SMASH will be joined by a range of guests from the animation, gaming and music industries. All guests will participate in a range of panels and activities to discuss their works. Please see each of the guests profiles for more information.
Since 2008, SMASH! has been committed to bringing the best possible talent from across the world to discuss the anime industry, meet with fans and share their experiences. In the past we’ve been honoured to have been joined by guests such as Hidenobu Kiuchi, Yuko Miyamura and Tiffany Grant. In 2011, we have again sought a range of fascinating personalities to join us in celebrating our fifth year.
A talented anime director and voice actor, fans recognise Watanabe for his typically eccentric style of anime (as well as his mad ‘fro). Most widely known for Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy, his crazy characters and settings have risen to international recognition
Skyrocketing to Internet fame and becoming a YouTube sensation with Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series, which became arguably just as entertaining as the original series, we have LittleKuriboh. Yep, he’s the talent who created, directed, edited and did the voice acting in the entirety of the parody series
You might remember Kenji Ito’s melodies when you first started playing games such as Final Fantasy Gaiden, Romancing Saga and Chocobo Racing. Ito, who currently works as a freelance composer, still teams up with Square Enix and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu to add to his arsenal of great gaming titles
Like Ito, Hiroki Kikuta is also famous for his major contribution to many well-known games such as Secrets of Mana, Soukaigi and Seiken Densetsu 3. Working with Square Enix, he is now an internationally-recognised and professional writer, game developer and game music composer.
Eminence is considered one of the finest global musical collectives, playing pieces ranging from film, animation and video games. Founded in 2003, Eminence has always been dedicated to showcasing new, dynamic and refined classical music. This year, Eminence is once again showcasing its wide, vibrant and unique talent closer to home in Sydney as part of a concert with SMASH!.
They will be joined by up-and-coming Tokyo singer Mari Yoshida, who is lending her unique vocal talents to Eminence’s Memories of Fantasia concert.