The Eirtakon committee has confirmed that Eirtakon 08 has smashed all previous records for an anime event in Ireland, with over 740 fans passing through the doors over the course of the three day celebration of Japanese culture.

Huge crowds came out in force for the special guest of honour, the one and only Vic Mignogna, who were wowed by his discussion panel on Saturday and a unique live commentary panel on Sunday, both of which drew a packed crowd to Dublin City University's biggest theatre.

Hundreds of cosplayers brought an atmosphere of celebration to Eirtakon 08 and Saturday saw our most active cosplay event schedule ever, with dozens of cosplayers taking part in our masquerade and photoshoot alone.

Eirtakon 08's three showings rooms found themselves often packed to the doors, with Room 1 in the Venue proving to be full for most of the weekend. Attendees saw exclusive premier screenings of the hottest new DVD releases including Gurren Lagann and the latest Naruto film, along with old favourites like AMV Hell and Elfen Lied. Friday saw a world exclusive and a world first, rolled into one - the first screening of an Irish language subbed anime! On sunday evening, just before the closing ceremony, Room 1 in the Venue was full to the brim as people packed in to watch our exclusive fan made AMV screenings.

Meanwhile in the main venue the traders, which included Cartoon Passion, Chapters Bookstore and United Publications were swamped as eager fans bought up cut price manga, anime, plushies and figurines. The Artist's Alley, which included some of the best mangaka in Ireland, proved to be a massive hit with attendees who could buy handcrafted keyrings, special one-off posters, bookmarks and even full colour portrait drawings! Upstairs in the main venue was a Wii, an Xbox 360, a PS3 with tournaments and games running from start to finish all weekend. A PS2 playing Para Para Paradise was also set up, hosted by our rhythm master Shinji, with fans queuing up to dance from opening to closing.

And of course that's not all! Hugely successful panels included a lolita fashion discussion panel hosted by our own Amy King and person held in The Glass Room. The ever gracious Eeper also chaired a panel in the same purpose-built room, bringing attendees through every aspect of Japanese fandom and how to come out the other side with enough money left for a bus home!

Over the next few days, expect the Eirtakon website to be filled up with with pictures, videos and reports from the convention!

We would also like so say a very special thank you to everyone who entered all the competitions and a big congratulations to the well deserved winners! And also of course to our fantastic staff, without whom the weekend would have never happened.

About Eirtakon
Eirtakon, currently in its fifth year, is Ireland's number one anime event and one of the biggest conventions of its kind in the country. Following on from the massive success of Eirtakon 08, the committee is hunkering down and drawing up a plan of action for future events to make sure they're the biggest and the best. Remember, there is only one Eirtakon, accept no substitutes!

Check back regularly at www.eirtakon.com and www.eirtaku.com for the latest convention news, gossip and rumour!

ENDS