Anime Expo Chibi 2022 in Ontario: An Anime Convention That Didn't Need to Exist 

i went on sunday and only for 3 1/2 hrs (woke up late lol). my thoughts: im glad i paid only 40 bucks. not in a bad way 'cause before the only anime con i went to were AX in LA. this was different for me, laid back. people were friendly and open to chit-chat for a bit. AX in general feels like Vegas with young people running around where else chibi felt like Laughlin, same things Vegas without the hustle and bustle. they didnt have the 'big players' but i think thats fine. they just have to get creative with it. it could be also because chibi was announced right after AX22 and vendors do have a full schedule for the year for the most part. the location isnt convenient but the scenery is nice from outdoors and feels isolated from the busy streets in LA. the highlight for me was the bartenders, they tipped me off without even me asking, just a friendly conversation and boom, another shot of whiskey into the cup. where else you gonna get that at a con? cuz i'll be there! anything else, i find it funny that their media pages say that masks were enforced but maybe 20% of the con had mask on between attendees and exhibitors. i forgot mine so it worked out for me, but a lot of places dont require masks anymore, just make it optional and not "enforce" them if they're not able to. and to AX's credit, this is probably the first time in years where you can say 'the lines for panels were organized' lol

Artist's Alley was the best part. I'm glad I went just for that. The exhibit hall was a bunch of booths almost all selling the same thing. But for being run by the SPJA I think they did a pretty good job. The lines didn't take a terribly long time, and the staffers that I did interact with were all very friendly. I wasn't expecting anything other than shopping at this convention, was surprised to see a few cosplay gatherings going on, etc.

Lol it was pretty small but that’s what they meant by anime expo chibi. We ended getting lucky with parking and wait times. I believe they ran it as a trial to see if they can do it again. However I do agree with calling it anime expo night market.

I loved the event. Even tho your right about no big names being there. I honestly was just so excited and happy with everything I saw and experienced. I do hope they bring it back soon.

The night market should’ve been advertised as a night party. The djs towards the end of the night were amazing. Other conventions don’t have that. I’m sorry you can’t listen to loud music. There was plenty of room for everyone and I was there for the entire time. It was fun mid sized convention and it had a 21 plus lounge outside which was cool.

tickets are $25 for 2023. they also have panels with voice actors and other workshops fan panel stuff. seems better this year

I agree with the points that you made about needing to have panels or something more for people to do. Hopefully if they do it again, they take the feedback and add panels for like the upcoming winter anime season or have voice actors from popular shows come to talk. Still I liked it for what it was since I have no plans to go to the actual anime expo again due to it being extremely overcrowded.

It sounds like this event wasn't for you, and thats fine, but I don't think "didn't need to exist" is a fair statement here. I hate massive cons, but also am a little tired of crappily run small cons. AX Chibi was a dream for me. I don't live in California, so the cons in my area are extremely lackluster compared to this, and usually cost the same price. So by comparison, holy cow they delivered. It seemed like the intention was to be a laid-back small social con. The old-school local con feel, but executed masterfully by a big experienced host like AX. If you didn't go to cosplay or hang out with/meet friends, I think that misses a lot of the point of a con at this scale. *Edit: Been really simmering on this for a minute, so I wanted to elaborate on some of the video points. Beware the great wall of text below* Compared to a true small con, The vendor hall and artist alley was HUGE. I'm used to seeing both vendors and artists crammed together into a smaller room as just the artist alley. Here I was overwhelemed and spent nearly all of day 1 just trying to look at everything. Other really nice touches were the fact that there were heat lamps outdoors in the cold, the stage music was super fun. Heck, i've even been to this convention center before and the fact that they had a really smart plan on how to place the security gates and had enough security staff working them that I didn't have to constantly get bag checked every time I went to go buy from a food truck was already so appreciated. The cosplay photo backdrops were super impressive, and not something I've seen at a con like this. I just wish I got to try out one of the workshops. I got so busy, but I like the idea of workshops with actual hands on things to learn way better than panels. It might have fulfilled the need of "something to do" for a lot of people. At local cons, panels are usually just fan panels, or english voice actors that never appeal to me, so I really prefered an event without them. I do see how the name "night market" could seem like a misnomer. I definitely interpreted it as a food-fest-style market, and I do think there was a good variety of food trucks to live up to that. And considering it was an unofficial day, literally named Day 0, I think it delivered a lot more than I expected. I always expect "Day 0" is badge pickup only with no events. For an off-the-books day, they had a ton of entertainment on the stage. I think I got to see like 3-4 bands and then some DJ's. I spent a lot of time meeting up with old friends under a heat lamp area and listening to the music from a distance where it was quieter. I also have a hard time with loud noise, so I just have some earplugs with me everywhere I go which has helped me enjoy events a lot more. Personally, I have zero expectations for an event to provide parking. It's just wasted space for cars to sit idle. I'd rather be mindful about my route than have a venue increase costs to spend a bunch of money on additional lots or shuttles or something for wasted space when that money could have gone to putting on the event. They have a ton of hotels within walking distance, if you stay there parking was plentiful. Even if not, the free street parking really wasn't that bad. I got there at a busy time, afternoon on Saturday, and had to park about a 10 minute walk away, but heck it was free and the weather was super pleasant. If we didn't feel like we could make the walk back, we were just going to hail a rideshare app which still would have been pretty cheap. Event space>car storage any day. I'm just happy the halls weren't packed.

