Anime North 2009: Chapter 3

Night had come, and the end of Anime North Day One was upon most people. Tired children were dragged by even more exhausted parents away from the crowds, the booths, companionship into the backseats of minivans and station wagons. For some this would be their only Anime North experience for 2009. Others would be back the next day.

Some sixteen year olds, who had convinced their parents that it would be a good idea to allow them to simply stay overnight at the double tree hotel – who these foolish parents were, I do not know – boarded elevators with their new found friends. This convention is well known for its hotel parties, and overlooked discretions. Although, you do need to realize that these are parties hosted by people who dress up like Halloween for fun – yes they are still hotel parties with all the rumpus one would expect of a sixteen year old who has just finished prom, but they are also somewhat tamer. Twenty people crowded into a room do not immediately start smashing things, and screaming, instead they might just discuss the merits of Akira, and how it influenced modern culture as well as early Japanese / American relationships in the eighties.

And then they have sex – lots of role playing, in character sex.

But I am not some child, pulled to the backseat of a minivan (I would go willingly, and much later,) nor was I some lust fueled teenager looking to expand my horizon. No – for me, there was still oh so much to do. I just don’t happen to remember most of it.

What I do remember, is waking up on the floor of a video room, as an episode of Yu-gi-oh ended, with Yugi, or the spirit that possessed him, or something of that nature walking through a big portal. There was also a tear filled goodbye, and promises that he would never be forgotten. In anime there are many energy portal exits, and many such tear filled goodbyes.

Within seconds of this, the room was invaded by staff, looking to convert it into a Karaoke hall. A karaoke hall?! Certainly I would not miss this excellent opportunity. Why, I have Karaoke-ed-ed across the world, in many countries, as well as international waters (protip: my three go to songs are, in reverse order, Steppenwold’s Born to be Wild, The Troggs’s Wild Thing, and Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel Like a Woman!)

As I sat, waiting for the binders to be unleashed, and the equipment to be readied in all its humming glory, I sat at the back, by the door. This – in some cases – could be seen as my undoing. For who would walk into this room? One of my students. And where would this students sit? Beside me, of course.

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