ANIME NORTH 2004
PAN'S CON REPORT


The Logistical Nightmare

There's not that much I can say about this convention, but from the beginning there were logistical nightmares. The Regal Constellation, the hotel Anime North has been held in for the past few years, went under and with it, Anime North lost its location. Difficulties arised in getting a new location, but Anime North finally found one -- or two to be correct. The convention this year was held between two locations: The Toronto Congress Center (TCC) and the Renaissance hotel with a big yellow school bus acting as the shuttle between the two locations.

Walking from location to location was also an option, but the roughly fifteen minute walk across a highway wasn't exactly fun and was rather time consuming.

However, things get more complicated if you take into account the fact that the other official Anime North hotel, the Park Plaza, was located between the two locations, but still added time to the trek, since the Park Plazas shuttle buses to the TCC were only at certain times of the day and there was no service from the Park Plaza to the Renaissance. So, those staying at the Park Plaza found themselves doing a lot of walking.

Add to this the fact that press/guest stuff was held at a fourth location -- the Radisson -- and you've got a lot of traveling time.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, it changed the feel of the convention. In previous Anime North conventions, the convention was known because everything was close together and in one easy location. It was easy to get from point A to point B without worrying about travel time and other issues that showed up this year -- like walking in the rain or crossing a highway.

Anime North had a very different feel this year, and because of it, it became somewhat of a mundane blur. I'm not saying that the convention was ordinary or boring, it just didn't sparkle the way it has in previous years. Because of this I don't have that much to say about this year's convention, but I did have a huge amount of fun. So now that this mess is out of the way, let's take a look at the sights, sounds and colors that made up Anime North 2004.


The Not-so-Nightmare Begins

I arrived in costume early Friday afternoon with Blue Rose and Becky, and checked in to the Park Plaza hotel before heading to the TCC to get our passes. The walk there was amusing, to say the least. We walked along Dixon road over Highway 27. Something about the absurdity of this hike made me laugh. What amused me even more was the cosplayers I saw on the way. Around the TCC, the registration line was already fairly long outside, but it was filled with numerous cosplayers. Becky and I took this opportunity to take some photos and say hello to some friends, including Vicki, Shinji and Bianco.

I spotted someone tall in the parking lot and recognized him right away as Patrick. He was the Renamon cosplayer at Anime North two years ago, and is a friend of mine. I was wearing my Renamon costume at the time, so it was a little ironic. I hadn't seen him for two years, so I ran up and glomped him. ^^ Hanyaan~!

After checking in, Becky Blue Rose and I were off to explore the convention.


An Afternoon of Color

I'm scratching my head trying to think of happened Friday afternoon, and I can safely say Blue Rose and I spent most of it traveling between locations and taking photos. I really liked that I was able to take so many photos outside, since I prefer outdoor lighting, even on cloudy days. I think all the pics I took with power lines, highways and cars in the background are really amusing, but then again, that just might be me. It also might have to do that I ask some people to pose with whatever they're holding, like pop cans and sandwiches. ^^;

Walking around the TCC, I ran into some people while taking photos. After taking a photo of someone dressed up as Kai from Beyblade, he told me that I looked like "Pan", and introduced himself as Brad. I glomped him, since I was looking forward to seeing him at this convention. ^^

Afterwards, Becky, Blue Rose and I headed to the Radisson to meet up with Amanda. Becky, Amanda and I are in a group called "mBrosia" and being guests of this convention, we had to go pick up our passes and find out what was going on in terms of scheduling. While that was going on, Amanda put makeup on me for my Renamon costume. It looked good, but since I never (and I stress the never) wear makeup, it looked really weird to me. ~_~ Ah well.

Speaking of that, what I wore at this convention was really ironic. There are a few things I never/don't like to wear: dresses, makeup, the colors purple and pink, spandex and high-heels. Guess what I wore all weekend? *bashes head into desk*

Anyway, mBrosia was performing later in the day, so we arranged a meet up time and wandered off. Exploring the dealer's room, we ran into Sakura in her Ed (Full Metal Alchemist) costume and hung out with her a bit. Afterwards, I talked with Zero briefly and he showed me the almighty "Vash in a Box". Bwah~!


