Through a series of events; I ended up buying a full weekend pass to this year’s Anime North 2017 and I subsequently ended up going on all 3 days of the convention, something which I have never actually done before. In all previous years I usually only went on one day, in the earlier years that was a Saturday, the most busy day, more recently however it was Sunday because I couldn’t be bothered with the extra traffic and congestion; especially when they started always saying shit like passes will not be available at the door. I hate that shit. But whatever, having now attended all three days with 3 days worth of photos, I couldn’t possibly put all of the interesting photos and cosplay pics into one post; NOPE; gotta extend this shit and do a 3 post thing. In total I took about 450 photos across the 3 days I was there so yea, I’m in the process of trying to reduce and filter that number to less than 50% for the sake of sanity and quality but anyways without further adieu, here is Friday’s highlights.

So first thing’s first. Fucking AN got their shit together after YEARS of lack of food available and drink concessions. Back in the day your only options were to bring a lunch, go to the hotel for some Japanese snacks or try your luck with one of the nearby restaurants like Harveys and shit. Finally got smart and finally got some food trucks to station in the main convention space. About damn time.

Some crew in the early morning practicing their Love Live! idol dance. Probably some contest or something for AN idol I suppose.

Walking around, waiting to get in and I see some women in armor and her crew. Yes, she is kinda phatt but those boobs, yea; I have no idea where this comes from.

Kind of a unlikely pair of Overwatch’s Diva and Dragon Maid’s Tooru, one of the most popular shows of last season. Not bad.

Walking inside to buy registration, seeing artists alley, now officially comic market but old timers still call it artist’s alley. So fresh and empty.

Lining up for da shit. The line is not bad at all, only like 3-4 groups ahead of me.

And here we see a Con legend speaking so some big dude munching on some cake or whatever.

Another dragon maid character, quezacotl. One of the few characters from the show that is super easy to cosplay. All you need is a black tanktop, short shorts, sneakers, hat/horns + wig and big boobs and your ready to go!

Not sure why but for some reason there is a significant increase of blacks and browns at AN. This picture above illustrates it somewhat. Guess it must be that “Black people like anime too” panel. Which is still running. Guess they included brown people as well to the mix.

Coming from the recently released hack and slash ps4 game, Nier Automata;  main character “2B” is probably one of the most popular cosplay of the convention as it just looks sexy and cool at the same time.

I don’t know what this is but it’s cool and the effort involved required warrants a photos.

Look at this shit, they even have a ice cream truck and the CNE lemonade stall. Shit’s becoming a real planned good event.

Whoa whoa whoa, looks like we have some visitors from the nearby Conservative party of Canada leadership convention from the north building. I can only imagine with these mutherfuckers must be saying to each other about this whole situation.

Flandre Scarlet cosplay. Not bad, pretty good with the whole heart thing too. Touhou will never be mainstream but it will never die. Just like boats, or at least that’s what I hope.

Why does this Aqua look like she’s laughing. Laughing at me or trying to be in character? What a shitty character but at least a decent cosplay.

Lineup to get into the dealers room. Started raining a bit, not too bad.

The great WALL, the great barrier which separate two totally different worlds. CTV must have comment on AN 4sure.

Got in. just scouting my surroundings.

Pretty half decent Futaba from Persona 5. Another very popular character it seems for this year due to it’s simplicity and easy recognition.

Figet spinners is what 2017 will be forever remembered by. It’s fitting then that I include a picture of some marvel avegers branded ones. No doubt bootleg from china but whatever.

Some art and some shit. Up to you to decide which one is more shit, left table or right?

Pokemon is still popular as ever but it’s presence was been diminished considerably. Artwork is still going strong but I don’t think they sell like they used to the past  1-2 years before.

A committed artist that has shit work but at least has a full on set of all the buttons that could possibly be sold. GG win display.

Some fag bros selling their warez. Not that great but it’s acceptable.

There is a considerably amount of Hero Academic this year in artist work which is to be expected. Shit is entertaining but such a shame that the character designs are shit in general.

A+ BANE. I think that’s supposed to be catwomen? Someone got totally outclasses. Just gotta get more swole and buff you know?

League is still popular but once again a shadow of it’s former self. The great abundance of fan works that were created still remain being sold by artists. I literally remember that Teemo print being sold like 3-4 years ago. Fuck.

Thought real hard about buying the Miyazaki print but then I remembered that he should be retired and not making more movies even though he “retired” like 2 decades ago. Not gonna give this bitch more fuel to come back with. He’s beside link print as well so that deterred me as well.

This artist is cool, a different kind of JOJO fanart. I like jojo but not enough to buy these works. These seem more fun and cheerful, not the kind of epic that I was looking for. Props though.

Praise the sun print guy. Apparently from Dark Souls mini meme I am told. Same.

The lanes of artists alley are alot wider this year and it evidently so with Sonico walking by. Nice.

Inside CARDO game area. They had that anime card game company display their game to try out if you were interested. Nop.

Outside lineup for Nominoichi. Crazy line just for a glorifed anime garage sale.

Inside was crowded as fuck. So many people just rushing to get a good deal on animu goods and other shit. So congested and hot in there. Shit.

Amonst the chaos I did however see this dude. ONE PUNCH!!!! I like how he included a grocery bag with some negi or something in it.

Besides the artists alley and chairs they had some archery display where you can try your hand at a bow and arrow. I lined up not knowing that the line on the right of this thing was just a spectators line. BITCHES.

JoJos. Nice try but maybe a wig would have been better?

Praise the Sun!

The same Aqua maybe I took a photo of early in the day? Just chilling with her crew I guess. Cameo, black kid dancer = squirtle.

End of the day first day. Kinda tired already so just taking snapshots of nearby.

Got up, walked into CARDO area and saw this gem. Wow. I can hear the Eurobeat music already.

So yea, that’s the end of my first ever Friday Anime north day. I must say, for a timeslot that is like only 7 hours, there was quite alot of people willing to pay $35 just for that. I suppose there is some merit to friday depending on who you are. If you are looking to buy shit, Friday is good because all the warez are fresh and still in good supply. Like if you are looking for manga, no doubt they will have all volumes in stock already or any rare shit that you may be looking for. It also comes with the added bonus of the Nominoichi taking place, which is I think attracts quite alot of people for it’s own right and the fact that it is only for Friday only. Overall not a bad experience but just a tickle of the “true” day which is Saturday.

More to come in Day 2…