Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai film won the Animation of the Year award at the 42nd annual Japan Academy Prizes on Friday. Dragon Ball Super: Broly, penguin highway, Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer, and Okko’s Inn were also nominated in the category.
The Nippon Academy-Sho Association, a Japanese group roughly comparable to America’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Oscars fame, presents the Japan Academy Prizes every year. The nominees all receive “Awards of Excellence,” but the actual top award in each category was presented in a ceremony on March 1 at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo.
Movies were eligible for awards if they opened in Japan between December 16, 2017, and December 15, 2018.
The Animation of the Year category was only created 12 years ago. Last year, Night is Short, Walk On Girl won the award. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Tekkonkinkreet, Ponyo, Summer Wars, The Secret World of Arrietty, From Up On Poppy Hill, Wolf Children, The Wind Rises, Stand By Me Doraemon, The Boy and The Beast, and In This Corner of the World were the previous winners. Before that, Studio Ghibli won the overall Picture of the Year Award for Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.