ETC: Anime North 2013: II

Continuing here off my previous post, rambling about Anime North 2013. Notably my seventeenth Anime North, of seventeen, and I still have all the badges. More on that later.

4) A CERTAIN HAPHAZARDNESS

At 4pm on Saturday, went to check out the Steins;Gate video, because time travel. But they were having video problems. After about 20 minutes, I went to "A Certain Magical Index", another series I've been meaning to check out. My wife came to find me 5 minutes later, as they'd fixed the video, so I got one ep of Steins;Gate and then an ep of "Magical Index" which was still going afterwards.

At that point I popped off to the Dealer's Room for an hour, to give it a scan. Saw a couple cosplaying Nanoha and Fate, so OMG, totally worth the trip for that alone. They had rather intricate Raising Heart and Bardiche. In fact, I only really browsed the merchandise room for Nanoha (with the 2nd movie having come out last summer), and got a small Chrono for my troubles.

Returned for "A Certain Scientific Railgun", but the room was packed. That series has been on my mind ever since my episode with Hyper, as one I keep wanting to watch beyond episode 1, yet never managing it. So I switched hotels to the manga library, and checked out the "Railgun" manga to read. (Ha!) Met back up with my wife at 7:30pm for an actual meal of some sort.

5) HIGHLIGHTING

Went to check out the Filk/Geek concert after dinner; by this time it was after 9pm, so I'd missed half of it. Though since I might not have even gone if it weren't for the earlier panel, I think I come out ahead. Was there for Kari's entire ukulele set, including the song "Being Watson" which was my favourite. I then bought a Debs & Errol CD (signed!), and probably should have considered more, but still wasn't sure what I was getting into.

Concert was followed by "Songwriting Contest", which was mostly a sharing of geek/filk/neat music and such. Listened to a couple. Then I sang. One of my math songs.

Yes, really, that happened.

I'd been tempted by the openness of it, but less sure about my limited use of parody. Ultimately, when there was a lull, I figured heck with it. One guy even found a karaoke version of the music to play as a background - it was "Mean" by Taylor Swift, except the version with median and mode. (Still in my memory, as the last one I wrote.)

The bit that floored me though was at the very end... when Debs said she'd be inclined to hear another math song. I didn't actually have any other lyrics on hand though, so declined. But this was the first time I had anyone outside my profession or circle of friends say "hey, that was so neat I want more!". So... maybe there's something to this.

I need to look into more of this "filk".

Anyway, at 11pm things gravitated to an Open Filk, and I bowed out. Partly because I did still want to see some of the Anime Music Videos from the MVC. There were a number of fun videos, with the last one actually kind of thought provoking. It got at the implications of fanservicing characters, and how that sort of thing would have implications in the real world. Hm.

From there, a quick spin around the video rooms again just to see what was playing, whereby I ran into Karl Z for a brief chat. By now it's after 1am, so back to hotel.

BOW TO THE CHIBI-TANGENT!
BY HELEN TRANCY

SUNDAY

Sunday started with me posting my web serial, then meeting with my parents for breakfast. Didn't get back to the Convention at the TCC until about 10:30, at which point I went around to pick up my art commissions from the previous day. They are all AMAZING, and I may soon be using them on serial publishing days if I don't get the chance to actually refill my buffer. Here's one to tide you through.

6) ANIME OR MAY NOT

Just after 11am, went to see "Time Jam", which my wife had heard about at the "French Connection" the previous day. Basically, a guy from 2417 picks up a girl from France in 912, and they end up in a bizarre alternate future. Reasonably entertaining, and curiously based "on the comic books", so I'm wondering what those were now. It was a France-Japan collaboration.

I then swung by the Con Office, because a person at TCC Con Aid had suggested that I'd be of interest to Eileen, who does memorabilia, given how I had all the badges from previous Anime Norths. She was indeed, particularly in 1999, which they didn't have a graphic for. So they scanned a couple badges in, and gave me one of the more rare pins (of 2004?) for my trouble (though it was really no trouble).

I then went to "Horrible Anime Music", but the panel had already filled and closed, so I wandered video rooms instead. Bit of "Doki Doki Precure" and "X Men", then wandered back to the Manga Library and AMV Room. Oh, yeah, there's an "X Men" anime featuring some girl named Hisako alongside the regulars. Okay then.

Planned to go to the panel "Your Art Doesn't Suck" at 3pm, and got there about five minutes early. After about ten minutes of standing in line, and more people queueing up, and wondering why the previous one was going over... a volunteer checked, and said the panel had started early, and was already full. Well THAT would be useful information to put on a door or something!!

So I went to check out "A Certain Scientific Railgun" playing in the dub room, and got to see the second episode, which I guess is something. From there to the 404s performance. They were celebrating 10 years, and took a picture with the audience. Watched about half the performance (World's Worst Gundam Pilot... guy starts dancing like Psy, heh), then took a quick spin back to the Dealer's Room, as I figured I'd buy a couple other items if they were still there at the end.

There were some Nanoha figurines left, and the person was nice enough to exchange when I got two of the same. (They were in mystery boxes.) So I have a Yuuno, Arf, and Fate to go with Chrono. Also "Weirs Schwarz" had some Nanoha 2nd Movie card packs; this seems intelligent, as I don't know the game, but bought some cards.

Ended up leaving at 5pm, even as I realized that was really stupid as EVERYONE was leaving then. But someone said there was a detour exit out the back of the TCC, so I was on the road by 5:30pm and back home for about 11pm. Yay!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Anime North has become more of a tradition than anything else for me. There's certain people I only tend to run into there, and it's one of the few remaining ways I keep in the anime loop. But this year was a bit more key for two reasons.

First, the art commissions. Given I'll be missing ConBravo for TMC13 (see previous post there), this was the best opportunity for them, and also marks the first year I think I spent more on art than in the Dealer's Room. I like supporting art, to the tune of I forget how much the commissions actually were.

Second, the filk. I don't know why I've been oblivious to it until now, but I've started following Debs & Errol on Twitter, and will be trying to keep an eye out for more of this aspect of "geek culture". If you know of any extra tips for me, let me know!

Not sure if I'll be able to go next year. Time will tell. In the meantime though, I now have a tiny Fate to watch over my desk at work.