Anime North LOOT!

Anime North was awesome. The weather was gorgeous, and the cosplayers were out in full swing! I didn't take as many pictures as last year, but here are a few die hard fans:

Balthier and two Vieras from FFXII
(too bad I didn't get their boots. They were awesome)

L to R: Mokona, Tomoyo, Fai, Sakura, and (I assume) Syaoran
all from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles

Fai D. Flowright and Sakura, from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle
(I *love* that staff!)

SQUIRTLE!
(the guy in this costume must have been *dying*)

And I even found two Sailor Moon cosplayers: Moon and Mars

Then, there was the stash.

Mokona, two volumes of Tactics, four volumes of R.O.D., NANA soundtrack,
Slayers season one and two, and a knitting t-shirt!

Close up of my new manga *squee*

The t-shirt (a little small, but still awesome)

White and Black Mokona, together at last :)

With that giant black Mokona, I would like to cosplay as Yuuko from xxxHolic. Any sewers out there willing to make me a dress (since I can't sew)?

That time of year again

Today is Anime North day :D

Yes, that wonderful time of year when the largest anime convention in Canada rolls into Toronto, and thousands of people gather (most in costume) to buy anime, watch new releases, talk about anime, and pose for pictures (if you're in costume)

I'm prepared to spend large sums of money ;) This year, my victims... er, companions are Joe and Michael. Should be fun!!

Next post: Anime North loot!


*squee!*

Follow the feathers

One of the three manga series' that I buy regularly is Reservoir Tsubasa Chronicles.


I originally started watching the anime before the manga was released in the west, and fell in love with it. I'm a fan of other CLAMP shows, and they had an ingenious idea with this series.

The main characters are alternate version of Sakura and Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. The plot involves them traveling through different dimensions to find pieces of Sakura's heart/soul which are hidden in the form of very magically powerful feathers. The ingenious part is that every world they go to is populated by different characters from CLAMP manga!

(Because of this show, I've purchased and read all of RG Veda, and rekindled my love of X)

The manga also crosses paths with xxxHolic, which encourages readers to buy both mangas (which I do...)

Tsubasa is much darker than Cardcaptor Sakura, especially towards the later volumes, which makes it more appealing to older audiences while younger readers can first enjoy the bubblegum sweetness of Cardcaptor Sakura and still come to know the characters. Like I said earlier, it also exposes readers to characters from other CLAMP titles, which in turn encourages them to read those series'.

The real heart-wrencher for me was that in order to gain the power to travel to different worlds, Syaoran had to give up his relationship with Sakura, whom he loves. When she regains a feather and her memories come flooding back, she never remembers her childhood with Syaoran. Later volumes has the tragedy shift slightly, but I won't spoil it for anyone :)

How did I not hear about this???

I just saw a trailer for a new anime called "Paprika", which apparently started on June 15th!

As far as I can tell, it's only playing in one cinema in Toronto: the Scotiabank Theatre on Richmond St W.

See the trailer and read what this awesome looking anime is about here.

Okay, who wants to go with me? Maybe later this week? Next week? Soon?

:D

Anime North

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post these, but I figure I might as well do them now :)

This post will be very picture heavy, since I don't think blogger does cuts like Livejournal does. Also, if you want to see pictures of the cosplayers, go to my website. I'm not going to repost them here.

I will, however, post the pictures I didn't put on my website. Here they are!


J and J, pretending that they're too cool for an anime convention.


The Artist Alley part of the con (aka the boring part) - the work is all very pretty, but also expensive since its done by talented artists who are trying to make a profit. Nice to look at, though


Me, with two of my toys - a stuffed Chocobo, and Momiji in bunny form! I love that rabbit!


The rabbit likes J, too!

And now, onto the loot! I'm not saying how much I spent, but I got some great deals!


The loot, an overview.


My Chocobo, with seasons 1 and 2 of Magic Knight Rayearth


Momiji, with the 5 volumes of Tokyo Babylon I bought (I only need 6 & 7 now!)


The Munto movies, and the complete season of KareKano (or, His and Her Circumstances, in translation)

Not a bad haul, huh?

Incidentally, this post will be x-posted to my Livejournal, so everyone can see what happened at Anime North and so I don't have to type this all out again :)

*squee!*

Anime North!

Today!!

Hopefully there will be many pictures taken, and much money spent. If only the weather didn't look so craptastic. Ah well.

Pom Poko

Before the long weekend, I saw another Studio Ghibli film (working at a library *rocks*) called Pom Poko.

First off, this movie is *strange*. I realize that most of the Ghibli films are weird, but this one was bizarre. It was about a bunch of raccoons whose forest was being destroyed for a housing complex. The neat thing about the raccoons was that they can change their shape, so they try to sabotage the construction to regain their home.

Raccoons and foxes in Japanese myth are magical, and able to transform, so that premise wasn't too far-fetched. The things the raccoons changed into were pretty strange, and how the males used their, ahem, "sacks" to crush humans and blind truckdrivers was pretty funny.

I found the ending sad, but the movie overall was entertaining.

Pom Poko poster


The male raccoons using their "sacks" to fly


The raccoons learned about the humans by watching TV - and quickly got addicted!


(I'll put these pics on my own server when I get home... promise!)

Studio Ghibli (one of my favourite vices)

I watched "Whispers from the Heart" last night, one of the few Ghibli movies I had yet to see (along with "Porco Rosso", "Pom Poko", and "My Neighbours the Yamadas").

First of all, this movie tied so closely with my 2nd favourite Ghibli movie, "The Cat Returns", that I enjoyed it just for that. I adore The Baron (even more when he has Cary Elwes' voice!) and it was cute seeing Moota prowling around Tokyo.

One thing that really *really* bothered me was the song. The main character Shizuku (spelling may vary) wants to be a writer (which struck a major chord with me) so she's writing lyrics to a song she and her friends will sing at graduation from junior high. I'm not sure what the original Japanese song was, but Disney in all it's patriotic glory, had them singing "Country Roads". It's a horrible song to begin with, but it also felt completely wrong. It just didn't fit with the scenes of Tokyo. That bugged me the entire movie.

I loved seeing Shizuku's apartment and the wonderful views of Tokyo, although I realize it's just an animation and Tokyo probably doesn't look exactly like that. Still, it's as close to Japan as I can get on my budget and I can pretend that everyone there speaks English :)

The movie was adorable and, upon proper consideration, might be bumped up to my 3rd favourite Ghibli movie... or maybe 4th. I do love "Spirited Away"!

In case you're curious, here's my ranking:
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. The Cat Returns
3. Spirited Away /Whispers of the Heart (tied for now)
4. Princess Mononoke
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Grave of the Fireflies

... did I miss any?