded like Christian rock... at 1:30am. o____O; Sure, why not?

After a run in with a crazy music lady, we went to bed. Because that makes perfect sense.




SUNDAY


Here we go again

For Sunday, Blue Rose and I wore our Digimon Tamers costumes from this year's Anime North. Blue Rose dressed as Rika and I went as Renamon, and then we were off.

On the way to the main convention area, we ran into this girl that was dressed as Hikaru from Rayearth before. However, she now came with a sign that read, "BEWARE! (It glomps!)" *heh*

We ran around taking photos of cosplayers. We spotted Mei and Kae (they were dressed as the Great Saiyaman from DragonBall Z and Luffy from One Piece), I practically attacked an Atobe cosplayer, and the table in artist's alley had grown a Tezuka. *_*! So bloody shiny!


The Women's Self-Defense Course

Early in the afternoon, there was supposed to be a cosplay parade. Due to weather conditions, it was cancelled. We ended up climbing this hill to find a bunch of girls and three awesome Anbu ninjas at the top (they were known as the "Anbu Trio" by most of the convention).

These guys were amazing Anbu cosplayers. There costumes made you stand back and go, "whoa!" The weapons were made with skill and their masks were to die for. From a costuming point of view, they were amazing.

But these guys got even better. They were ninjas. Well, not real ninjas, but as close as we were going to get.

And so, at the top of this hill, the three Anbu taught a women's self-defense course.

Have I told you how much I LOVED this con? ^_____^

Watching them made me want to go back to martial arts. I stopped going for numerous reasons, but their style (which I later found out was Arnis) didn't waste movements. It was a sight to behold.

I don't think I'm alone when I say they were the best ninjas ever!


You've been BOBed!

Blue Rose and I made our escape and tripped down the hill (curse you, four-inch heels!) only to be told by those at the top of the hill that there were stairs on the other side. ^^;;;

For some reason, the ears of my Renamon costume were starting to make my own ears hurt. I needed to take them of, and so I went back and changed. I guess I didn't need to change the entire costume, but it was hot and humid, and Renamon is made out of polar fleece. Between the wig and ears, I'm blinded and semi-deaf and I don't do well in heels. And so despite logic, I changed back into my most comfortable costume -- Goku from Saiyuki.

We went back to the convention, and after some cosplay photos, ended up running into the Anbu Trio again. They seemed to really like my Goku staff. ^^;

I got to talk with Mike (one of the Anbu Trio) for a bit. I can't really explain it, but he really inspired me. Over the last three years, no one has made me want to go back to martial arts more than he did. It was like I just needed that little push. In his words, I found what I was looking for, and for that, I say thank you.

I took a photo of the Anbu Trio with a Sakura cosplayer. Blue Rose noticed that it said "BOB" in permanent marker on the Anbu's arms. Right at that moment, we spotted Mei and Kae running around in the distance. I remembered the paper towel hats from the day before. Who else would write "BOB" on someone's arm? We asked the Anbu if it was Mei and Kae who "BOBed" them. They answered that it was.

Soon after, Blue Rose and I ran into two Yu-Gi-Oh cosplayers dressed as Kaiba and Duke. Talking to them revealed that they had also been BOBed and they proudly showed us the BOB written in permanent marker on their arms. And so, I began taking photos of everyone we found who had been BOBed. ^^;


Touga! Touga! Touga!

Blue Rose and I made our way back to the main convention area, where I took a truckload of cosplay photos. This little girl was arranging cosplayers for photos. She arranged some Naruto photos and made Inui (who was back in tennis gear, but still had the Hamtaro mask) pose with a Ryoma cosplayer from the magical art table.

We ate lunch mid-afternoon and there was an Itachi cosplayer sitting across from us that looked really familiar. We found out later that he was Inui's brother. ^^

Upon finding out that neither Inui nor Itachi had been BOBed, we BOBed them ourselves. ^^; Afterwards, I asked Inui to marry me. He agreed and became my 44th husband. We have the best wedding photo ever! ^^

When we went back to wandering the halls taking cosplay photos, we spotted a Touga (Utena) cosplayer. We were in the middle of watching Utena and both Blue Rose and I adore Koyasu Touga. I took her photo and when we ran into her later, we chanted, "Touga! Touga! Touga!" ^^

She was just like Touga too. At some point, she was walking down the hall with Blue Rose under one arm and me under the other. This amused me much more than it should. ^^;

After a brief run in with the Faust and Panther cosplayers (they were now dressed as Sailor Venus and a character I can't name, but were still awesome!), we headed to the auction.


Going once...

The charity auction was a ton of fun. Hosted by the likes of Scott McNeil and the other voice actors, it was a riot.

When they put fairy wings on Michael Coleman... oh, how I loved this con! ^^

They sold many autographed bottles of water, and quite a few autographed sandwiches, as well as the T-shirt Scott wore for the auction right off his back.

