I was not really expecting to have that great of a time at Anime North this year. Now that it’s finished I can say that it exceeded my expectations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was that great. While it was good to see some familiar faces, I was pretty much on my own for the entire show and didn’t really hang out with anyone for any significant length of time. I didn’t have a lot of money due to an unrelated matter outside of my control that popped up unexpectedly, so I couldn’t afford to buy very much. Last year I spoke on 4 discussion panels and it was a lot of fun and they were all well attended. I had volunteered to be on panels this year too, but for some reason I was only on 1. Topics like classic anime and Transformers didn’t have a panel at all this year, despite being successful last year. Meanwhile, other topics, which will go nameless, were overexposed. That’s just stupid. I don’t understand the reasoning behind that, and it makes it seem that the people in charge really don’t care.

So, for all those reasons it wasn’t that great. However, the main reason why I go to Anime North is Anime Hell, which was hilarious this year. On Sunday there was also a Super Robot presentation that went through almost every 70’s robot anime. After it ended there was still time left, so it just kept going onto 80’s anime. I sang along with the theme songs and it was a lot of fun. I did manage to scrape up enough money to buy all of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix anime, which is great. I also go what must have been the deal of the century. I bought the entire 2004 Tetsujin 28 remake anime, 26 episodes on 6 disks with art box, official, brand new, sealed, licensed by the now bankrupt Geneon and thus out of print, for $10. Yeah, $10. I thought it was some kind of mistake, but that’s how much I paid. Can’t really feel bad about going to a disappointing convention when you walk home with a deal like that.

There was also free live wrestling, and that’s always fun to watch.

So that’s my Anime North experience. Not great, but still OK in the end.

Sayonara.