Kaidoh's Ear

At some point, we finally made it to AN's second location -- the Renaissance hotel. I took photos of the cosplayers wandering around and recognized a group of them hanging out in front of the hotel from other conventions. One of the guys there was dressed up as Kaidoh from Prince of Tennis at CN Anime last year, so I called him Kaidoh and bugged him to the point where I took a picture of his ear, glomped him and ran off with no explanation what-so-ever. ^^


Meet and Greet

The meet and greet on Friday evening was fun. Blue Rose and I ran into Ben, and then Claire, Jen and Daniel. I spotted Michael Dobson wearing a Ninja Turtle headband talking to some people and signing autographs. I went to say hi to him. He recognized me from TAC and we talked for a bit. I asked him to marry me and he agreed, so Blue Rose took out my little "ring box" and I put a twist tie around his finger. He became my 34th husband, I glomped him, and then we posed for a few pictures. Have I ever told you how much I adore Michael Dobson? ♥

I saw Brian Drummond, David Kaye and Richard Cox briefly. Richard was talking about the way he posed in pictures and I took one of him before running off. As we left, Blue Rose laughed saying she heard people say "That's Pan!" as I walked by and that I, like usual, didn't notice. ><;


Subway and the Keycards of Doom

Blue Rose and I had our photo taken a few times. It was amusing since most people recognized who we were dressed as (Rika and Renamon from Digimon Tamers), but many people had trouble remembering the character's names. One person who took our photos seemed really familiar (as did his camera), so I asked him who he was. He turned out to be Lionel Lum of Usagichan.com. ^^

Since I had get ready for the mBrosia performance later in the day, Blue Rose and I headed back to the Park Plaza, On the way we stopped into a Subway restaurant where we ironically found Chapel, Rin and Ash. The guy working at Subway liked our costumes, and I munched on a sub on the way back to the hotel.

Our room keys were evil this weekend. That is to say that they needed to be reset every four hours or so. ><; Ah well. The lobby of the Park Plaza was a very interesting place to be. The first time it happened, there was mayhem with a rubber chicken and sandwiches, so if you see a rubber chicken flying through my cosplay photos, you know why. ^_~


The Pre-Show

After getting changed into my (extremely tacky) Catsy costume, Blue Rose and I headed to the Radisson and the lovely and ever talented Amanda helped me to cement (yes, cement ><;) the jewel to my forehead and draw on the crescent moon with black eyeliner. I also too this opportunity to take the Renamon makeup off. Afterwards, we all headed back to the TCC. I took pictures of cosplayers and attacked a Marth cosplayer. I also ran into Justin and took a photo of him in his Rubeus costume.

I meet the rest of mBrosia in the green room and we waited until we'd be called on to go on stage. I looked out the flap to the green room and took photos of the cosplayers that went by so that I could get photos and stay in the green room at the same time.

Those of us in the Cell Block part of mBrosia were taking a photo in the far end of the green room when we heard ourselves announced on stage without warning. Freaking out, we ran as fast as our legs could carry us through the green room and around backstage to the far side that we needed to enter from. The rush compacted by the fact that we couldn't really hear the music made it hard for us to hear our cues, but we went on stage and begun performing our version of Cell Block Tango (it's a number from Chicago).

We started working on it last summer, so it was such a rush to finally perform it on stage. Between my speedy heart-beat and the blinding lights, the seven minute song seemed to go by in mere moments, and it wasn't until I heard the crowd cheering that reality came rushing back and I couldn't wipe the giant smile from my face.

After the performance, I glomped Becky since we had actually performed Cell Block. Becky was my "male partner" in Cell Block and the one I, errr... kill. Eheheheheh... Anyway, our Sunday concert was announced and I meet up with Blue Rose and escaped back into the con. I kept getting stopped and told how much the performance rocked. I couldn't help but smile. ^^ It's easy to forget that the audience may actually like your performance when you're so worked up about it. I also plugged our concert a bit to a few people who asked.


