Back on Friday, I was resigned to thinking that my weekend was going to be just another average one with me staying home doing very little. Luckily, I got into a chat session with Lisa before the end of the work day. By the end, my plans had totally changed. Lisa and a few of her friends were heading out to Toronto Animecon 2005. I decided to tag along.
The event was being held out at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. No one wanted to drive downtown, so we parked at Don Mills station and took the subway down to Union. Along with Lisa were Dave and JP, both of whom I got along with really well. When we got off, we started walking towards the place. The big tip off that we were headed in the right direction was when we spotted some people in costume. Also taking place at the Centre were and Art Expo as well as a get together for the Church of Scientology. I think there may be a punch line somewhere in there, but I’m not feeling creative enough to reach for it.
On the way in, we spotted a teen dressed up as a moogle. I wanted to pat her red pom-pom, which was attached with a spring, making it really cool. I also saw a character from Yu Yu Hakusho. Some guy was dressed up as Mario. There were lots of Naruto characters. I saw a trio of Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis. A pair went as the Nurse and Police Officer from Pokemon. There was also some guy as Ash. I saw two Squalls. One was alright, while the other was slinging his belts way too low, making him look a bit ridiculous. There was a pair of Yunas that went together. One was the summoning Yuna, while the other was the gunner Yuna. I think a Tonberry was travelling with them as well. Oh, and there was a Witch Hunter Robin person, who looked pretty cool. There was an Utena somewhere in the crowd, too.
Overall, I was surprised at how few people were cosplaying. Somehow I was expecting seas and seas of people in ill-fitting costumes. That wasn’t the case though. I was also expecting a larger dealer room. When the four of us saw the room, we were a bit shocked. The room wasn’t tiny, but we were just expecting to see so much more stuff. That’s not to say that I didn’t get much. I ended up spending a lot of cash in there. I bought the DVD set for Excel Saga, as well as Volumes 1-5 of the Utena manga. I bought them at the beginning of the day, so by day’s end my shoulders were aching.
There was a room that was showing a few episodes from several anime series. First we saw was Cromartie High School. The four of us were in agreement that the series was pretty unfunny. Maybe something got lost in translation? Dunno. We saw the series Gantz, which was pretty odd, but cool. When we walked into the room, we came in to a scene were a dog was trying to lick a naked female. Don’t ask me. I have no clue. I’m intrigued by the series. I’m curious to see what exploding people, students getting hit by subway trains, and aliens that are crying “take my green onions!” all have to do with each other. The series Peace Maker was shown next. I became very interested in the series from the three episodes we saw. It may find its way onto my acquisition list soon enough. Mezzo – DSA was shown after Peace Maker. I’ve seen Mezzo Forte in the past, which was an OVA, so I know the characters somewhat. The TV series seemed…a bit disjoint. There was a small undeveloped plot that seemed to tie the two episodes I saw together, but nothing is driving me to want to see the rest of the episodes to see how the plot plays out. Lastly, we saw Fighting Spirit, which is a boxing anime. The series does a good job of making the character very endearing right from the beginning. You can’t help but cheer for the kid being bullied. I’m interested in seeing the rest of the series, but JP tells me there are about 70+ episodes. That’d take a lot of effort.
Day ended with “Cosplay Idol” which allowed people to show off their costumes. It was cringe worhty at best. There was one guy who started singing like it was American Idol. Hey organizers, way to explain the concept.
Overall, a good time was had by all. I’m glad I had a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m appreciative that I’ve met new friendly faces. Most of all, I’m glad that this past weekend didn’t consist of just sitting on my ass at home.
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