Many fans attending Anime North 2022 in Toronto this weekend got a whole lot more than they bargained for, as the convention was swamped with long lines, reports of attendees being treated by paramedics, and a general atmosphere of chaos.

The celebration of Japanese art took over the Toronto Congress Centre, Delta Hotel Airport and Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel from July 15 to 17, and just like nearby Pearson Internation Airport, the event was overwhelmed by throngs of crowds and a seeming lack of event staff to process the thousands of attendees.

Anime North day one me and Fey stood in line for over 3 hours to enter. No cosplay for me, but I did but some cool shit and got photos with Kakashi and Weise <3 pic.twitter.com/v65wQ7ZCQj

— big fred (@ari_the_monster) July 17, 2022

Anime North's return was overshadowed by countless reports of unbearable wait times and a complete lack of amenities for crowds left in the blazing heat of parking lots as staff struggled to process guests' proof of vaccination as per event policy.

I thought about going to anime north until I saw those lines 💀

— Jacob (@Jacob____Gibb) July 17, 2022

One eventgoer tells blogTO that "poor management turned the convention into endless line-ups. Paid customers were only able to obtain badges to attend the convention after a minimum of two hours of waiting."

Bro I'm in line for this Anime North convention in Toronto and I've never seen a more logistical nightmare than this.

I think I moved like 20 steps in the last 2 hours.

I suddenly hate Anime pic.twitter.com/ZnfI8iyYWA

— KarQ (@KarQGames) July 16, 2022

"No water and cover were provided to the attendees. Many cosplayers were escorted to ambulances," adding that once inside, guests had to deal with poor ventilation within the venues.

Registration line at Anime North 🥲 pic.twitter.com/Z28Uvgt2Jh

— Rico ✨12 hr stream on Saturday ✨ (@Ricocchiii) July 16, 2022

"I suspect the management has oversold their tickets and has insufficient staff to check vaccine passes."

@AnimeNorth No A/C. No cooling stations. No mention of the heat and precautions to take or being taken. 4 food trucks, line ups as bad as the admission line. No organization. Worst, worst, anime convention. Visible access to only water refill station.
Total disappointment

— Nancy Ferreira (@nancydff) July 17, 2022

The madness wasn't entirely without warning, as Anime North issued a statement on the eve of the convention, announcing the cut-off of further sales for the second day of the event.

Hey #animenorth I hope you issue ticket refunds for people who can't claim their tickets. This line is insane and unethical. #animenorthline #AnimeNorth2022 pic.twitter.com/4a27QtnH8c

— Kathleen White (@KathleenRedrum) July 16, 2022

"Due to very strong Saturday sales, we have had to cap Saturday-only sales in order to manage crowding at the convention and are no longer available online or at the door."

Lmfao the line didn't move at all in 30 minutes anime north why pic.twitter.com/feEQX26KYI

— モリ c10s CLEAR (@Morihan_0) July 16, 2022

Though even with large crowds all but guaranteed, event organizers continued with day-specific tickets for Friday and Sunday as well as full weekend admission.

A representative of Anime North tells blogTO that organizers "knew running a large event after a two-year hiatus would have additional challenges."

"Everything reported by other similar events in the year leading up to our event led us to expect a smaller crowd. We were aware that fewer big-name guests would be available and also expected that would impact our event, leading to lower attendance."

"For most of the year, our ticket sales were steady, but very slow, so our planning was aimed at having a somewhat smaller event than usual. That did not change until a few days before the show itself when half of our ticket sales were made in the week leading up to Friday."

"When we realized the badge pick-up line was not moving as fast as we needed it to, we identified where the bottlenecks were and rearranged things to process more people as quickly as we could. We brought in more paid crowd management to speed up the lines. We also ended sales of all ticket categories that weren't already sold out."

Organizers admit that they fell short of expectations, telling blogTO that discussions are underway to prevent such disorganization in the future, including the reintroduction of attendance caps used in previous years, saying, "we want our community to know that we are already working to make it better next year."