Harry Potter

There was the group of three cosplayers that I took a photo of on Friday night. They were dressed as InuYasha/Card Captor Sakura characters. As soon as I got my first picture of them, Blue Rose leaned over and mentioned that they'd make great Harry Potter cosplayers. I looked at the again. The girl looked like Hermione and the other two looked a bit like Harry and Ron (he even had red hair). We saw them a lot at this convention, and every time, I referred to them as the Harry Potter trio. Their resemblance to the Harry Potter characters broke Blue Rose's brain. Bwah~! ^_~


Catsy is Loved?

My Catsy costume took forever to make, was really tacky, and semi-obscure, so imagine my surprise when I was stopped every three feet for a picture. It seems Catsy is a lot more loved than I originally thought. ^^;

I also ran into Darcy and got her photo. Her costumes never cease to amaze me. ^^ She commented on my costume too and we talked briefly. She's so cool. ^^


Chasing You

I ran into Saffi shortly after. She's my fiancée and was dressed in an upgraded version of her Jesse from Pokemon costume. Sadly, we didn't get married at this convention because we had trouble finding each other later. ><; The same thing happened with Mekou-chan. I saw her on Friday and spotted her briefly on the other days, but not enough to stop and get married. Ah well. There's always CN, ne? ^_~

I saw Leina a few times. She was dressed up as "Yaoi Fangirl" and had images all over her. Very amusing. ^^ Soon after, I spotted a Yugi cosplayer and tackle-glomped him before getting a picture. On retrospect, I should've married him. Maybe next time? *heh* Ah well. He made a great Yugi. I adored his hair. ^^

At some point, I ran into Chapel who noticed that some random guy's boots looked like our friend Richard's. So, I crawled up behind the guy and took a photo of his boots. When he noticed me, I ran for it. ^^;;;


Atobe and Jiroh

The Thursday before the convention, I posted in an LJ Tenipuri community to see if anyone else was going to Anime North. Two girls replied that they were going as Jiroh and Atobe. It didn't take long for me to spot them on Friday and after scaring them/glomping them to death, I took some photos of them. On Saturday I found them again randomly throughout the day, and every time I did, Ii glomped them and took photos. I'm not sure how many photos of them I got throughout the convention, but the number was quite high. ^^;

On Sunday, I took even more pictures of them and the Atobe brought a rose. *clings* I loved these two! They were just sooooo cute! ^_____^


More Tennis (and a partridge in a pear tree)

I went to this convention knowing full well there were going to be lots and lots of Prince of Tennis cosplayers. Considering that TAC had more Tenipuri cosplayers than many large conventions in the US, I was sure AN was going to have its fair share of tennis. And I was right.

Besides Atobe and Jiroh, who I stalked followed around all weekend, there were numerous other tennis players walking around. On Friday, Kira was dressed as Dabide. I also ran into a Tachi (who I tackle-glomped upon spotting) and her friend in a Rikkai uniform. Ironically, they, along with their friends, we're all members of the "Taichi Family". ^^ Bwah~!

On Saturday, my friend Ash put together a huge Hyotei group with basically the entire Hyotei team. A bunch of my friends were in it and I met most of the people I didn't already know. I took photos of them throughout the day, and mid-Saturday, I managed to find the entire group together at once near the front doors. I took a bunch of photos and then Ash, errr... Ashobe directed them in the infamous Hyotei cheer. Their cheering brought a huge crowd and a ton of flashbulbs. ^^ Yay, tennis!

I took photos of them for awhile. The best part had to be when "Kabaji" lifted their Jiroh cosplayer like luggage because Ashobe commanded it. *heh*

I also saw Ritchie again. She was dressed as Ryoma and had a Tezuka with her and needless to say, I snapped up their pictures. I also tackle-glomped the other Ryoma and Momo cosplayers I spotted briefly on Saturday afternoon. Moreover, I spotted one of Kirarara's friends cosplaying as Eiji (she was Van from Escaflowne on Friday) and took her photo too. ^^ And on Sunday, I briefly ran into Cecilia in her Rikkai shirt. *glomps*

Chobrat and her friend were also dressed as Ryoma and Tezuka. I got their photos briefly on Saturday while running between hotels. On Sunday, I got some great photos of them in the dealer's room. ^^

And who can forget the poor Eiji cosplayer from TAC? She was back again at this convention and I glomped her and took photos of her whenever I spotted her. If she wasn't frightened of my before, she definitely is now. ^^;;;


My Assassin is from Naruto?

