Tomo-Dachi

Infobox Anime convention
name = Tomo-Dachi


caption =
status = Active
venue = Magee College
location = Derry, Northern Ireland
country =
first = 2005
attendance = 200+ in 2006
events = Video Rooms, Cosplay Catwalk, Cosplay Theatre, Disco, Dealer's Room, Panels, Video Game Rooms, Artist's Alley, Manga Rooms, and Karaoke.
website = http://www.tomo-dachi.com

Tomo-Dachi is an anime convention based in Derry, Northern Ireland. cite press release | url = http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2005/1976.html | title = Magee To Host Japanese Animation Convention | date = 2005-12-07 | accessdate = 2007-02-05 | publisher = University of Ulster]

Starting in the summer of 2005, Tomo-Dachi was the first anime convention to run on the island of Ireland.cite web | url = http://www.slovobooks.com/irishsfnews/news.php?postid=235 | title=Anime Con for Northern Ireland | date = 2005-08-22 | accessdate = 2007-02-05 | publisher = Irish Sci-Fi News]

The original venue was The Nerve Centre, on Magazine Street in the city centre of Derry. Tomo-Dachi, also known as TD0X (the "X" is replaced by the year - such as TD05, TD06, etc) is now held annually at the Magee College of the University of Ulster. The name of the event comes from the word nihongo|"tomodachi"|友達|, which means "friends" in Japanese.

History

In 2004 when the original Tomo-dachi committee was formed there had never been an anime convention held anywhere on the island of Ireland, north or south of the border. The announcement and run up to the first outing of the anime convention was reported in multiple local and national Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland based papers including the Belfast Telegraph, The News Letter and the Daily Ireland.

Tomo-Dachi 2005

Tomo-Dachi 2005 (or TD05 for short) was held in August 2005. [cite web | url = http://www.animecons.com/events/info.shtml/962 | title = Tomo-Dachi 2005 Information | work = AnimeCons.com | accessdate = 2006-10-04] It was the first anime convention to be held on the Island of Ireland, and was operated and run by DAMA, the Derry Anime and Manga Association. The one day event attracted 83 people.

Location & Details

TD05 took place at the Nerve Centre, a public entertainment venue in Derry based in the city centre, and the convention made use of its unique facilities. This was venue where the Derry Anime and Manga Association held their meetings.

The one-day convention was made up of multiple areas. One screening room, that being an actual cinema.

The event also held Northern Ireland's first Anime Convention Cosplay Contest, which was won by Ryan McDermott.

Tomo-Dachi 2006

The plans for the following year's event included a change of venue and lengthening Tomo-Dachi into a three days event.

The convention took place on the weekend of July 7th 2006. [cite web | url = http://www.animecons.com/events/info.shtml/968 | title = Tomo-Dachi 2006 Information | work = AnimeCons.com | accessdate = 2006-10-04] [cite news | first = Una | last = Bradley | url = http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article1849041.ece | title = Manga from heaven | work = Belfast Telegraph | publisher = Independent News & Media | date = 2006-07-07 | accessdate = 2007-02-09]

Guests

The convention was attended by several guests, most notably Ms Tiffany Grant and Mr Matt Greenfield in their first ever convention visit in Europe. They were joined by Hugh David of ADV films UK, Sonia Leong and Emma Vieceli both of Sweatdrop Manga Studios. [cite press release | url = http://www.anime-ni.co.uk/?p=402 | title = TOMO-DACHI: The Final Press Release | publisher = Tomo-Dachi | date = 2006-06-30 | accessdate = 2006-10-27]

Location & Details

TD06 was held at Magee College, part of the University of Ulster. The campus was fully renovated prior to the event, [cite press release | url = http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2000/189.html | title = University details £10m Magee College campus expansion | publisher = University of Ulster | date = 2000-03-03 | accessdate = 2006-10-04] With classrooms converted into gaming rooms, screening rooms, an artists alley and a Manga library.

TD06 was a three day convention and offered special events, panels, industry information, dealers and more. Over the weekend it was attended by just over 200 people from Ireland and the United Kingdom.cite press release | url = http://www.animeuknews.net/viewpress.php?showarticle=109 | title = Tomo-Dachi committee announces TD07 | date = 2005-09-26 | accessdate = 2007-02-23 | publisher = AnimeUKnews [http://www.animeuknews.net] ]

Tomo-Dachi 2007

The Tomo-Dachi committee announced that Tomo-Dachi 2007 would take place on the weekend of August 31st [cite press release | url = http://www.animeuknews.net/viewpress.php?showarticle=109 | title = The Tomo-Dachi committee announce Tomo-Dachi 2007 | publisher = Tomo-Dachi | date = 2006-08-14 | accessdate = 2006-12-04] however this date has since changed to the weekend of August 24th.

The first guest announced for the convention was Guest of Honour Mike McFarland, voice actor and director for FUNimation Entertainment. [cite press release | url = http://www.anime-ni.co.uk/?p=584 | title = Tomo-Dachi set to bring Mike McFarland to the UK as pre-registration opens | publisher = Tomo-Dachi | date = 2007-02-06 | accessdate = ] Other guests include Stuart Claw and Emma Vieceli hosts of the UK's Anime Network, Sonia Leong, Manga artist and Hugh David representative of ADV Films. [cite press release | url = http://www.animeuknews.net/press/20/tomodachi-announces-more-guests-as-the-closing-of-preregistrations-draws-near | title = Tomo-Dachi annouces more guests | publisher = Tomo-Dachi | date = 2007-07-26 | accessdate = ]

References

External links

* [http://www.tomo-dachi.com/ Official site]
*AnimeCons con|id=1150|name=Tomo-Dachi|year=2007