Although my friend (Laura!) and I were only planning on attending for the one day, it was disappointing to find that there wasn’t a whole lot you could do on a basic pass aside from attending the (somewhat tedious) sketch-offs and getting into the dealer’s room. At Anime North there’s a lot more for one to do, and it doesn’t gouge a huge hole in your pocket to pay for the whole weekend (aside from hotel costs).

The primary piece of beef that I had with FanEx was that you had to have a deluxe pass to get to visit with your celebrities. I chewed that and spat it out with utter angst. (Hurray for metaphores!)I’m almost positive that at Anime North you could get in line with any pass (Hell, I’m pretty sure they don’t even have pass divisions!) and get a chance to visit your heroes in the flesh. I spent most of my day wandering the halls yelping Crispen Freeman’s name hoping that he would hear my pleas and spare a second of his life to say “Thanks for the support!” and maybe even do a brief impression of one of his characters. But no, I don’t possess such luck. I had to satisfy with being in the same room as him for a brief second of time: and I’m sure that many will agree with the fact that knowing that isn’t very satisfying at all.

Anyways!

I agree with your point on how spaced out everything was, and how we of the anime world generally don’t mix all that well with the other “geeks”. I mean, I love Star Wars as much as the next person, but it just doesn’t feel right when thrown in the same convention. I definitely felt some form of awkwardness. Especially when trying to ease my way out of the horror selection to get back into the anime area.

One thing that I think FanEx has that Anime North somewhat lacks is the variety in goods to be bought. I didn’t have the chance to attend Anime North this year, so my judgement may be off, but I felt that there was more to be seen(I oohed and awed a lot),bought (I spent all of the money I brought. Even my ’safe money’!), and, in most cases, at an excellent price!

So… should one go to Anime North for the fun-filled events then go to FanEx for the goods? Dunno. Both were fun, but I would choose Anime North over all.