At CN Anime last summer, I kept glomping a guy dressed as the assassin from Ragnarok Online. On Friday night in the dealer's room, I ran into some Ragnarok and Naruto cosplayers walking around together. I quickly spotted the assassin, and ran across the room to glomp him. He was taller than the assassin I had glomped before, and the second I glomped him he said, "No no! You're looking for him!" and pointed at one of the Naruto cosplayers. Sure enough, the guy he was pointing to was pointy to the poor soul I attacked throughout CN Anime. Needless to say, I quickly glomped him and embarrassed him yet again. ^^; After taking some photos I got a picture of their entire group and continued on my way.


Kiriyama

On Friday night, I ran into Kiriyama cosplayer from Battle Royale and glomped him since he is my favorite character and the cosplayer looked just like him. Later in the evening near the end of the Red and White show, I asked him to marry me. Blue Rose took out my "ring box" again, and after more adventures with twist ties (I need to bring longer ones next year), the Kiriyama cosplayer became my 35th husband. ^______^ I really liked him.

Before the masquerade on Saturday night, Blue Rose tracked him down and found out his name was Eric. ^^ And my apologies to the Urd cosplayer he was with all weekend. ^^;


Gundam Winging It

I was spotted numerous times throughout the convention by people asking me (or Blue Rose when she was holding my pass) if I was "Pan of LELOLA". I couldn't believe the sheer amount of people that recognized little old me. ^^;

I should put a warning somewhere saying that I'm easily distracted. On Friday, I was talking to some girls that recognized me after I took their pictures when we spotted some Gundam Wing cosplayers. Deciding that it was a good idea to make a fool out of myself, I ran across the room and glomped their Zechs and then basically knocked their Quatre off his feet. I like Quatre. ^^;;;

No, there wasn't a point to this.


Married twice in Ten Minutes

Crossing the bridge over the highway on the way back to the hotel on Friday night we passed a guy holding an "I want to be glomped!!" sign. So naturally, I glomped him and then asked him to marry me. He agreed and so he became my 36th husband! W00t!

In the lobby of the hotel, we ran into Spiku who I attack at every convention I see him at. He was a tad busy at that particular moment, but he took the time to marry me and so he became my 37th husband. And we got to pose with his sandwich and the semi-random straw. *grins*


The (really large but always full) Hotel Room

Our hotel room was fun. There were different people staying there every night, which was ironic since only Blue Rose and I were supposed to be staying in it. After picking up Becky's friend Kristin on Friday, Becky and Kristin stayed with us Friday and Saturday nights. Chapel, Kirararararara, and Jess stayed with us Sunday night. But anyway, our room was one very large mess. Blue Rose had her Fye staff shipped form the other side of the country by FedEx (We love you, FedEx!) so there was packing foam and cardboard in a corner and other debris everywhere else. Considering how much we were cosplaying, the sheer amount of costume parts floating around was rather impressive. Oh, and who can forget all the signs that were scattered all over the room? You've been vittled, indeed. ^^;

I spent the evenings going back and forth between hotel rooms since Chapel, Kira, Kenney, Ash, Sakura and a bunch of other people were staying in the same hotel. We were going to have a pool party at some point, but since it didn't work out, I stole Mike's props and watched Sakura sew in her room.


Breakfast of Champions

I woke up after everyone else in my room on Saturday morning. Becky and Blue Rose were dressing up as Tsubasa characters (Syaoran and Fye, respectfully). So was Sakura (who was dressing up as Sakura) and they all met up on Saturday morning to go to a photoshoot I was supposed to go to. Considering that despite going to bed at a decent hour, my eyes burned when I tried to open them, I decided it would be better in the long run to stay in bed for an extra hour or two. When I finally got up around nine in the morning, I found my eyes red and my capillaries acting weird. This is what I get for wearing eye makeup. ><; Ah well. It was thankfully gone by the time I got out of the shower.

Aggie and Sakuma showed up and I got changed into my Kadsuki costume. We headed to the Renaissance to find the CLAMP photoshoot ending. I got a few photos and hung out there for a bit.

