Connichi

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Front of the 'Kongress Palais Kassel' during Connichi 2005 Front of Stadthalle Kassel during Connichi 20050918.jpg
Front of the 'Kongress Palais Kassel' during Connichi 2005

Connichi is an annual, 3-day anime convention in Germany and one of the largest of its kind in the German-speaking world with over 24,000 visitors in 2013. [1] It is held by the German anime association Animexx e.V.

Contents

History

Connichi was first held in 2002 in Ludwigshafen, counting 1,500 visitors. [2] Ever since, Connichi has been held every September in Kassel with visitor numbers having grown quickly beyond 12,000 in 2006. [3]

Location

The Kongress Palais Kassel and parts of the adjacent Hotel Ramada host the majority of events. The concert hall, "Festsaal", offers seating for about 1,500 people. Additional events such as Japanese rock concerts and visual kei cosplay events are held at the nearby venue Nachthallen.

A park next to, and an area at the entrance of, the Kongress Palais, as well as the surrounding architecture offer cosplayers space and background for photo shooting. Food and drinks may be purchased at the Palais, as well as at shops and supermarkets in the vicinity a number of which have in recent years begun to open for extended hours even on Sunday during the Connichi weekend.

During the event, the Connichi ticket allows to use public transport within a certain tariff zone for free. [4]

Agenda

Connichi offers a variety of attractions typical to anime conventions, such as shows and concerts, contests, video rooms, console games rooms, karaoke, vendors and exhibitors, and Bring'n'Buy flea markets; as well as workshops in Japanese language and culture such as how to wear a Kimono or how to draw manga-style. The latter are regularly held by Guests of Honour working in that area (see below for a list of guests).

Contests

Participation in any contest is free for every visitor but may be subject to prior registration or even submission of artistic material. While the actual range of contests may vary from Connichi to Connichi, the following contests are staple.

Cosplayers can participate in separate contests which allow either one or two persons at a time, or up to five persons at a time. Since 2004 Connichi also holds the preliminary contest for the World Cosplay Summit to determine the German finalists. [5] Besides the chance to participate in the WCS, the winner receives a flight ticket for the trip to Nagoya, Japan.

A cup of instant ramen noodles, usually sponsored by Nissin Foods, is freshly prepared, quickly cooled to prevent scalding, and to be eaten in the shortest time possible. Current record (2010) is 8.7 s. [6]

In several categories, winners are determined whose videos will be shown.

Further staple contests include a console games competition, tournaments in Go, TCG and CMG, a hard Anime quiz, as well as Karaoke and Dōjinshi contests. [7] Usually, the winners are announced and rewarded at the closing ceremony.

Guests of Honour

Connichi Guests of Honour come from a wide range of characters notable for their contributions to Japanese pop culture both in Germany and internationally, such as manga and anime artists, voice actors, as well as singers, idols and bands. Notably, Hiroyuki Yamaga has been enjoying attending every Connichi since 2003.

Connichi 2002 (May 3–5, 2002)
Anime: Kazuya Tsurumaki (Gainax)
Connichi 2003 (September 5–7, 2003)
Anime: Yasuhiro Takeda (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax)
Music: Toru Tanabe (Japanese Baritone singer)
Connichi 2004 (September 10–12, 2004)
Anime: Yasuhiro Takeda (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Takami Akai (Gainax)
Music: Blood, Toru Tanabe (Baritone)
Voice Actors: Rubina Kuraoka, Tobias Müller, Daniel Schlauch, Sebastian Schulz
Connichi 2005 (September 16–18, 2005)
Anime: Kazuhiro Takamura (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax)
Manga and Manhwa: Lee So-young, Sanami Matoh
Music: dream, Toru Tanabe (Baritone)
Voice actors: Sabine Bohlmann
Connichi 2006 (September 15–17, 2006)
Anime: Takami Akai (Gainax), Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Gainax), Shoji Saeki (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax)
Manga: Makoto Tateno
Music: Toru Tanabe (Baritone)
Voice actors: Yukari Fukui, David Turba
Connichi 2007 (September 7–9, 2007)
Anime: Yuji Nunokawa (Studio Pierrot), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Savin Yeatman-Eiffel (Director Ōban Star-Racers) [8]
Manga: Ayano Yamane
Music: Haruko Momoi, M.o.v.e., [9] Rentrer en Soi
Voice actors: Nobuyuki Hiyama, Tetsuya Kakihara
Connichi 2008 (September 12–14, 2008)
Anime: Takami Akai (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Yasuhiro Takeda (Gainax), Hiroyuki Imaishi (Director Gurren Lagann), Atsushi Nishigori (Charakter Design Gurren Lagann), Masahiko Ōtsuka (Storyboard Gurren Lagann), Yō Yoshinari (Mecha Design Gurren Lagann), Ryōji Masuyama (Artist Gurren Lagann)
Manga: Kazusa Takashima
Music: Haruko Momoi, Pornophonique
Connichi 2009 (September 18–20, 2009)
Anime: Hidenori Matsubara (Gainax), Takami Akai (Gainax), Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Haruko Momoi
Manga: Robert Labs
Music: Back-On [10]
Connichi 2010 (September 10–12, 2010) [11]
Anime: Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Yutaka Uemura (Gainax, Director Dantalian no Shoka), Gakuto Mikumo (Gainax, Writer Dantalian no Shoka)
Manga: You Higuri
Music: Olivia Lufkin, Haruko Momoi, Rumi Shishido
Misc: Kumiko Uehara (Lead Design for fashion label Baby, The Stars Shine Bright), Noir (Gainax, Director Market Research)
Connichi 2011 (September 16–18, 2011)
Anime: Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Osamu Kobayashi (Director), Michihiko Suwa (Yomiuri TV)
Music: Kouhei Tanaka, Cécile Corbel, May'n, Novala Takemoto (Dantalian no Shoka ending song writer)
Misc: Kumiko Uehara, Hideki Kenmochi (Vocaloid chief developer for Yamaha)
Voice Actor: Kaya Matsutani

