The Sydney Manga and Anime Show 2016 (SMASH 2016) will be held at Rosehill Gardens in Rosehill, Western Sydney. SMASH will be hosting special guests Hideo Ishikawa (Naruto, Final Fantasy) and Ai Nonaka (Clannad, Madoka Magica), cosplayers Takahiro "Goldy" Sakai and Yuegene Fay and Artists Ia, Hachioji-P and Dj Catalystic. SMASH will also be hosting the Australian Gunpla Builders World Cup 2016, the World Cosplay Summit Australian Preliminary, Japan Foundation's J-Film Hub with props from the live-action Bakuman. and much more!

Details

• Where: Rosehill Gardens, James Ruse Dr, Rosehill NSW 2142.
• When: Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21th of August 2016. Saturday from 9am to 6pm, Saturday anniversary event from 7pm to 10:30pm. Sunday from 9am to 5pm.
• Cost: Pre-purchased tickets are no-longer available. On the door tickets are $55 for the weekend, $40 for Saturday and $35 for Sunday.
• Website: http://www.smash.org.au.

Guests

Guests will be holding events, panels and signings over the weekend. You can view the signing times for all guests here.

© Aoni Production

Hideo Ishikawa

Since his debut as a voice actor in early 1990 Hideo Ishikawa has voiced the characters of some of the most beloved characters in anime and gaming. Providing the voices to characters such as: Auron from Final Fantasy X, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto, Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII, Jūshirō Ukitake from Bleach, and Pierre Chaltlier in Tales of Destiny. Besides these roles Hideo Ishikawa has given voice to an extensive range of characters beyond anime and gaming - providing dubbing to American content translated for Japan.

Hideo will be holding Q&A on Saturday and Sunday at 11:00am on the Main Stage.

© Aoni Production

Ai Nonaka

Ai Nonaka or Ai‐pon enthusiastically debuted in early 2000 as both a voice actor and a singer. Ai‐pon with Aoni Production has since voiced characters for popular anime and games, such as: Ibuki Fuko from Clannad, Kyouko Sakura from Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica, Kafuka Fuura from Sayonara Zenbotsu Sensei, Mansherry from One Piece and Aria from Final Fantasy Type‐0. Other roles include Tirami (Amagi Brilliant Park), Ichijou (Paniponi Dash), Kafuka in (Gofu Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei) and Imae Megumi (WATAMOTE).

In addition to her voice acting work Nonaka has released four complete albums and popular single releases such as Yume no Drive (2005), Love Messenger (2006), and Datte Anata Wa Anata Da Kara (2009).

Ai Nonaka will be hosting Q&A on Saturday at 12:00pm and Sunday at 12:30pm on the Main Stage.

© Goldy

Takahiro 'Goldy' Sakai

‘Goldy’ as he's affectionately known, is renowned in the cosplay community for his elaborate armor constructions, depicting mecha characters from a number of different manga, anime and games. Notable constructions of his, be they large or small, include Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, Gurren Lagann from Tengen Topppa Gurren Lagann, and the Strike Freedom Fighter from Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny.

A master of his craft ‘Goldy’ regularly runs construction seminars in Akihabara, Tokyo. Where those attending can learn about the construction process and armor forming, and receive advice on their own constructions.

Goldy will be hosting "International Exchange through sub-cultures" on Saturday at 1:00pm in The Classroom and sharing his Armour manufacturing skills on Sunday at 1:00pm in the workshop.

© Yuegene Fay

Yuegene Fay

After making her debut back in the early 2000s, Yuegene Fay is now an internationally renowned cross­player, having portrayed an extensive range of characters across manga, anime, gaming, and music. These cosplays include Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan, Kamui Gakupo from Vocaloid, and Rin Matsuoka from Free.

Beyond cosplaying herself, Yuegene Fay has acted as ambassador for Thailand at the World Cosplay Summit in 2007 and 2008, and has participated as a judge in a number of countries. Combined with this Yuegene has made guest appearances across the world, in countries such as Singapore, China, Mexico, Hawaii and Thailand.

