Tohno-chan (tohno-chan.org) is a long-standing niche imageboard dedicated to the works of Type-Moon, specifically the visual novel Tsukihime and its fighting game spin-off Melty Blood. It is one of the older surviving "specialty" boards in the Western anime fandom. 1. Key Dates and Registration Domain Registration: The current domain tohno-chan.org was registered on August 25, 2011. First Wayback Machine Capture: The Internet Archive first crawled the .org domain on August 29, 2011. Earlier History: The site actually predates its current domain. It originally existed as tohno-chan.com, which was active as far back as 2007. The community migrated to the .org domain in 2011 due to administrative changes and domain ownership shifts common in early imageboard history. Launch: The community solidified around 2007–2008, during the peak era of early Type-Moon fan translations. 2. What is the site? Tohno-chan is an anonymous imageboard that serves as a dedicated hub for fans of the Nasuverse (the shared universe created by Kinoko Nasu). Core Subject Matter: While it has boards for general anime and games, its heart is /tm/ (Type-Moon), where users discuss Tsukihime, Fate/stay night, Kara no Kyoukai, and Mahoutsukai no Yoru. Community Vibe: It is often described as a "comfy" alternative to 4chan’s /a/ (Anime & Manga) or /v/ (Video Games) boards. Because it is smaller, the discussions tend to be more focused on lore, technical visual novel troubleshooting, and niche fan art. The "Old Web" Feel: The site uses a very traditional Futaba-style interface (specifically the Kusaba or Tinyboard variants) and has intentionally avoided modernizing its layout to preserve its late-2000s aesthetic. 3. What does the name mean? The name is derived from the central characters of the visual novel Tsukihime: Tohno: This is the surname of the protagonist (Shiki Tohno) and his sister (Akiha Tohno). The Tohno family and their mansion are the primary setting for the original Tsukihime story. Chan: The standard suffix for "channel" or "imageboard." Tohno-chan: Effectively translates to "The Tohno Family Imageboard." Using the protagonist's name was a common way for early "shrine" or niche boards to signal exactly which fandom they belonged to. 4. History and Community Context Tohno-chan is historically significant because it was the primary English-speaking hub for Melty Blood (a fighting game) for many years before specialized fighting game discord servers became the norm. It acted as a bridge for Western fans to access Japanese patches, fan-translations, and competitive "tech" for Type-Moon games during an era when these titles had no official Western releases. Images from 1-2026