About Melbourne Anime Festival

Melbourne Anime Festival - "Manifest" for short - consists of a full three day festival focusing on arts of anime and manga, as well as Japanese Culture. It is run annually at the Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne, Australia. This year (2011), it will be run on the weekend of Friday 26th to Sunday 28th of August.

Manifest is run by the not-for-profit group, Melbourne Anime Festival Incorporated (MAFI) which is put together entirely by volunteers.

Manifest had its humble beginnings as a screenings festival back in 1998. This was managed by several university clubs coming together at the University of Melbourne. It has been known as Manifest since 2000 and has been steadily growing, increasing the activities, competitions and events present at this weekend each year.

In 2009 MAFI decided that the University of Melbourne could no longer contain the sizeable increase in attendance. and the step was taken to move it to the Melbourne Showgrounds. Since then it has grown to be the largest Anime focused convention in Australia.

Today, the committees that run Melbourne Anime Festival meet several times a month to bring you the best convention they can. To step up and help this wonderful convention by volunteering your time and efforts, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We welcome all who take up the call to make Manifest 2011: The Next Level, be bigger and better than ever before!