At some point, a girl dressed as Sumomo from Chobits poked me on the shoulder and explained that that's what I had said to do on the main page of LELOLA (I tell people to poke me on the shoulder and say hi). ^^ I recognized her from MAX and we talked briefly. She gave my a copy of her webcomic before I ran off after Blue Rose who I watched get "kidnapped" out of the corner of my eye.

After tracking Blue Rose down, I ran into Eri, Amanda and Ben again, Blue Rose left to go meet up with Becky and Sakura again, and Eri, Amanda and I headed to the brunch.

When we walked in the door, Kirararara flagged us down and we headed her way. After some discussion, we all sat down and Amanda and I sat at the table with Kira, Kelsi, Dani and those guys. ^^ Soon after we sat down, the guests came in (except for David Kaye who was already seated when we got there). I ran up and grabbed Michael Dobson (I love him!) and dragged him back to our table. ^^

We talked to him for a bit before we got to go up and get breakfast. I also talked to Super Uber Anime Guy briefly. *hearts him*

At some point, David Kaye walked by our table and Michael introduced me as his wife. David shook my hand saying how nice it was to finally meet me. Imagine his surprise when I asked to marry him. ^^;;;;

Amanda preformed the ceremony and David became my 38th husband. Bwah~! ^^

Then we went back to breakfast and chatting with Michael Dobson. Chapel talked to him about Transformers and at one point he was wearing Akabane's hat. ^^

Anyway, it was fun to talk to Michael Dobson at breakfast. *hearts* We all agreed that it was the best way to start our day. ^_____^

Sadly, most of us had to leave just before noon since we had meetings/photoshoots to attend. ;____; Five steps out the door and I missed Michael already.


The Fated Get Backers Photoshoot

Since some time last year, a group of us have been planning a large Get Backers group. Around the time of the con, many of the original member of the Get Backers group (yes, we're talking about the same one that was at CN last year), dropped out and couldn't make it due to a variety of reasons. But we persevered! Bwah~!

On Friday I ran into Ginji and Natsumi cosplayers and told them about the shoot. Same for a nice Akabane cosplayer named Chris. ♥

I was supposed to cosplay Himiko, but due to time factors and the fact that I felt I was wearing more than enough spandex at this convention, I decided to simply wear my Kadsuki costume instead. Sakura was going to wear her young Kadsuki costume, and I had brought my Juubei costume for someone who couldn't come, so on Friday night, Sakura asked me if I could be Juubei instead. I agreed, so before the photoshoot I changed out of Kadsuki and into my Juubei outfit. I suppose Juubei was a good choice considering I spent most of my time in it running around taking pictures. It gave me moveably, but with the recently repaired glasses, I didn't have visibility, so I took them off. Only a few people recognized me anyway and since it was a last minute thing, no one really knew I'd be wearing it. I guess I used the costume to slip under the radar for a few hours and take photos without being stopped.

Anyway, on Saturday, we were supposed to meet in Artist's Alley for the Get Backers photoshoot. Since the line to get into Artist's Alley was huge, some of us met there and then went out to meet the rest of our group. Kenney forgot his costume, but the Ginji I met the day before was there so it worked out well. ^^

It took us awhile to get organized, but soon we were all being blinded by flashbulbs. ^^; Afterwards, we took some individual photos of each of us. Blue Rose was dressed as Kagami and looked freakishly like Kagami. *hearts* At some point, Bianco asked me to lift Sakura in the air for a Juubei x Kadsuki photo, which was interesting. And yeah... twas fun. ^^; Becky made a good Clayman, and we even had a Kite and Hera. ^^

Speaking of Blue Rose, she had her photo taken constantly as Kagami. Lots of people thought she was dressed as a King of Fighters character. And sometime during the photoshoot, her and Kira started laughing. ^^; Fwee worst con report ever!