Show acts

Apart from Japanese artists that go on stage, Connichi hosts a variety of amateur performers showing plays and musicals, singing and/or doing standup comedy with anime-related themes.

Workshops

The workshops vary from event to event. The following workshops are staple to Connichi.

Various scenes from anime are dubbed by visitors. The result is presented at the closing ceremony.

Visitors can get familiar with the game of Go or improve their skills.

Related Research Articles

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Aoi Honō is a Japanese coming-of-age manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Shimamoto. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Sunday from March 2007 to July 2008, when the magazine ceased its publication; a chapter was published in YS Special in October 2008, before being transferred to Shogakukan's then-brand-new shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Sunday in May 2009. Aoi Honō is a fictionalized account of Shimamoto's time as a student at the Osaka University of Arts, which he attended alongside Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Yamaga, and Takami Akai.

<i>Uru in Blue</i> Film project by Gainax

Uru in Blue, also known as Blue Uru, is an unproduced Japanese animated science fiction film project by Gainax intended as a sequel to their 1987 film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise. Aoki Uru was originally planned to be directed by Hideaki Anno and scripted by Hiroyuki Yamaga, with Yoshiyuki Sadamoto serving as its chief animation director and character designer. During 1992–93, the Aoki Uru creative team produced a complete storyboard, a partial script, and a large collection of designs and pre-production art for the film; however, the project had been initiated without a secured budget, and its development occurred within a period of personal, financial, and managerial crises at Gainax that contributed to the indefinite suspension of work on Aoki Uru in July 1993.

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For the debut work of anime studio Gainax, the 1987 anime film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, director Hiroyuki Yamaga set a goal of "natural" dialogue, which he maintained was "a first in Japanese animation." The performers chosen to portray the lead characters, Leo Morimoto as Shirotsugh and Mitsuki Yayoi as Riquinni, were professional actors who nevertheless had little to no experience working in anime. At the same time, Gainax sought out and recruited as Royal Space Force's sound director the highly experienced Atsumi Tashiro of Group TAC, known for his work on the 1974 TV series Space Battleship Yamato. Tashiro accepted the staff position on Royal Space Force despite it being the first project he had undertaken outside his own company in over 20 years, seeing it as a chance to revitalize himself professionally, and the casting of Morimoto and Yayoi as an opportunity to depict genuine emotion and honest and fresh reactions, a spirit that Tashiro remarked he had forgotten within the world of anime.

Gainax's 1987 debut work Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise has been particularly noted for its design work; during a 2021 interview with the New York Times, science fiction author Ted Chiang, whose Nebula Award-winning "Story of Your Life" was the basis for the Denis Villeneuve movie Arrival, cited Royal Space Force as the single most impressive example of worldbuilding in book or film. Chiang remarked on details such as the film's distinct depiction of money, television, and newspapers: "I just really was impressed by the way that the animators for that film, they invented an entirely new physical culture for this movie. The movie is not about those things, but they really fleshed out this alternate world just as the backdrop for the story that they wanted to tell."

Gainax's proposal to make their debut anime work Royal Space Force was given interim approval in April of 1985 by lead financial backer Bandai after a presentation by planner Toshio Okada and director Hiroyuki Yamaga of a four-minute "pilot film" version at Bandai's Tokyo corporate headquarters, following which Yamaga returned to his hometown of Niigata to begin to write the screenplay, taking inspiration from both the city's urban geography and by observing its passing street traffic. A further real-world influence on the screenplay was a trip taken in August of that year by Yamaga and other film crew members to New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Space Coast of Florida to research postmodern architecture and aerospace history as well as witness a launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

References

  1. "Was ist die Connichi". Archived from the original on 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  2. "Manga-Messe in Kassel: Blaue Haare, rote Augen und japanische Helden". Der Spiegel. 20 September 2009.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-03-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Connichi 2012". Archived from the original on 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  5. "Was ist der World Cosplay Summit? | World Cosplay Summit Team Germany". Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
  6. "Connichi Sa+So 2010 (Foto auf Animexx.de)".
  7. "Connichi 2010". Archived from the original on 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  8. "Connichi 2007: JETIX Presents Savi Yeatman-Eiffel (Oban Star Racers)". 11 October 2023.
  9. "Connichi 2007: M.o.v.e. Performs for the First Time in Europe". 11 October 2023.
  10. "BACK-ON to debut in Europe at Connichi, Kassel, Germany in September 2009! | Back-on Online – BACK-ON Fansite".
  11. "Connichi 2010 event booklet" (PDF).