Crunchyroll expands its reach to the anime community down under as the well-known exhibition will be hosted in Australia for the first time.
Anime fans in Australia, nearby neighbours and global anime fans can expect a new contender for one of the biggest annual anime events! Crunchyroll announced this week that Crunchyroll Expo will be headed to Melbourne, Australia this year—the first time this event will be held outside the United States.
The Chief Marketing Officer at Crunchyroll shared their sentiments on the new location for the latest Expo, “We are thrilled to add another Crunchyroll Expo to our events lineup and celebrate with our fans in Melbourne… The appetite for anime in Australia is exploding, and we are excited to create a space where current and future fans can connect, all with the Down Under flavour our passionate local team is thoughtfully designing specifically for fans in that region.”
While it may seem strange to think of Australia as being a major hub of the anime community, it has been a very dominant force for anime as it previously held Madman Anime Festival or MadFest in the past. Madman Entertainment was a distribution and rights company that primarily brought anime content into Australia, which recently became acquired as part of Sony Funimation Group’s merger with Crunchyroll.
MadFest was known to bring an attendance of 4,500+. It was also responsible for bringing the premiere screenings in Australia of great anime films like One Piece: Gold and My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. The event has hosted famous voice actors over the past few years with the likes of Christopher Sabat, Cristina Vee and David Matranga. The event has been cancelled for the past two years and what better way to return than under the Crunchyroll banner.
Crunchyroll Expo is typically held in San Jose, California in August but has not been able to hold physical attendance for the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the iconic event will be returning to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center August 5-7, 2022. With the addition of an overseas event to round off the year, hopefully other countries will be able to host the Expo as well.
Even though a full schedule list and guest list is still building, the venue has been confirmed to be at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for two days, September 17-18. Fans are expected to see special screenings, special guest panels, cosplay competitions (always the best!) and so much more. The event page is bare-bones for now, but it is recommended to check out their social channels and their landing page to signup for the latest updates.
