Anime North 2017: A great way to start your summer

Toronto, 29^th May. Yakuza Webzine. As the days get getting longer and warmer, it is time to brush up some residues from school and begin to polish that cosplay that’s been sitting there for a while now, and Anime North 2017 is the perfect opportunity to do so!

The biggest fan-made con, indeed

First of all, as we forecast, the place is huge. And there is nothing you can do about it. It is the way Anime North 2017 is run so going among places can get a little bit tiresome and you can ever get lost a couple of times (Here, I raise my hand) but with the help of the correct staff and the survival guide at hand, you can quickly be on your feet to the place you want to go.

Indoors, a lot of events where happening at the same time so it was pretty difficult to cover them all. We can only sigh with the hope to see those panels again next year. We recommend visiting those run by Charles Dunbar, who in this edition brought one about Ghibli and another about Magical Girls. Both of them were marvelous.

Couldn’t you get the autograph of someone in particular? Good thing that most of the guest did multiple sessions of autographs during the 3 days where you could meet them and even take pictures with them.

Thanks to this con and its partnerships we could meet Tomoyo Kurosawa, Japanese child actor and currently seiyuu on many top-quality projects. Full interview coming up soon!

But even if workshops and panels are not your things, the most fun was outdoors. Tons of awesome cosplayers were accessible outside the Toronto Congress Center taking pictures with other fans, making photoshoots on point and having a blast with their friends and meeting new people.

Friends time is the best time

And I have to say that that’s the spirit of the con: the fans it selves. Being this the opening event of the summer con season, if we could use that label, this is the perfect opportunity to meet your friends who are far away, have some quality time with them, enjoy the merry environment, meet new people, buy geeky merchandise together, participate in activities like a team or just chill out in the grass, enjoying the good weather.

The volunteer staff performed at their best, but this doesn’t mean that there Is no chance to improve. You can always make this con, a better con little by little.

Even if the dealer’s exhibition was full, we would love had seen the artist alley as crowded as the former one. In the artist area, there was a bit of everything, from paper-printed art to wood crafts and original t-shirts. With all the talent that Toronto has to offer, the artist exhibition has a lot of dormant potentials.

Anime North 2017

A weekend of fun in a convention where you can unplug your brain and enjoy all around the anime-comic-geek culture, Anime North 2017 did its best to accomplish that and it certainly did.

Thank you again for having us, See you next year!

Maria Caterina Bruciapaglia

(The image used in the header belongs to the artist- if you know them please leave a comment so we can credit them properly.  The same goes with the cosplayers in the photos.

Thank you in advance)