Yuegene will be hosting a Q & A panel both days, 2:30pm on Saturday and 2:00pm on Sunday on the Main Stage. This is alongside a wig tutorial on Saturday at 10:30am and a makeup tutorial on Sunday at 10:30am on the Mini stage.

Events

SMASH 10th Anniversary Event

To celebrate 10 years of running SMASH, the 10th Anniversary Event will be a night of fun and music with Vocaloid DJ Hachioji-P performing alongside local DJ Catalystic. On Saturday the 20th the Anniversary Event will be held from 7:00pm to 10:30pm and also contain cosplay, gaming and performances.

Crowned as the ‘Prince of Vocaloid’, Hachioji-P is an internationally recognised Vocaloid artist. With a view count of over 8 million, his most famous works include ‘Sweet Devil’ and ‘Electric Love’ which were collaborations done with MMD (Miku Miku Dance) and producer Wakamura P.

DJ Catalystic is one of Western Australia's local DJs who has played a major role in shaping the Japanese music scene within Australia. In 2011, DJ Catalystic pioneered the NekoNation events in Perth (WA) before taking his music to other Australian capital cities.

Tickets will be available on the day for $25 at the anniversary booth from 12pm, for more information please visit here.

© 1st Place Co., Ltd
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IA

A virtual popstar created as part of the vocal synthesis program ‘VOCALOID™3’, IA is the world's latest muse that has taken the world by storm. For many fans and creators of the industry, IA has been praised as a reliable voice-bank library in which users can create unique songs and videos. Since IA's debut in 2011, she has has collectively garnered more than 100 million views in Japan and abroad, and her popularity will no doubt rise even further when she makes her Australian debut.

The IA concert will be screened on Sunday at 1:30pm on the main stage.

Australian Gunpla Builders World Cup 2016

Bandai's Gunpla Builders World Cup is a international Gundam modelling competition created to give Gunpla enthusiasts around the world a way of sharing their love and skills for Gunpla on a global scale. Since 2004 GBWC has held heats in Japan, China, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Italy, USA, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Malaysia with the finalists converging on Japan.

The 2016 GBWC Australia qualifiers will help decide which Australian Gunpla Modellers should represent Australia at the GBWC Finals in Japan, the representatives will be chosen from Category B in both Open Class and Junior Open Class.

The entries will be on display in the Hobbyco Gundam District and the awards ceremony will be at 4:00pm on Sunday in the same area.

In addition, HobbyCo will be running both beginners and advanced Gunpla classes for anyone to attend. Hobbyco will be offering convention exclusive Gunpla including the 1/144 HGBF Bearguy III Ver. Double Happiness, SDBF Star Winning Gundam PP Clear Version, HG Gundam Barbatos G-Expo Color Clear Ver. and the express release of the 1/144 RG MSN-05S Sinanju. All kits will be avabile from the Zombster Gunpla Proshop during SMASH and you can view the entire list here.

And finally, legendary Gunpla modeller Katsumi Kawaguchi will be returning to SMASH to see what Australia has cooked up this year for the Gunpla Builders World Cup. Kawaguichi will also be running demonstrations on Sunday. You will be able to find him in the Hobbyco Gundam District.

Itasha Car Exhibition

SMASH will again be running the Itasha Car Exhibition, basically cars that are decorated with paint schemes or stickers of anime, manga or video game characters. The owners of the cars will be around to answer questions and show off their work.

World Cosplay Summit Australian Preliminary

SMASH! 2016 will be hosting the Australian preliminaries for the 2016 World Cosplay Summit, the cosplay competition that brings together contestants from around the world together with their love of cosplay. The winning team will recieve a trip to Japan to compete at the World Cosplay Summit finals in Nagoya.

The Australian premliminaries will be held on sunday at 2:30pm on the main stage.

Highlights

SMASH! simply has too much to highlight over the weekend, we've done our best to run through the major events but you can view all the events here or better yet peruse the schedule here.

Final Details

And finally you can visit SMASH's website or facebook page or twitter for further information.