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Posts Tagged Animaritime

The Con Staff Countdown – Animaritime 2012

Animaritime 2012

Kuriousity had a bit of an unexpected hiatus there for a couple weeks as I join my fellow staffers in the last month rush for preparing for the upcoming Animaritime. It’s the only anime & gaming convention in Eastern Canada and suffice to say there’s a lot of work to be done before reg lines open on June 29th!

Along with being staff, I also run a number of panels at the event. This year I’ve got four returning panels:

• Boys’ Love
• Yuri
• Yaoi (18+)
• Manga! Manga! Manga!

I think all the titles are pretty self-explanatory :) Fellow Kuriousity-contributer, Andre, is also veteran staff of Animaritime and will be hosting his Anime Trivia panel, as well as scheduling all the anime showings. Our schedule is jam packed with events this year from volunteers, staff and guests like never before. I’m tired just thinking about the three-day madness schedule but twice as excited. Also my huge thanks to our sponsors, including Vertical Inc. and Yen Press.

Updates will continue to be bit a sparse until after the con ends but there’s nothing quite like the inspirational charge a freshly survived convention gives you. 26 days and counting!


PR: Animaritime 2011 A Sunny Success With 1200+ Attendees

Moncton, NB, July 21, 2011 – With 2011’s event behind them, Animaritime’s staff is excited to announce it was another successful year of anime, gaming and cosplay. The three day event held over Canada Day weekend saw over 1200 individuals in attendance and raised thousands for the IWK Health Centre.

The event broke single-day records from past events with over 800 attendees processed within a couple hours of the convention opening early Friday afternoon. By the time doors closed on Sunday the organizers greeted 1268 anime and gaming fans.

“We couldn’t be happier with this year’s turnout and the money raised for the IWK. All the staff, volunteers, guests and attendees were amazing – we’re lucky to always work with such a fantastic group here in the Maritimes!”

Read more…


Swag Bag: Animaritime 2011 Edition!

Swag Bag: Animaritime 2011 Edition

We survived! Another year of Animaritime is behind us, bringing with it some much needed relaxation and a heavy sadness. I miss all the staff and chatting with the attendees and even that constant hectic mental state you get in when you’re running back and forth from 8am-12am everyday. Amazing times! If you’re curious to see some pictures or read some comments, our Facebook page is very lively this year.

Special thanks to Vertical Inc‘s Ed Chavez who attended as a guest and held several great manga panels. I loved being on a panel with him and Andre for our Manga Industry panel (my first time participating in a roundtable panel) and I learned a lot from Ed’s Manga Licensing panel (for the love of manga support our publishers!).

Though most of my attention stays as a staffer, I always make time to visit the vendors. I was really happy to see there was even more manga than usual this year and came back home with a satisfying stack of goodies.

Descendants of Darkness (Vol. 02)From the vendor Gamezilla (whose recently revamped store location I visited after the con ended) I got some great discounts on hard to find titles. My largest purchase was volumes 2-11 of Descendants of Darkness which I’ve been itching to reread – a supernatural story that teeters on the edge of being a boys’ love story. The switches between humour and really dark content is as strange as I remember it.

Having enjoyed the complete random of the last volume I read, I also bought Gatcha Gacha (Vol.06-07) and on some recommendations, Suppli (Vol. 02-03). Going for something newer, I bought the third volume of Afterschool Charisma.

Strange Adventures (always the Halifax store of choice!) returned as a vendor and had a bunch of manga to sift through. From there I found three volumes of Rumiko Takahashi’s One Pound Gospel, volumes 4 and 5 of Itazura na Kiss and A Drifting Life (so I can finally leave the library copy for someone else!). Lastly, despite a lacklustre feeling from the first volume, I gave Saturn Apartments another chance by buying volumes 2 and 3.

Other random purchases included two pretty art books by names I can’t read the Kanji for (thus sadly can’t tell you who they are), and a stack of old Mixx magazines because I got them for pennies and enjoy the nostalgia factor.

So yay for convention weekend! Animaritime is always a blast and somehow manages to out-do itself every year. More memories, more manga – it’s all a win-win! So what was in your swag bag this week?


Mangatime at Animaritime 2011

Animaritime 2011

The pre-con Kuriousity blank periods are upon us – sorry for the blip of blog-silence there! At least it’s the best reason for missing writing time – East Coast Canada’s anime/manga/gaming convention Animaritime 2011 is only two weeks away! As a staff member, I join the rest of the small but dedicated crew as we put the final touches on the 3-day event before it hits on Canada Day this July. The event takes place in Moncton, New Brunswick.