Naruto

Every other photo I took was of Naruto and InuYasha cosplayers. They were everywhere. No, really I mean everywhere, and Naruto outnumbered InuYasha too. At some point I stumbled on to a bit of a giant Naruto photoshoot and found myself surrounded by Naruto characters. It was mind-boggling how many there were. Ah well. I took some photos of them reenacting scenes and playing rock-paper-scissors and said hi to some people I knew who were there dressed as Naruto characters before moving on. Although with the amount of Naruto cosplayers running around I didn't get very far without finding more of them. ^^;


Beyblade

At some point on Saturday afternoon, I went to the OtC Tag BeyBattle Revolution 2004 and took some photos. I saw Brad and a large number of people playing Beyblade and enjoying themselves. As I was approaching Brad to talk to him, someone poked me and told me how much they liked LELOLA. I talked to them for a bit but I was eventually distracted by a shiny tennis cosplayer and ran off at some point. *sweatdrops* I really should do something about that.

Ah well. I was happy to hear later from Brad and a few of his friends that the tournament went well. ^^ I must make sure to track Brad down at future conventions. Bwah~!


A Little Bit of YTV

I like the way Blue Rose describes this better than my description. Ah well. Here we go anyway.

On Saturday afternoon, I was asked to be at the TCC at a certain time with Becky. Becky was who-knows where, so Blue Rose, Sakuma and I headed to the TCC, meet up where we were supposed to, and since we had time, went on a search for Becky. After a good half-hour, we found her. ^^

Blue Rose and Sakuma sat down while they waited. Since they were both wearing black, white and gold, everyone seemed to think they were from the same series and took their photos. For the record, Blue Rose was dressed as Fye from Tsubasa and Sakuma was Kano from Get Backers.

Anyway, I met with the YTV guy who's name I didn't learn and he told me what they were planning for the cosplay segment. He wanted to dress Paula up and wondered if I had any ideas. I told him I had an InuYasha costume in my hotel room, and spent the next half-hour running back to get it.

Upon return and a few minute wait, Becky, Blue Rose, Sakuma, Sakura, and I were filmed on YTV. We put Paula in my InuYasha costume, which fit her surprisingly well and filmed a little segment. It was really fun. ^^

I got to talk to Paula a bit. She's the host of Vortex on YTV, and an anime fan too. ^^ Even though I'm close to her height, with my four-inch Renamon boots on I felt really tall.

Long story painfully short, if you're watching YTV see a human-form Renamon from Digimon, a Fye and Syaoran from Tsubasa, a Ed from Full Metal Alchemist, a Kano from Get Backers, or Paula wearing an InuYasha costume, you know who you're seeing. ^^ Hanyaaan~!


Cursed, yet again

Throughout the convention, there was a guy dressed in a purple robe holding a magic eight ball that continuously cursed me. I didn't notice the first time until Blue Rose pointed him out and I found him mumbling curses under his breathe how I (I was dressed as Catsy at the time) left the side of evil to help the sailor scouts. o___O;

I ran into him throughout the convention, and each time, he had something entertaining to say. I think the most amusing time was on Sunday when I was talking to Patrick (he was dressed as one amazing Starfox!) again. I saw the guy in the purple approaching and mentioned something about him cursing me, and then he walked by and cursed me yet again. Then Patrick, Blue Rose and I pretended nothing happened and went back to our conversation since having semi-random people curse me is a normal part of our lives. Ummm... yes...? *sweatdrops*


Is your name Pan?

This convention made me seriously wonder how many people knew me. Many of the random people I took photos of said "Thank you, Pan-Chan" afterwards, which never failed to make me do a double-take. It really shocked me how many people knew who I was without me realizing. *nervous laugh* It also kinda worries me since I don't know who all these people are. The thing is, I'd like to know.

And the hushed whispers of "OMG, it's Pan!" were enjoyed greatly by Blue Rose who was always a few steps behind me and unlike me, heard them. Blue Rose also found it amusing when she was carrying my pass and was asked if she was me, to which she usually pointed at the colorful blur glomping innocent bystanders.

