Over 5000 Anime Fans Took Over Croke Park to Celebrate Eirtakon's 12th Year

Eirtakon, Ireland's largest anime event was held in Croke Park last weekend on the 4th to the 5th to celebrate its' 12th year. The three day convention saw over 5000 people from all over Ireland come together for the weekend to celebrate anime, manga and Japanese culture. Attendees got to meet their favourite voice actors, cosplayers, watch their favourite anime films, play Pokémon Go, and show off their cosplay outfits. Some of the highlights from the weekend included: Panels from guests of honour and voice actors Luci Christian best known for voicing Nami in One Piece and John Swasey best known for voicing Salvador in Borderlands 2 and Sgt Hauser in Halo.

• The Irish Video Game Orchestra performed songs from video games such as Pokémon and Taiseiyo Taiko Drummers Ensemble ended the closing night on Sunday with a bang.
• Attendees also got to play the video game DOOM against its creator John Romero and meet Dungeons & Dragons artist Brenda Romero.
• A difficult to catch Pokémon - A 6ft Pikachu made completely from balloons by Mr Balloonatic
• League of Legends held a tournament where the top four winning teams won €1,000 euro.
• Eirtakon also hosted the Irish EuroCosplay Competition where winner Emma Babington, cosplay name Showdow Sionnach, a NUI Galway, Zoology student from Magheracloone, Co. Monaghan will be Ireland's representative at the London MCM Comic Con in October 2017.
• Finally, love was found at Eitakon as there were two wedding proposals over the weekend.

Director of Eirtakon, Cillian Lambe a Computer Applications student in DCU says: “Eirtakon is a convention that just gets better as the years go by and I am delighted to be involved in such a large and growing event. It is the perfect place for those who are interested in anime, manga or gaming with a gaming area, anime showings, panels, and much more. As there was plenty of activities and brilliant international guests and cosplayers, I feel that this year was a wonderful weekend which everyone enjoyed.”

Suzanne O'Reilly, Fundraising Coordinator from Jigsaw commented on the event: 'We were delighted to once again be partners with Eirtakon at this year's three day anime event. Since Jigsaw first opened its doors, we have helped over 16,000 young people achieve better mental health. Thanks to the ongoing support of events like Eirtakon, we can continue to raise much needed awareness of youth mental health as well as vital funds to support even more young people have somewhere to turn to and someone to talk to when they need it'.

Eirtakon is proud to announce that we are supporting Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health.

For further information please visit www.Eirtakon.com, or keep up to date on Facebook and Twitter.