I thought the event was decent but I knocked out everything that I really wanted to do by 2:00 on Day 1. I was lucky enough to have a friend drop me off because the parking situation was insane. The artist alley was definitely a highlight and probably one of the best I've walked through in terms of how many artists I loved. So was the maid cafe, since it was my first maid cafe experience. But yeah, the lack of panels and the limited space at the cultural workshops really held this event back and I was hoping that there'd be a little more. Also I'm 100% with you when you say that the night market was disappointing. It felt more like a food truck gathering instead of an actual night market. I do hope that they improve upon these things in the next AX Chibi because I don't think that the price of the tickets really equate to what was given to attendees. I got more out of my $15 one day ticket to the Anime Impulse event held back in January,

Ok MR. yellowHat from curious George headass

Could you let me know please if JSA or PSA went last year.

Sam would’ve had a much better experience if he made reservations for the maid cafe 😔

Rather than comparing to Anime Expo in the summer, I would say this convention is comparable to Anime Pasadena, Anifest, Anime Impulse, etc where the smaller cons are more oriented for the community and cosplayers. I think Anime Expo Chibi is definitely one of the better of the small connventions and I think they nailed it. Enjoyed my time walking around, small haul spree, getting cosplay photos done, and catching up with friends and making new ones 🤙🏼

loved going everytime I did a video as well.

I appreciate you taking the hit and going all the way to the frozen tundra known as canada,just for content. How many mystery boxes did you buy? And more importantly,when's the unboxing?

Yeah the entire reason i go to AX is the official exclusive merch from like bandai, shonen jump, etc if chibi has none of that then doesn’t seem like theres much difference between it and like anime impulse or other smaller cons

OH Ontario, California... Here I thought there was a massive Ontario, Canada Expo I had not heard of before. Maybe there is but... okay. Continue ^.^

Chibi = Small. Duh.

The clubs were amazing online too

As someone who went I agree, wish they had more to do like maybe some trivia or a debate or SOMETHING. Although I'm going to trust both you and the guy working at the good smile booth that proper AX is better but I'd rather ALA than chibi but the ramen bowl painting was cool

I thought it was awsome, I had a lot of fun cosplaying there and meeting new people and making freinds. People were super freindly and im probably really biased because it was so close and i hate being in LA too.

I honestly thought the performers for the night market were so loud, like you could be over by the food trucks and it was still extremely loud, so being right there next to the stage, I thought I was gonna go deaf 💀

Love the Kirby hat in the background

It was my first Anime Expo, and was also really disappointed about how there was nothing to do too. I expected a lot from it because it's an Anime Expo after all, thought it'd be exactly like the summer one, having crunchyroll and maybe some voice actors panels, but smaller, but nope. Just stores. Just did a lot of walking around being bored and taking pictures with cosplayers. Even there was nothing to do in the club because no one was really partying, so me and my friend just walked through it. At least I didn't have to deal with the parking situation I guess. Was staying in a hotel a few minutes away so we just walked to the convention center.

Girlfriend is getting fucking bodied at this event😂😂shit had me dead😂😂😂

What part of "chibi" did you not understand? xD I think it's what you make of it! My boyfriend & I had a wonderful time, truly.

So glad I skipped this event, this was exactly what I was worried about. Pannels are the reason I enjoy AX not the merch.

Like the mega64 sweatshirt

My friends and I all had a great time and felt like it was an anime convention of old - like anime expo 05-06 vibes for the fans. Wasn’t meant to be a big event. So we had a good time. We liked it more than ALA and we love ALA. I guess it just depends on your expectations

You should not post videos or make a review when you're on your period. Dont even attend just stay home. It was an awesome event. Plenty of parking across the street.

Lookin amazing as ever Sam! Love ya bro. Ontario must be shitty as a whole, my airport experience was aids and everything about it sucked.

why

Sorry ya had a bad experience.. 🥲