On a creepy note, I'd like to know who it was that video taped me for a good twenty minutes on Friday without my realizing. o____O;

On a happier note, I was video taped by a few people at AN. Some people asked me to say things, I almost always introduced myself as "Moriyama Eiji" (Momoshiro Takeshi yaku no Moriyama Eiji desu. *pnish* no Moriyama Eiji desu. Nijuuroku sai no Moriyama Eiji desu~!). The amusing fact was the people around that recognized what I was saying. *heh* Also, one girl came up to me in/around the green room, asked if she could film me, and then video taped me saying how I was Pan and then left before I could find out who she was. ^^;

Surprisingly, I was also asked for my autograph a few times. Since I wasn't expecting it, I never knew what to write. ><;;;

Speaking of that, on Saturday after the YTV stuff, I meet two fans of mine and talked with them for a bit. They were extremely nice and really cool. ^^ I wrote one of them a haiku. Sadly, my horrible memory has already lost their names (I knew I should've written it on my arm!), but I can remember their faces and voices perfectly, so I should have no trouble tracking them down at future cons. ^^ They were awesome, so I look forward to seeing them again someday. ^___^


Typhoon

Saturday night, Blue Rose and I decided to go back to the hotel room instead of watch the masquerade. We got changed and went to a local restaurant (Walts) that was about a 200 meter walk from out hotel. But it was raining. Raining really hard. So I used an umbrella and Blue Rose used her jacket and we ran for the restaurant. May I take this opportunity to say how much it was raining and that the rain kept changing directions. Also that the parking lots had a good inch of two of water rushing around when avoiding the puddles. You know it's a bad storm when the storm drains are shooting water upwards!

Needless to say, by the time we got to the restaurant, which was a hop, skip and a jump for our hotel, we were soaked. We were suddenly very happy we weren't in costume.

The way back to the hotel after the meal wasn't as bad, but it was still crazy and we got even wetter. When we got to the hotel, we ran into Ritchie, who gave me a weird look. Possibly because she had never seen me without a wig before; maybe because I was soaking wet. *heh*

So I missed the masquerade and the black out, but I did get to laugh at watch Jurassic Park, so the night was not lost.


Good Morning, Sunshine

I was awoken by the phone at 9:45 in the morning informing me of the practice at 10:00am, to which I blinked at the phone, mentioned something about pajamas and the fifteen minute walk, then ran like the wind into the shower. Around 10:45, Becky and I made it to the main stage. Becky wasn't needed at that particular time, so she was able to escape with Kristen to the press stuff happening next door.

After spending some time figuring out mikes and a little bit of practicing, I was free to go. I was wearing my ghetto!Kimeru costume and on my way out of the TCC back to my hotel, someone randomly glomped me and took my picture. Since they were the only person to recognize me, they get an invisible cookie. ^^;

I went back to the hotel room and changed into my Catsy costume since we had a mBrosia photoshoot at two. By the time I got changed and walked to the Radisson to have the jewel re-cemented to my forehead, it was time to go. I met up with the rest of the group in the green room and we took a bunch of pictures. I needed to be back by three thirty for our four o'clock concert, but I since I had some time, I went exploring with Blue Rose and we took numerous photos of this and that. ^^;


mBrosia Concert

The time of the concert finally came. We had practiced so much (this is what happens when you start a year in advance) that it came as second nature. We went on stage and preformed almost a year's worth of work. It filled me with confidence that we got cheers as soon as we got on stage. The concert has skits in it, and due to a technical misunderstanding or two, we didn't get to practice with mikes until that morning. My skit was tricky since I had to get a headset on in ten seconds and then move on Sean and Josh's shoulder's without falling off. ^^; I think it went well since it was a spoof of those annoying used car adds and the "BAAAAAAAAAAM~!" Pop Tarts commercials. The rest of the acts seemed to go well too, which made me very happy. ^^

Before and during the concert, I was running around backstage singing the "Distraction Song", which has no tune and is basically me running around screaming "Distraction! Distraction! Distraction!". *heh* I made mistakes in the last number, but that was ironic since it was something I could do freakishly well. Ah well. 'Twas so much fun. ^^

I'm so happy the crowd loved us so much. I was honestly surprised at how welcoming it was of our little concert. Thank you, Anime North~! ^__________^

After the concert, I was greeted by Kelsi, Kira, Blue Rose, Chapel, Kenney, Laura and Janine, who had all snuck backstage. They all said they loved the concert and Chapel and Kenney threw "vittle balls" at me. Umm... questions lead to more questions and unwanted answers.

