Anime North 2010 - Opening Ceremonies

At the opening ceremonies, a few of the guests for the weekend greeted congoers with short welcome speeches, following an introduction by the Master of Ceremonies, Ricky Dick.

Nobuyuki Hiyama mentioned that he was a guest at Anime North 2009 and got to say hello at the opening ceremonies then too. He stuck to Japanese in 2009 because he doesn't know English. Since he didn't expect to return, he didn't learn any English in the past year. In fact, he even joked that his English skills have been going downhill!

Next, we heard fro Greg and Chris Ayres. Greg Ayres mentioned that he is a Canada nerd and the first thing he did when he got off the plane was ask where the closest Tim Horton's is! When he found out that there are two in the parking lot of his hotel, he said that he's now in heaven and he wrote back home to tell everyone about it. He said he'd already had so many double doubles that he'll go back home smelling like a pot of coffee. (for our readers who may be unfamiliar, a double double is a coffee with two creams and two sugars)

Brittney Karbowski said that she really likes how clean it is in Toronto and would like to move here but can't. when she finished her greeting to congoers, Ricky Dick joked that the US can make nice Brittneys!

Vic Mignogna was next, and said he was excited to be at Anime North and was looking forward to interacting with the fans.

Micah Solusod was called up to stage next to greet congoers, while someone in the audience shouted out that he's hot. Micah said that Canada rocks and that it's his first time here.

John Swasey followed Micah, and someone in the audience shouted out that he's not hot as he went up to the stage. His response when he got up to the microphone was "that's okay. I'm secure in my awesomeness." Unfortunately, he tripped when he got down off the stage and I later learned that his ankle ended up bothering him all weekend. We hope he's had a speedy recovery since returning home!

One of the artist guests, Steve Bennett, also greeted fans, commenting on Tim Horton's and poutines being great.

For the cosplay guests, we heard from the Master of Ceremonies Ricky Dick as well as Yaya Han. Yaya said that she was glad to be in Canada, excited to see cosplay here, and happy to be able to cross Canada off her list of places she wants to visit.

Ricky Dick mentioned that the masquerade contest at Anime North is now internationally recognized, along with only a few other conventions. This means that the cosplay at Anime North is among the best! We here at Moon Chase would like to congratulate Toronto anime fans for making such wonderful costumes.

Stay tuned for more Anime North convention coverage! There's lots more to come!