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After a superb Park Inn breakfast, the second day of Kitacon began for Animetion.  First stop was the dealer's room which was open from 9am to 5pm.  Amongst the dealers present were Genki Gear, Neon Martian, United Publications, GundamNation and Kamika Z a good range of dealers meaning that t-shirts, DVDs, manga, figures, Pocky, wall scrolls and the like were available.  Also present were Sweatdrop Studios and Sonia Leong, both selling a range of UK manga, as well as art prints.  The room was also a good size and spacious enough for punters to move around without too much hassle.  Even the entrance was two doors long, being wide enough for easy entry and exit.  Many pounds and visits were made!
 

Running alongside the dealers room was the artists alley and the bring and buy.  As expected, the alley was where budding artists came to draw and adorn the board with their work.  Materials were provided and it was a good place to chill for some.  On the third day (Sunday) Sonia Leong held a brilliant manga workshop.  Her enthusiastic and detailed presentation his highly recommended if you are an amateur artist attending a convention. 

A bring and buy is only as good as the items people bring to sell, and it was a mixed bag.  There were a number of DVDs, CDs, manga, t-shirts, gashapon and even some doujinshi to be had, and most of it was gone by the end. 


 Early Saturday afternoon saw two panels for other conventions being run - Fuyucon (to be held in October 2009) and Alcon (held in September 2009, run by Animeleague).  As this is a feature on Kitacon it would be unfair to go into detail about other conventions, but they both did what they said on tin.  The panel were informative for those who wanted to know more about the respective conventions, plus its great to see Kitacon being supportive of them. 

 The next big event of the day was the biggest event of any convention - the cosplay masquerade.  Held in the same area as the opening ceremony, the main events hall, it was an ideal location for it.  The stage was wide, the room was wide and all of the cosplayers excellent.  The only downside, for some perhaps, is that it was relatively short in masquerade terms.  Quality over quantity as they say though, and it was quality through and through.  Good cosplayers, good host and great stage. 
 

After the masquerade it was time for the evening entertainment, starting with a performance by Japanese indie artist Ryo Fujimura.  Also held in main events hall, the 90 minute concert was good addition to the events and it is great to seeing live bands becoming more common at UK conventions. 

Also on the Saturday night was a karaoke room.  Although the room was quite small and had a lot of people packed into it, it was great fun.  The Pokemon and Naruto themes proved the most popular, but for the most part everyone in the room was singing along.  Animetion gave a rousing, out-of-tune,

drunken rendition of the Dragon Ball Z theme which was great fun as everyone joined in.  It is a shame the room was a little small, but everyone made the most of it and had a great time. 

For those who didn't fancy bad singing there was the AMV disco, which offered a blend of Japanese and western music.  The western music was generally good ol' party cheese, which is no bad thing.  The blend worked well and had everyone dancing until the late night hentai panel!  If you wanted to know about tentacle monsters and strange cartoon fetishes, then you were in the right place.  Presented by 'Team Pouch', it took a humorous look at the dodgy side of anime, followed by an all-nighter of hentai anime.  Animetion was unfortunately too tired to stay up for the adult cartoon goodness (yes, fail however the panel was delayed), but spoke to several people the next day who loved it.  On the plus side, at least waking up the next morning wasn't too painful.  Click next below to read about the third day. 


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