The Nominees for the Anime of the Year 2016 Award announced

The Anime of the Year, which is split between film and TV anime categories, are considered the most prestigious award in anime, and the winners will be announced in this year’s Tokyo Anime Award Festival. The announcement of winners will be made on March 21, 2016 at the at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi.

The awards-giving body, which is made up of a few select members, have narrowed down the candidates for nominees from a pool which contained 489  titles. These titles are anime that were shown between the period of November 01, 2014 and October 31, 2015, and they have now announced the nominees for this year, and they are comprised of:

THEATRICAL FILMS

• The Anthem of the Heart
• The Boy and the Beast
• Expelled from Paradise
• Love Live! The School Idol Movie

TV ANIME

• Mr. Osomatsu
• Your Lie in April
• Shirobako
• One Punch Man

All eight nominees announced have gained quite a good following, and have been well received by both fans and critics alike. It seems like this year will indeed be a tough one.

Last year, the Anime of the Year Award went to Frozen for the film category, while the Anime of the Year for the TV category went to Ping Pong the Animation.