Date: May 22–24, 2026, attendance: 42,000 (16,000 unique visitors).
The twenty-first year of Animefest took place at the Brno Exhibition Centre, once again filling halls A1, A2, E, B, and the outdoor areas with its program. Last year’s newcomers, Fashion Alley and the Manga Stage, continued with an expanded program and a larger number of specialized vendor stalls, while the Cosplay Stage was newly expanded to include a lecture space and a children’s cosplay show. Popular sections such as the Dance Stage, Board Games Room, and the Japan Stage did not lag behind either, offering a rich lecture and interactive program throughout the entire weekend. The Artist Alley also expanded to a record-breaking 99 independent artists, and 77 stalls with Asian specialties and other refreshments for hungry visitors.
Since last year, Hall B has become an established location for contests and concerts. This year, it hosted the Japanese punk rock band ASH DA HERO, who chose Animefest as the venue for their very first European concert. The South Korean rock band Rolling Quartz also got the crowd dancing in the evening, followed by the popular Asianstyle Afterparty at the Fléda club.
A premiere for Animefest was the performance by VTuber and streamer Ironmouse, along with the opportunity to meet her during a Meet & Greet panel for selected lottery winners.
Animefest has a long lasting movie tradition, this year visitors enjoyed the premieres of the films Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, The Life of Budori Gusko, The Travelling Cat Chronicles, and Make a Girl, as well as the classic film Look Back, whose original manga version is being published in Czech this year.
A prominent guest of Fashion Alley was the Spanish fashion brand Violet Fane. Cosplay guests included Sabaku (Austria), Dude (Switzerland), and Naru (Germany). The jury also featured the winners of the Extreme Cosplay Gathering 2024, Kate and Tery cosplay (Czech Republic). The dance competition judges were Jay Kim (South Korea), Oleg Oleg (Slovakia), and Denise (Czech Republic).
For the third year, Animefest was part of the qualifiers for the international World Cosplay Championship (held during the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan), where the Czech Republic will be represented by Teya and Sushi. It once again hosted the qualifiers for the prestigious Extreme Cosplay Gathering (held during Japan Expo in Paris), where Joan Joan and Gill will represent the Czech Republic. Last but not least, it hosted the qualifiers for the European cosplay competition Tournament of Champions (held during the Yunicon festival in Vienna), where the Czech Republic will be represented by Arisu.
A new addition is the qualifier from the K-Pop Dance Off competition, from which we will send representatives to the NärCon Kpop Championship dance competition for the first time, Czechia will be represented by the dance group DejaVu.
Animefest 2026 was held under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in the Czech Republic, the Governor of the South Moravian Region Mgr. Jan Grolich, the Deputy Governor of the South Moravian Region Mgr. František Lukl, MPA, and the Mayor of the Statutory City of Brno JUDr. Markéta Vaňková. The festival took place with the financial support of the City of Brno and the South Moravian Region. The main partners were Comfor, smsticket, and Brno Exhibition Centre (Výstaviště Brno), and the partner of the Cosplay Competition was Guarana Energy. We also want to thank a number of other sponsors who helped us bring the event to life!
Results:
FestDance
Cosplay contest by Guarana
Cosplay debut
AMV contest
K-Pop Dance Off