This year’s event has a great manga line-up including the appearance of one of our special guests – Vertical Inc‘s marketing director, Ed Chavez! I hope he has fun at our humble but lively convention; we’re very happy to have him :)

For the manga-fans, here’s a sneak-peek at our manga-related line-up this year:

Read more…


PR: Animaritime Welcomes Vertical Inc’s Ed Chavez

ANIMARITIME WELCOMESVERTICAL INC.’S ED CHAVEZ

Vertical Inc. Marketing Director To Attend Eastern Canada’s Animaritime 2011 Convention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Moncton, NB, May 26, 2011 – Animaritime is pleased to announce that marketing director of VerticalInc., Ed Chavez, will be attending the 2011 event as a special guest.

As both a manga editor and translator, Ed Chavez has worked in the industry for years including forcompanies such as Seven Seas, CMX and the Japanese publisher, Kodansha. Since 2009 he hasbeen the marketing director of Vertical Inc., promoting the company’s varied assortment of titles. Alongwith attending conventions as a Vertical representative, Ed Chavez has also hosted panels across thecontinent for different facets of manga’s history and industry, along with holding a strong onlinepresence among manga fans.

“As a convention with an audience passionate for manga, we’re thrilled to be able to have Ed Chavezattend our event. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge about manga and the industry itself thatwe feel our attendees will really enjoy and learn a lot from.”

Ed Chavez joins graphic novel artist, Faith Erin Hicks, and anime voice actor, Spike Spencer, asguests to this year’s Animaritime convention which returns “bringing the best of Anime and Gaming toAtlantic Canada” after a one year hiatus in 2010.

Read more…


PR: Animaritime Holds Charity Auction for IWK

ANIMARITIME HOLDS CHARITY AUCTION FOR IWK

All proceeds of annual auction to be donated to IWK Health Centre Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Moncton, NB, May 13, 2011 – Animaritime, the Maritime provinces’ premiere anime and gaming convention , is proud to announce that all proceeds of their annual Animaritime auction will be donated to the IWK Health Centre Foundation.

Animaritime’s auction is one of the conventions most well attended events. With lively volunteer hosts and an enthusiastic audience, the event sees anime and gaming related items auctioned off in a live bidding environment. Material bid on in the auction are donated by sponsors, vendors and attendees and include books, DVDs and signed merchandise from beloved creators and industry members. The auction is open to all attendees of Animaritime.

Read more…


Animinitime 2010 Site Goes Live

Animinitime

For my fellow Canadian Maritimers out there, the 2010 Animinitime site went live last night, outlining the set-up for CanCon East’s first one-day event! Most of you are likely more familiar with its parent-convention, Animaritime, the 3-day convention that is currently on one-year break until 2011 for planning purposes.

“We at CanCon East are excited to announce the official launch of the Animinitime 2010 website! Along with this we have exciting news to share about our 2010 one-day event: Animinitime 2010 will consist of two events celebrating fans’ love of anime and gaming across the Maritimes!

For the first time since Animaritime began seven years ago, CanCon East is holding an event in Halifax, Nova Scotia along with our classic New Brunswick event.”

Yay for an event in Halifax! Long time coming, no? I hope others are as excited to attend the events as I am about running them :) Hard to believe they’re a year away though, but that just means more time to prepare and anticipate, right?


Kuri’s Overview of Animaritime 2009

Animaritime 2009

Animaritime is fan-run anime and gaming convention that has taken place in New Brunswick, Canada for six years. Each year it grows with more events and more attendees and this year was certainly no exception. With over 1000 attendees, Animaritime enjoyed its highest attendance numbers yet and brought with it a whole lot more of the fun, activity and lack of sleep that staff and attendees alike have come to expect. I myself am a three-year attendee and two-year staff member, with no plans on stopping being either anytime soon.

You can check out Animaritime’s forums if you’d like to learn more about the convention, including people’s thoughts, photos and videos of the recent event. For the curious, Animaritime’s official photographer also has lots of photos for online viewing. Under the cut I share some of my own experiences at Animaritime 2009 which happened earlier this month, including a short peek at some new purchases and a mish-mashed overview of my panels.

Read more…


Animaritime 2009 Countdown

Animaritime - Coming Soon to a Moncton Near You!