I shoved Chapel in the giant Lipton Sidekicks bag (which was worn by Bonnie for everything but the final bow where it was worn by Becky) and we left the green room to the world of flash bulbs. After being blinded, we posed with the pińata of doom, and were blinded even more. Bwah~!


The Giant Hammer

After the concert, Eric, Danny and Steven approached me. I talked with them for a bit. Eric (if I'm not mistaken) had a giant hammer with him and we posed for pictures, which was a lot of fun. ^^

One thing lead to another, and I played Eric in rock-paper-Zazel. It was so much high-energy fun. *grins* I heard later that they were playing it early Saturday morning, but I completely missed it. Ah well.

Afterwards, Eric, Danny and Steven all signed the giant hammer and then gave it to me (and it now proudly sits on my wall). Hanyaan~! ^^ I hope to see them again. And we should play rock-paper-Zazel again. ^_~


Where is everyone?

I went to the convention looking for a few people that I never found or only saw briefly. I'm blaming this on the multiple locations. I was bouncing around so much that I guess I was hard to find. I also had problems finding people. I couldn't find Laura and Janine or Ian and Buru for most of the weekend.

The same thing can be said for Animerag and Peter. On the way out of the Renaissance on Saturday morning, I spotted them briefly, but they disappeared before I could talk to them. It wasn't until after the mBrosia concert on Sunday that I tracked them down, and even then, I wasn't able to really talk to them. ><;

After the concert, a bunch of people that were looking for me came up to me saying that they couldn't find my all weekend. ><;;; Eep?


Odds and Ends

Due to my performance being at the same time, I sadly missed the ANN panel. ;____; I really wanted to go to it too. I'm going to try and track down someone who went so I can find out what happened. It was the only panel I really wanted to go to the entire weekend. Wah.

*huggles super uber anime guy* I absolutely *heart* you! ^_______^

Congratulations to Amanda for winning Anime North's Northern Lights Award the second year in a row. Your Delerium music video deserved it. ^^

I completely missed seeing the Japanese guest of honor. Well, I did see Atsuko Enomoto briefly backstage since she was on just before our concert, but besides that, I didn't get to see them at all. ><;

Kevin, your costumes turned out great. No, they really did. ^_______^ *hearts you*

And to the guy with the Cats "All your base are belong to us" costume, you ruled!


Ten Things I Learned at this Convention

1. I need a car.
2. Rubber cement hurts when you try to remove it from your forehead. ;____; And rubbing alcohol and nail-polish remover burn like mad if you get them in your eyes.
3. Makeup is evil. So is spandex, the color purple, and the mirror in our hotel room that tried to eat my soul in the middle of the night.
4. Umbrellas don't help in typhoons. Moreover, mud is evil and hard to remove from costumes.
5. Acid rain eats through costumes and props, and despite what government officials say, it easily burns through human skin.
6. Performing kills your time.
7. If you tell people they can hit you on the head with a giant hammer, they'll bring a giant hammer and hunt you down.
8. I need to get married more often.
9. Write names down. No matter what I tell myself, I always forget them.
10. There is no number 10.


One More Step

Overall, the convention itself was good, but it wasn't up to Anime North's standards. Then multiple locations were annoying, but it had to be done this year, and I understand that. The amount of sleep I got this at con, and the fact that I still had my voice by the end of it says something.

I got to see my friends, and the most entertaining moments came when we made our own fun. I actually ate at this convention. It was weird. I ate more on Friday of this convention than I did at all of last year's convention. I also ate more than one dinner on all three days. That's almost unheard of, but I'm definitely not complaining. ^^;

The convention was much larger this year in terms of people attending. I took a lot more cosplay photos this year than I did last year. Oh, wait. This is a con report.

After hanging out at the TCC for a bit, I went back to the hotel room to get changed since a group of us were going out to dinner. Since we were still staying at the hotel Sunday night, Anime North didn't really end until Monday morning. Although, somewhere in my mind, I think it ended soon after our concert did.

On Monday morning, we got up, rolled over and went back to bed. On Monday afternoon, we got up and got our stuff together. After leaving a brand new box of Cheerios with $20 in it for the nice concierge that helped us all weekend (he deserved every Cheerio!) we left on our way back to wherever it is we go when there are no cons. Look at it this way, less than a year to go until Anime North 2005.