Anime North 2016 Report!

What better way to break my hiatus of not blogging than to report my Anime North 2016 experience this past weekend! Somewhat pic heavy post...although I was lazy this year and didn't take that many photos.


 Might I add that this year it was REALLY HOT. It was 30 degrees both days...One year it was freezing and this year it was really scorching. Also I think there were more food trucks this year. There needs to be more of them! I finally got to try a beaver tail lol.


Sooo many people this year. This was my first time going to the con just for fun and not selling anything. Every year since 2008 I've always had a table but this time I was too busy with work so I opted out and decided to chill and be a normal con goer. I arrived late on Friday because I had work so this report is mostly for Saturday and Sunday. I feel like at this point after so many years I don't find conventions to be very exciting anymore either, but just as a way to spend time with friends. I think I've slowly become desensitized to cosplay and anime related things thanks to work and just not being involved with any fandom for a while now, to the point where things that would have made me go "kyaa" in the past just makes me go "meh...seen it" now.. :')


On Saturday I wanted to check out the Victorian Maiden lolita fashion show but I missed it... woke up too late and took too much time to get ready so we didn't make it... but in the afternoon we went to our seating at the maid cafe, Cafe Delish. I had a seating at this popular event in 2012 and enjoyed it, and this year for Anime North's 20th anniversary, something special was prepared. The Terrace Room was transformed into the Teahouse of the Maple Moon with Momiji as our host and her troop of Maikos (meido + maiko).

I was lucky enough to get one of the best seats in the house and opted for the traditional styled seating. As always the lighting is excellent for photos and the room was comfortably air conditioned so it was a very relaxing atmosphere after walking around the con.


After welcoming us and the lovely traditional styled dance performance, our Maido, Mamiko brought us the treats combos we chose.


Drawing something with strawberry sauce~


Whisking the matcha..


I chose the matcha + mochi combo.


Fred chose the Yuzu Oolong tea and walnut dango combo.


While eating we watched the Maidos play a fun game to the sound of a song.


There was one last performance featuring Mamiko and Tenshi before we were headed off on our way to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Thank you Cafe Delish for the wonderful experience!! (The rest of the photos I took during my seating will be uploaded onto my Flickr soon when I get the chance!)

Moving on to cosplays, as I said, I haven't been into the loop with any anime recently so not very many cosplays caught my eye. I did notice a lot of Haikyuu cosplays though!! Not surprising since the anime is coming out with season 3 soon I believe. I was on the lookout for Manami things (or Yowapeda things in general) in the artist alley and didn't see much at all. I ended up seeing a lot of Daiya no Ace merch (which I started and enjoyed but stopped midway...urgh so little time)


This Kill La Kill cosplay was really on point tho. Saw quite a few Ryuko's too! I've always wanted to cosplay as Satsuki but was too lazy to make the outfit... maybe someday!!

On Saturday night I went to see the Masquerade. I regret not taking some photos because it was basically like a costume contest where people show off their hand crafted cosplays, and judges included Reika which I'd heard of thanks to the Shingeki no Kyojin fandom. It was my first time attending the event (never had a chance since it was about 3 hrs long) and it was pretty cool!

We left a bit before the show ended and ate at Milestones since it was near by. Too bad I didn't take a photo of the menu because it was basically a set menu with only 5 things on it for $20 per meal. It included free soft drink refills but my ginger ale was so watered down I couldn't taste it. Apparently restaurants started doing set menus last year... I understand the reasoning behind this since the con has grown so much during the past few years and this is a way of coping with wait times but the meal itself was so disappointing, if there is a next time I'd definitely avoid the popular restaurant chains close to the con. Never again!!

Anyways, lastly... some snaps of what I did wear this weekend! I didn't want to wear a wig since it was so hot out and only packed dresses made of light fabrics.


I went with Angelic Pretty's Cherry Marguerite print in red on Saturday..(pls ingore my derpy face)


...and Angelic Pretty's Castle Mirage in pink on Sunday. (finally got to use my pony bag and parasol!! :D)

In terms of loot I didn't buy much at all...nothing really caught my eye in the Dealer's Room... just some cute keychains and bookmarks from the artist alley. A few things that I wanted on Saturday and came back to look for on Sunday were gone... :'( But overall it was a fun experience meeting some new faces and some old ones. It was tiring walking all day though so if I do attend Anime North again it will hopefully be me sitting in the Crafter's Corner again, haha! It is stressful to sweatshop every year but after all this time... I kind of miss it. xD

Thanks for reading and until next time~!!