As a staff member of the very-shortly-upcoming Animaritime, my time has been pretty split this year thus far with final preperations. I hope visitors haven’t minded the older boys’ love reviews I’ve imported over from Manga Jouhou in recent weeks. I always want to provide atleast something new for my loyal readers each day :) For those looking for my thoughts on some more recently released titles, expect those to pick-up again next week.

In the meantime, I can’t wait to see all the new and returning attendees at Animaritime this year. Our pre-registration numbers this year were incrediable as the convention grows more and more each year. As during last year, I’ll be running several panels and I’m also the manager of this year’s Artist Alley. I’ve doubled the size of the Alley this year as well so definitely drop by to see the amazing talent we have in there. It’s going to be tons of fun, I guarantee it!Animaritime Artist Alley 2009

The panels I’ll be running this year are:

Shonen-Ai/Shoujo-Ai (Friday, March 6th, 8pm-9pm)
Yaoi (18+) (Friday, March 6th, 9pm-10pm)
Yuri (18+) (Friday, March 6th, 10pm-10:30pm)
All About the Wii (Saturday, March 7th, 1pm-2pm)
How to Get Manga (Saturday, March 7th, 9am-10am)
Digital Illustration (Aid to MTCopyright: Saturday, March 7th, 11am-12pm)

For more information and scheduling on Animaritime (Moncton, NB), you can pop in on the website and check out the information there and on the forums as well.

Only one day left until I pack the last of my things and head on up, but of course there’s still a million things left to do!


July 20th Random Round-Up

We're actually somewhat relevant to following content!

I’ve been a tad swamped by my to-do list recently so updates have been a little sparce, aside from my reviews, this past week. What does that mean? It means an end of the week random round-up of course! I’ve got a few things I’m putting together for posting so expect some fresh material and, of course, lots more reviews for books both amazing and not-so-much! But for now let’s get to the rounding shall we?

ComiPress has added a new website to their Backstage project, Yaoi Suki! I helped put together some of the information for this addition and really enjoyed going back through the short but sweet times Yaoi Suki had on the web and reexploring all the little crevices of it. Jen also mentioned my humble little site as a good source for boys’ love news! I think I’m still blushing a tad. Definately means I have to keep myself in gear around here doesn’t it? I’ve been gettin’ lazy on you recently! I highly recommend reading through the interview, it’s got a lot of interesting, fun and useful information for Yaoi Suki fans, missers, well-wishers, yaoi fans and website runners in general.

Speaking of boys’ love, I’m sure by now most of you have heard about the Youka Nitta plagirism issue after she was outed for tracing various advertisements and photographs for her art. I’ve been sitting on my thoughts about this for a while so expect a solo post about it in the near future. In the meantime, Gia kept on top of the issue with the general scoopresulting effect and an amusing follow-up from one of the advertising companies whose photos were copied.

Remaining on the yaoi train, Yaoi Press has had a few notable updates in the past week with their convenient Twitter feed on their new blog. They’re still seeking submissions for their upcoming artbook, announced that some of their books have been picked up by Borders, and started up a mailing list newsletter. For Yaoi Press fans I definately recommend signing up for the newsletter as it’s chock full of information for readers, contributer hopefuls and the generally curious.

And finally for the boys-loving-boys of the day: For those who can’t get enough of ’em, Manga Jouhou has some reviews I’ve written for them posted: Invisible Boy (Vol. 02), Red, Love Lesson, Love Circumstances, and one of my absolute favourites in recent reading, A Strange and Mystifying Story (Vol. 01). 

Tokyopop has put up a Beta version of their new site (via MangaBlog). Call me too-picky, but I don’t think it’s taken many steps in the right direction. I like that finding the manga section is tad easier (even if most of the links go to the wrong place right now), but it’s all still completely overshadowed by the slow loading time, cluttered community content and now endless lists of YouTube vids. I hold to my earlier thoughts that TP should seperate the manga information from this community set-up and allow their readers and consumers a simplier and more effecient way to find what they’re looking for. But this is only Beta afterall so who knows, things could still come together a little nicer. Check it out and share your thoughts on it!

And lastly, making this post’s header image relevant, a plug over to the Animaritime 2009 website where pre-registration is now open. If you’re in the east-coast of Canada March of next year then definately come check it out. You know you’d go just to meet me, right? It’s a great, comfortably sized convention that grows more and more every year and I know I for one am already looking forward to another fun year!


Take me back to the top!