Tokyo Anime Awards 2011 WINNERS

The Tokyo Anime Awards, a competition sponsored by the Tokyo International Anime Fair, has announced their winners last Thursday, February 16. The awards ceremony will take place during the Tokyo International Anime Fair, which runs from March 22 to March 25 at the Tokyo Big Sight event center.


Held for the 11th time this time, the competition has two broad entry categories: “Nomination Entries”, for works chosen from amongst outstanding animated works that have been broadcast, screened, or sold during the previous 12 months; and “Open Entries”, for a broad range of animation work from throughout the world solicited from the general public with the aim of discovering fresh talent and human resources.


Animation of the Year
From Up On Poppy Hill
Studio Ghibli


Television Category
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
SHAFT

Tiger & Bunny
Sunrise


Domestic Feature Film Category
From Up On Poppy Hill
Studio Ghibli


International Feature Film Category
Tangled
Disney


Original Video Anime Category
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
Sunrise



INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Best Director
Akiyuki Shinbo
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica


Best Screenplay
Gen Urobuchi
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica


Best Art Direction
Takumi Tanji
Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below


Best Character Design
Masakazu Katsura
Tiger & Bunny


Best Seiyuu
Hiroaki Hirata
Tiger & Bunny (Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger)


Best Music
Satoshi Takebe
From Up On Poppy Hill



OPEN-ENTRY WINNERS
Grand Prix
Pig Sale
Chen Xifeng (China)


Excellent Works: General Category
DRIPPED
VERRIER Léo (France)

Kore Kurai de Utau
Sugimoto Kousuke (Japan)


Excellent Works: Student Category
Onishime Otabe
Imabayashi Yuka (Japan)

Zarigani
Kabira Mio (Japan)


Special Awards
Happy Anniversary
cheng teng (China)


Tokyo Big Sight Awards
Akari
Iwanaga Taizo (Japan)


Cortoons Italia 2012
Chiruri
Kawasaki Kenji (Japan)


Nyuusen
rain town
Ishida Sukeyasu (Japan)

SpotsSpots
Ebisu Yuenyuen (Japan)

Yasashii Machi
Uekusa Kou (Japan)



THE 8TH AWARD OF MERIT
Producer: Ippe Kuri (born Toyoharu Yoshida)
Scriptwriter: Haruya Yamazaki *the deceased
Director: Osamu Dezaki *the deceased
Character Designer, Animation Director: Akio Sugino
Art Director: Mitsuki Nakamura *the deceased
Director of Photography: Jiro Yoshimura
Sound Creator: Mitsuru Kashiwabara
Composer: Michiaki Watanabe
Seiyuu: Masako Nozawa


NOTES:
1. I dunno why, but the nominees this time became smaller. There are lots of anime series that were released last year yet never been mentioned here. Looks like a "bias" to me.

2. Urobuchi Gen tweeted that he has been perplexed by the announcement of the Tokyo Anime Award 2012, in which he won in Best Screenplay. According to him, the announcement was made without his approval. He said "Tokyo government praised me 'Your script is great!' while threatening the freedom of expression by an unreasonable ordinance." The executive committee of Tokyo International Anime Fair asked Urobuchi to submit a message in 200 characters by February 23rd. He took it as a precious chance to convey his opinion to Tokyo. "Although I'm good at writing a story of tormenting characters, I'm awful at composing a legal statement." So he asked the fans to compose a message to Tokyo instead of him. "Since I've been extremely busy, I cannot say thank you to all the messages. I'll upload the drafts from time to time to let you know the progress."

3. In support with the note above, Urobuchi posted his final draft which will be printed in the awards' commemorative book:

Profile:
Born in 1972. Employed at Nitroplus Co., Ltd. Responsible for the planning and scripting of many pornographic works featuring nonexistent youths such as Phantom of Inferno, Kikokugai, and Saya no Uta, and also supervised the creation of boys-love titles created by the company's sister brand, Nitro+ CHiRAL. Began seriously working in anime after receiving guidance from director Ichiro Itano through the process of working on Blassreiter. Responsible for the series composition and the screenplay of every episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Message:
I feel greatly honored to have received this award. A society which considers cleanliness to be a virtue may feel that the adult game industry is like sludge. However, the scripts for this work came from the sensibility that I nurtured in that industry.

I am renewed with joy that the people who praised me realize that even this "lotus flower," which first found nourishment in sludge, blooms.

I will not stop praying for a society where all creators, who believe steadfastly in the freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution, need not hesitate to spread their wings of creative endeavors.



Source: Tokyo Anime (Japanese), Tokyo Anime (English)