Frozen is the Anime of the Year?! Yes it is! Tiger and Bunny, Ping Pong the Animation also win

Frozen is the Anime of the Year?! Yes it is! Tiger and Bunny, Ping Pong the Animation also win

The Tokyo Anime Award Festival‘s Anime of the Year award is one of the most important and coveted awards in the entire Japanese anime industry, and for this year, the award is given to three titles which the award-giving body, as well as the fans, think is the most deserving. And of these three, one would strike as a big surprise to many non-Japanese.

The Anime of the Year award is actually divided into three categories, with a select panel of judges from the industry choosing for two of these categories and the fans voting for one of them. Here are the winners:

Anime of the Year for Movies: Frozen

Frozen is the Anime of the Year?! Yes it is! Tiger and Bunny, Ping Pong the Animation also win

Anime of the Year for Television: Ping Pong the Animation

Frozen is the Anime of the Year?! Yes it is! Tiger and Bunny, Ping Pong the Animation also win

Anime of the Year Fan Award: Tiger & Bunny -The Rising-

Frozen is the Anime of the Year?! Yes it is! Tiger and Bunny, Ping Pong the Animation also win

The nominees were chosen from anime which were shown in either Japanese cinemas or Japanese television from the period of November 1, 2013 until October 31, 2014. Disney’s Frozen triumphed over The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Gundam UC Episode 7: Over the Rainbow, and Stand By Me Doraemon while Ping Pong the Animation won against Knights of Sidonia, Love Live!, and Youkai Watch.

Frozen’s win ain’t exactly very surprising to local Japanese as the movie has become Japan’s most popular animated film as of last year. And as many would count Frozen as a cartoon, it is actually considered as an anime in Japan, along with other animated series like Spongebob Squarepants simply because in Japan, just about anything animated can be called an anime.

Last year, Ghibli’s The Wind Rises won the Anime of the Year for the movie category while Attack on Titan won the TV category. Little Battlers Experience meanwhile managed to pull a huge upset over Love Live! to win the fan award

The other winners were also announced during the awards ceremony held at the TOHO Cinemas in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Here they are:

Best Director- Isao Takahata

Best Script – Jukki Hanada

Best Animators- Kumiko Takahashi, Osamu Tanabe and Nobutake Itou

Best Character / Mecha Design – Takahiro Kishida

Best Art Director – Kazuo Oda

Best Seiyuus – Daisuke Ono and Kouki Uchiyama

Best Music – Hiroyuki Sawano

 

 

 

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