SMASH! (Sydney Manga and Anime Show) 2012

It's one week too late but, I went to the SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show 2012 at Austalia last last week!

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I was granted media pass to attend the event and the experience was amazing ! Not only did I managed to interview all the 3 guests, I also had a blast at the event! Thank you to everyone of you who posed for my camera and said hi!

SMASH! 2012 Schedule

This is the schedule of the event, and as you can see, it's choked full of things to do! It's so full it's even kinda sad because you know you can't be everywhere.  But better more than less right ?

* More photos under the cut*

 

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The free Gundam building workshop

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The Maid Cafe which I didn't enter …

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One of the rooms screening Anime. I think there were at least 2 rooms screening different titles concurrently.

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The queue for a fan sign with the 3 Japanese guests! Okay, it’s not really the queue but the signage xD

I’m in love with how SMASH! caters to so many different types of event attendees, something our local events needs to buck up on.

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Unfortunately, I only managed to catch Shinichirou Miki's Panel and missed Sakura Tange and YukoMiyamura's but it was so much fun and love! Getting to see him voice the hugely popular characters he did live was amazing! Even though I'm not exactly a fan of his (didn't quite follow the series he voiced). It was still an unbelievable dream to be able to hear a japanese seiyuu do a live dub ! Almost felt like I was in Japan!

A separate blog entry of my interview session with Shinichirou Miki will come after I get them approved Open-mouthed smile Wish me luck!

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I also went to check out the Vender's hall and boy is it huge! I think I didn’t even managed to finish walking through it! It occupied an entire Hall level by itself! 

SMASH! 2012 Floorplan

A whooping total of 75 stalls!

IMG_3591There was so much buzz and buying ! Was an awesome feeling to just stroll around and people look. An event video will come soon ^^

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Unfortunately, I missed the Cosplay Chess but I did camp at the Main Stage for the entire Madman Cosplay Competition. Below are some shots of the Competition participants!


I was too busy shooting cosplayers outside and missed the Award Ceremony entirely.

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But according to various sources, Team Sexy Beast who were cosplaying Yukimura & Masamune from Sengoku BASARA! won the “Best Team” award.

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The cosplayer who did Fujimoto from Ponyo won the best skit. The skit was so funny! The cosplayer danced to Sebastian (The Little Mermaid) ‘s song while a motor operated shark balloon floated around in the air xD

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The shark even lost control and floated into the audience area, causing quite a stir xD Anyway, Congratulations to all the winners for outshining the other contestants!

Like most of the shops in Australia, SMASH! officially ends at 5pm and everyone was shooed out of the Vendor’s Hall xD.

Overally, I really love how organised the entire event was and as a foreign Media representatives, I could feel and see the clear professionalism in each organising member. I am especially impressed because I understand SMASH! is a non-profit fan based event and everyone working for it is doing it out of love for Anime and Manga. There’s just something so endearing about a group of dedicated people coming together to bring fun and anticipation to a huge group of people they don’t know, for nothing except passion.

P/s: If I got any names wrong, please comment and let me know =)

Comments

Momoyamo said…
OOOH! It's huge and all! Really awesome! (Your photo's as well!). Thanks for always sharing events like these, especially for someone who lives on the other side of the world xD
Julia Laurant said…
This is usually a case of conventions out here in Europe as well :) And some of these conventions even have 24hr ongoing events with massive game rooms, cosplay stages, convention sleephalls. And you arent talking about a measly number of peoples when its more than 21,000 people turning up to one of these conventions for a whole weekend! xD
katz, kathy said…
OMG fujimoto!! i would love to see a video of him, he's one of my favs in Ponyo kyaaatz! <3

and i agree w/ momo, the place looks HUGE indeed! and they catered two floors eh? must've been tiring, going up & down the floors. was it harder than having two big halls in one floor (like in SMX when u went here last Cosmania)?

AWESOMESAUCE! X3
Momo: thanks for leaving a comment ^^! glad u enjoyed!

Julia Laurant: Haha, I think the western conventions are a lot more fun. They are not so big on selling things but are more focused on introducing activities for it's attendees to take part in.

Katz: I hope I will eventually upload her performance video ^^. A bigger space definitely means more walking around but it's ok because there's so much to see in each level.

I think I prefer it to be on 2 separate level. It gives more walking space ;D
Ziwen said…
we locals still have alot to learn from them. this, I agreed upon. =)

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