This is my 5th anime north and I have been attending it religiously every year since 2004. Each year the attendance is increasing. Last year, there were 13,500 attendees so we can expect the number goes up to 15,000. Anime North in Toronto is one of the largest anime convention in North America in term of total attendance according to 2007 statistic (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime_convention ).

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Double Tree Hotel

Anime North this year is held at Toronto Congress Center, Doubletree International Plaza Hotel and Renaissance Toronto. They all are located by the airport so it’s perfect for those who travels by air.

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My gears

I got off work around 6pm so I went straight to Anime North 2008. Traffic was not bad and I got there in 30 minutes. One thing that I really like about Toronto Congress Center is the free parking and millions of parking space is available.

Line up is pretty long and I think most of them were getting the weekend pass. Friday is usually not that busy due to work/school or just too tired after work/school.

I went straight to the dealer room and started hunting for items :D. I bought Full Metal Panic TSR and Fate Stay Night for $200. Decent price I guess and I didn’t want to wait for a cheaper deal because FSN was released by Geneon and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneon USA is no more.

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Artist Alley is as busy as ever

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FSN vol. 1-6 and FMP TSR

Just when I was about to leave the dealer room, the exit was packed and stucked. If it’s the entrance, I can understand but this was the exit that got a line up. It turned out the securities checked every person’s bag for possible stolen items. It’s pretty sad that this kind of thing happened at Anime North.

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Securities were checking on each person bag for stolen goods

After wandering around in the dealer room and took pictures of cosplayers, I went Nomonoichi at renaissance hotel where people sell used stuff. I didn’t find anything interesting but I saw a lot of manga/comics being sold. Surprisingly, Renaissance Hotel was not packed or busy. Anime North provides a shuttle bus that goes from Toronto Congress Centre to Renaissance Hotel so it’s pretty convenience.

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Renaissance Hotel at night

Before I left for the day, I picked up a bracelet for Halko Momoi concert for tomorrow. It seemed there was not much interest on her in comparison to 2 years ago when Kotoko came. I still remember that the line for Kotoko was crazy ^^.

I left around 11pm because my leg was killing me XD. On the way back to my car from Doubletree Hotel, I over-heard someone called those cosplayers bunch of freaks. I guess it’s hard for some people to accept other’s hobbies and too quick to judge others by their hobbies. It happened almost every year and it usually comes from those cars which happened to pass by either going to the airport or coming from the airport.

Cosplayers’ photos

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My favorite - Bunny Haruhi ^_^

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Lenalee I believed? ^^

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Lacus and Haro. She is a cutie ^_^

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Allen and Lavi from D.Gray-man. Where is your hammer, Lavi ? ^^;;

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Not sure from which anime or what characters ^^;

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Ichigo and Lettuce from Tokyo Mew Mew

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Kohaku from Melty Blood… sweep…sweep…sweep!!!

Loot of the day

1. Fate Stay Night DVDs vol 1 to 6 and FMP TSR DVD box = $200

2. FFXI accessories - $12 each x 4 = $48

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FFXI accessories for cellphone

Total: $248

Anime North 2008 Day 2 is coming soon ^^

Song of the day : D.Grayman OP - Innocent Sorrow

Click here for Anime North 2008 Day 2

Click here for Anime North 2008 Day 3