Anime North（アニメ・ノース）は、毎年トロントで開催される日本のアニメとポップカルチャーがテーマの大会です。1997年に始まり現在はカナダ最大級のボランティアが主催する非営利目的のファンイベントとなっています。今回は『とりりあむ』のために、Anime North 創始者で運営責任者であるDonald Simmons氏に、このイベントが大学の校舎を借りたアニメファンの集会から始まり、今や三万人近くが参加する海外にも知られる大会に成長するまでの道のりなどを書いていただきました。

＜要約＞

私がトロント大学工学部の学生だった1990年代半ば、トロント周辺ではサイエンスフィクションの本やメディアのコンベンションが開催され、よく通っていました。サイエンスフィクション以外にも様々なジャンルのファンイベントや大会がありましたが、日本アニメのコンベンションというのは当時まだありませんでした。アメリカではアニメコンベンションがあるというのを耳にするようになりました。トロントにもアニメファンはたくさんいて、トロント大学のアニメクラブが毎月上映会など行っていたので、コンベンションを企画すれば参加に興味のある人々は十分いると思いました。

アニメコンベンションを提案するチラシを作ってアニメクラブに配ってみると、やはりスタッフやファンの関心が高いことが分かりました。最初はまず財務リスクを考慮しながら一日だけのイベントとしてはじめ、内容はシンプルに。赤字になっても対処できるよう、シードマネーを自分を含め個人が寄付して用意しておきました。私たちのグループにはこういうタイプのイベント企画や実行に携わった経験のある人がいなかったため、「次がある」コンベンションにするためのノウハウを勉強しながら進め、予定の一年前には企画を発表しておき、会場を探し、月に一度会議を開いてまとめあげました。

第一回開催では、講堂をアニメのコスチュームコンテストや特別ゲスト出演用のメイン会場とし、ジムにベンダーブースを配置、カフェテリアにはアーティストや展示スペース、教室はパネルやビデオ上映会場に、そして学生ラウンジに休憩所を設けました。 損益分岐点として300人参加を目指しましたが、800人近くが集まった時は、これなら行けるぞと確信しました。翌年は二日間のイベントに、そしてそれ以降はホテルを会場にした週末のイベントに発展していきます。

コンベンションが大きくなるにつれ、プログラム内容も成長していきました。ゲームファンが提案し運営するゲームトーナメント、音楽とダンスのイベント、コスチュームカフェ、チャリティーイベント、ビジネスも個人のアマチュアも両方が参加する大規模なベンダー、ファッションショー、日本文化のプレゼンテーション、LGBTプログラムなど、さまざまな内容を網羅し、幅広いゲストを招待しています。

会場は年々さらに大きなホテルに移し、ついには空港の側のToronto Congress Center をメイン会場にデルタホテルとシェラトンホテルと提携して行う規模になりました。

Anime North は参加者が単にお客さんとして、消費者として来場するだけでなく、一人一人が何らかの形で参加して作りあげていくイベントであることが非常に重要です。

たとえばスポーツファンのイベントに参加するのはごく普通のことであり奨励されるように、アニメファンだって「おたく」とか「暗い、ダサい」などと偏見を持たれずに、安全で楽しく過ごせる場を提供しつづけたい。時間の経過とともに変化するトレンドも取り入れ、ボランティアが運営する参加型のイベントというのが私たちの強みです。

そして何よりも「ねえ、見て見て！」というような子ども心をいつまでも忘れないでいきたいと思っています。

今年のAnime Northは2022年7月15日～17日に開催されます。ぜひ会場でお会いしましょう！

Anime North is a three-day celebration on the theme of Japanese animation, and Japanese pop-culture in general, held annually in Toronto, Ontario since 1997. It’s likely Canada’s biggest not-for-profit, volunteer-run fan event, with an attendance of just under 30,000 in 2019.

It’s been a long road building the event from its early days to what it is today. In the mid 1990s there were several genre conventions running around Toronto, but no anime one. I had been going to science fiction literary and media cons (Ad Astra and Toronto Trek, later renamed Polaris) for several years, starting when I was an engineering student at the University of Toronto, and I had also become involved in one of the several anime clubs in the city doing monthly showings (UTARPA, operating out of the University of Toronto). Anime cons were beginning to become a thing in the US, and I thought that there certainly was sufficient interest now in Toronto to support one.

So I had a flyer made up which I distributed around to the anime clubs suggesting we start a convention in Toronto, and there was sufficient interest from club staffers and fans at large to get going.

I wanted to start small with a one-day event for a couple of reasons, First, to limit the financial risk. We were starting from scratch, with individuals including myself contributing seed money that we could afford to lose in case it didn’t work out.  Second, it was the first time most of us had been involved in organizing such an event so it was a learning experience for us all; we needed to keep the event simple to increase the chances of it being successful. Trying to make it too big and complicated starting out was much more likely to go wrong and make it much less likely we’d be able to do it again. We found a venue, announced the event nearly a year in advance, and had regularly monthly meetings to put it all together.

The first Anime North in 1997 was a one-day event in a local medical sciences school, with an auditorium as a Main Room for costuming contests and guest presentations, the gym for vendor booths, cafeteria space for artists and displays, classrooms for panels and videos, and a student lounge for relaxation space. We hoped to break even with 300 attendees. When we got nearly 800 we knew we were onto something.

The next year we switched to a two day event, and after that a full weekend in a hotel. As the convention grew the amount and type of programming grew as well, nearly all of it coming from and organized by volunteers. For example, gaming fans who were attending the convention offered to organize and run gaming tournaments at it, which expanded into video and console gaming as well. The convention has grown to include music and dancing events, costumed cafes, charity events, greatly expended vendors both commercial and amateur, fashion shows, Japanese cultural presentations, LGBT programming, and a wide range of guests that encompass all of these different events.

As the years went by we usually had to change to a larger hotel every few years as the convention grew, until several years ago we moved to our current location, the Toronto Congress Center on the airport strip, in conjunction with the nearby Delta and Sheraton hotels.  

It’s been very important for everyone involved in the planning and organization of Anime North for it to be an attendee-participatory event, where those who come are involved in it, not just there to spend money or watch videos in a dark room but can participate in a game show, or ask question to manga artists about their work, or attend a workshop on costuming. Where they can be a part of the event instead of just a consumer.

It also serves as a weekend where people can get together with their friends and like-minded others to relax and enjoy themselves in a safe and non-judgmental atmosphere. Too often genre fans are characterized as nerds or dweebs, even when if they were doing most of the same things at a professional sporting event it would be “normal” and even encouraged.

Going into the future we want to be sure we keep listening to our attendees and find out what they want to see at the event, not just present them with what we’ve decided they want to see. Different events can become more or less popular as time passes, and we have to recognize that and respond to it. And I firmly believe that the fact we are volunteer-run is one of our great strengths. Our staffers are with us because they are truly enthusiastic about presenting events about costuming, about art, about their favorite tv show, these are things that are important to them and that enthusiasm is communicated to our attendees.

I’ve always seen myself and the others involved as a bunch of kids who just want to put on a show, and I hope we never lose that.

Our convention this year will be the weekend of July 15-17, 2022, and I hope to see you there!