All in all, the auction raised over $1300 for charity! Way to go!


Closing Ceremonies

After the auction, we wandered around for a bit, found more people that were BOBed and headed back for the closing ceremonies. The Kaji cosplayer sitting behind us had a mini watermelon. Yes, that was random. ^^;

The closing ceremonies were running late, so these two guys at the front needed to stall for time. They decided to have the audience ask questions. I asked whether they preferred FedEx or UPS. One of them answered "Purolator", and then the voice actors in the audience started yelling at him on our behalf. ^^

The closing ceremonies featured random instrument playing and singing, as well as music videos and a few other shiny things.

When it was over, we stayed behind a bit with the Stephs to say goodbye to Andrew, Alex and Rob. I hope we get to seem them again someday. They really made our weekend. ^^


What's Scott McNeil wearing?

At some point, Blue Rose noticed Scott's shirt, and I froze. We chased after him to get a better look, and that's how we ended up in the auction. But now that the auction was over, we chased him down trying to get a better look. When we finally did, I couldn't help but grin.

Scott was wearing a black shirt with no sleeves that had a plaid "02" on the back. Scott was wearing the shirt Kira gave him at MAX last year!

After the closing ceremonies, I asked him about it, and videotaped him for Kira. After all, it's not everyday that Scott wears a shirt your friend made.


Winding down

The con began to wind down, and Scott McNeil and Brian Dobson signed autographs in the hallway.

We stopped to talk to a baseball cosplayer (I'm really bad with names ><;) and another guy. One of them was the brother of the guy that punched himself in the face the day before (who still didn't recognized us ^^;). It was interesting how many little connections there were throughout this convention.

Blue Rose and I found the Chipp cosplayer again and I videotaped him to show the kids back home how much he was like our friend Richard. Chipp's name, if you're wondering, was Jamie. ^^

After some final wonderings around the campus and saying goodbye to a few more people, including the Stephs, we left the convention for the last time. We weren't sad at all. In fact, we couldn't stop smiling.

Sometimes, after you've gone through an amazing experience, you feel this energy afterwards that lingers. Anime Evolution left that impression on us. I'm still smiling about it now, almost two months after the fact.

At the beginning of the convention, I told a girl that it was a goal of mine to take more photos at Amine Evolution than I did at Anime North, even though Anime North had over 7000 people and Anime Evolution had just over 2000. Did I succeed? Over a thousand photos don't lie. Go team Anime Evolution! ^^

If you can go to Anime Evolution, I strongly encourage you to. It'll be an experience you won't soon forget. ^^

I hope I can go again next year. *crosses fingers*


Going 120km/h in a 30km/h zone

Blue Rose and I were planning to leave Monday morning, but since it was still early in the evening, we figured we might as well check out and go back to Victoria that night. So we packed up all our stuff, and went outside to wait for the taxi.

While we were waiting, we watched these kids run around, sing badly out of tune and fight with each other. One of them came up to me and asked me if I was "that girl from YTV". I blinked at him. Please note that this kid had no connection to the convention and that I wasn't in costume at the time. Needless to say, Blue Rose spent the next ten minutes laughing at me.

The taxi didn't show up, which was bad, because the last ferry was at ten, it was past 8:45, and it took at least an hour to get from the campus to the ferry docks. So I called the taxi company again, and even though they swore they never got my first call (Pan: *twitch*), they said they were sending a car. While I panicked, these guys came by we bonded with them over balloons.

When our taxi finally came it was just past nine. We bid farewell to the random strangers we had just met, and to the con itself, before telling the taxi driver to step on it. The last ferry left at ten, and they stopped selling tickets before then. It takes at least an hour to get there (it took us an hour and a half on the way there), and it was after nine. Hello, panic time.

Despite the weird noises coming from the engine, we had the BEST TAXI DRIVER EVER! No, seriously. As soon as we realized he was going 120km/h in a 30km/h zone we knew we'd be alright! ^^


The Perfect Ending

After we thanked the taxi driver and threw money at him, we grabbed our luggage and ran. We made it to the ferry dock with no time to spare, got our tickets, and ran like no one has ran before. Of course, we had to get to the furthest dock in like a minute, but by some miracle, we made it. We got onto the ramp, just as they were to preparing the ferry to leave. We made it with maybe five seconds to spare.

Out of breath, we collapsed on two of the seats and almost instantly broke out laughing. We had no idea how we did it, but we made it.

It was a perfect end to a perfect weekend. Almost.

There was only one thing missing. We searched in vain for a DVD player all weekend in the hopes that we could finally finish watching Utena.

Blue Rose turned around and started laughing even more. There, for no apparent reason, sitting on an empty seat behind us was a DVD player.