It’s hard being an anime fan in Australia. Our social media feeds light up with the incredible conventions in the Phillipines or America, and meanwhile we’re left sadly erasing “CRX2024” from our calendars, wondering what to do with the back half of our year. Thankfully, Animaga has stepped up to the plate to deliver an excellent anime and gaming themed expo in Melbourne, and after a superb expansion in 2023, the convention doubled-down by taking out twice the hall space for this year.
The core of what makes Animaga tick was still present this year, with a cosplay parade, maid cafe, Q&A panel, trivia stage, and local idol performances. But it was the additions to this new-and-improved Animaga that really made it feel closer to a full-blown convention. The Artists Alley felt more like an Artist Market, with so many creators selling amazing, high-quality artwork, pins, charms, and more. Some of Australia’s favorite toy shops—including Anime Kaika, Animeworks—returned with their own areas, now decked out with more displays and merchandise. The oldest and longest-running comics and manga retailer in Australia, Alternate Worlds, even had a miniature store setup to buy manga and light novels.
The gaming area was expanded, providing a great chance to play card games like Grand Archive, try your hand at building Gunpla kits, or get your groove on with some dance pads. Other anime-adjacent stores were also present this year, such as the streetwear brand Soy Toy Club, while the waifu-wrapping car brand Living Lewd showed off some beautiful wheels we definitely can’t afford.
If anything, Animaga 2024 seemed a little confined by its venue choice. The Melbourne Convention and Entertainment Centre doesn’t do “catering” very well—few ‘expo’ centers in Australia do—and with only two or three food trucks provided by Animaga, the bare-bones catering facilities of MCEC was extremely evident. There were also limited places to sit or rest, so people with mobility issues may struggle to see all the sights comfortably—an unfortunate oversight from both the host and the center.
Animaga proved a great opportunity for businesses and brands to collaborate around the same time, with the Melbourne fashion brand Senpais hosting an after-party event at Fortress, Melbourne’s largest gaming center, which featured themed drinks, temporary tattoos, and a DJ who quickly determined the median audience age and played pop-punk hits from the mid-2010s. Dear Maria, Count Me In really does sound like an anime song, right?
While we can’t blame Animaga for panel availability—given that, Crunchyroll continues to hoard all of its exclusive presentations and actors—we did find the panels to be hit-and-miss. Compared to the 2022 Crunchyroll Expo which had Jujutsu Kaisen‘s English VAs and a Hololive exhibit featuring Mori Calliope, other conventions can feel slightly underwhelming.
In summary, Animaga 2024 hosted a sold-out weekend with a large number of staff present, well-managed lines, an excellent selection of artists, and some pretty engaging panels and events. We’d love to see them negotiate even bigger names going forward, but that’s a realm of politics unto its own; for now, we can happily endorse the convention and look forward to covering Animaga in 2025!
Anime Corner was given an Animaga 2024 Press Pass.
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