People travel for all kinds of different reasons, education, landmarks and sights, nature, food/drink and personal hobbies. Although it’s just now in it’s early stages of becoming trendy, nerd/otaku culture was for a long time, something kept quiet.
(Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom.)
If you’re an otaku visiting the big city of Toronto you’ll be surprised how many more options you have when it comes to finding anime merchandise, comics, and conventions in between visiting iconic Toronto tourist destinations. If you’re looking for an all access pass to some of the best places to visit in Toronto be sure to pick up a Toronto CityPASS.
Conventions
FAN EXPO CANADA
https://www.fanexpocanada.com
Fan Expo Canada – Metro Toronto Convention Centre
AUGUST 30 – SEPT 2, 2018
FAN EXPO CANADA™ is the largest Comics, Sci-fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming event in Canada and the 3rd largest Pop Culture event in North America. It’s been going on for 22 years, with an attendance of over 129,000 people.
Notable guests they’ve had have been Jack Gleeson (Joffrey, Game of Thrones). Alan Tudyk (Wash, Firefly), William Shatner (Star Trek), Felicia Day, The cast of Stranger Things, Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show) and many, many more. They have a variety of attractions, for the anime geeks, the sci-fi nerds, family friendly events, comic books and more.
2017 anime attractions included a wig competition for cosplayers, a large scale cosplay content, several screenings of select animes, speed dating, trivia, voice actor meets and more.
ANIME NORTH
http://www.animenorth.com/
Toronto Congress Centre and International Plaza Hotel.
Anime North is a non-profit, fan run anime convention. It’s the 4th largest North American anime convention. Its major attractions, activities and events include a Masquerade, Dealers Room, Artists Alley, Guest of Honour presentations, Gaming (Video and tabletop), Panel Discussions, Video Presentations, Contests, and Dances.They had an attendance of over 30,000 people in 2015.
The guest list focuses more on anime industry professionals, who are majorly voice actors. They’ve had notable people such as Linda Ballantyne (Serena, of Sailor Moon), Brian Drummond (Vegeta, Dragon Ball Z), Yaya Han, a Chinese-American cosplayer very well known in the cosplay Community, Reika, another very well known cosplay from Japan. In 2017, they brought over several Japanese musicians such as Mika Mikura, Brilliant Kingdom, IA: Virtual Artist, Hollow Mellow and Metronome.
Where To Get Your Merch
ANIMEXTREME
https://animextreme.ca/
315 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2E9, Canada
AnimeXtreme is definitely the largest anime merch store in Toronto. Inside it looks similar to the packed stores of akihabara, with manga, figures, plushies packed in tightly. They update their stock regularly so if you’re trying to get your hands on something, it’s worth checking back occasionally. The prices may seem a bit high, but when you consider shipping, it runs relatively close.
NAVITO WORLD
https://www.navitoworld.com
Distribution/Retail Centre 138 D’arcy Street Unit 1
Navito World is the official licensed distributor for Japanese Anime Products and Figurines.
They’re an online store, with a pick up centre in Toronto. Their selection is huge, consisting of popular content as well as smaller, lesser known content as well, they have smaller items such as mobile straps, cases, keychains, chibi figurines that may be harder to find unless otherwise at a convention. Then they’ve got larger scale plushies, wall scrolls and then full fledged detailed gorgeous figurines. They’re great about updates, with a specific section on their website which lets you know which stock they’ve got in. They also frequently appear at local conventions, so keep your eye out!
The Labyrinth
www.thelabyrinthstore.com
386 Bloor St. W. Toronto
1289 Marlborough Crt. Oakville
The Labyrinth has two locations in Toronto and they have a mix of artbooks, manga, comics, toys and posters, with a larger focus on Funko Pop toys and art books in particular. They have a large variety of content from dungeons and dragons, magic: the gathering, marvel comics, popular tv shows, anime and manga. They’re always updating their stock and keeping their social media active, which is always a great thing.
Toronto has a ton of great places to check out. ANd while there may not be an official Akihabara of Canada, Toronto provides a lot of great conferences and stores for the Otaku crowd. If you’re looking for more travel tips on Toronto and recommendations on things to do, sign up to my mailing list below. I have a free online travel guide to Toronto that should be released in the coming months.