The 25th Japan Movie Critics Awards announced the list of winners at a ceremony on Wednesday and Thursday. The winners recognized the films of the calendar year 2015. Studio Chizu and Mamoru hosoda‘s The boy and the beast (Bakemono no Ko) won the award for best animation of the year, and Yôkai watch: TanjÅ no Himitsu da Nyan! won the award for the best family entertainment of the year.
Besides, Masakazu Hashimoto won the award for best animation director for directing Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Ora no Hikkoshi Monogatari ~ Saboten Daishūgeki. Animator Kazuhide Tomonaga, producer Kenji uchida, and composer Michiaki Watanabe won the Animation Lifetime Achievement Award.
Manga creator Go Nagai (Evil man, Mazinger Z) won the Diamond Grand Prize. The award is given to people who have gone to great lengths to support and gain fame for Japanese films internationally.
The two Mai Fuchigami and Inori Minase won the award for best recruit Doubler award, highlighting Fuchigami’s work in the Girls and Panzer film as the protagonist Miho Nishizumi, and Minase’s work in Hymn of the heart (Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterun Da.) as protagonist Jun Naruse. Etsuko Kozakura and Ryusei nakao won the best Doubler award, highlighting Kozakura’s work in Yôkai watch: TanjÅ no Himitsu da Nyan! like Jibanyan, and Nakao’s work in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ like Frieza.
The Girls and Panzer The animated film won the “Sanctuary” award for revitalizing a particular region of Japan. The film and the original TV anime take place in a fictional version of ÅŒarai, Ibaraki, and feature many of the city’s distinct landmarks and traditions.
Previous winners for Best Animation of the Year include: Expelled from paradise, The tale of Princess Kaguya, Wolf Children, and the Detective Conan series. Previous winners of the Best Animation Directors awards include Hiromasa yonebayashi, Isao Takahata and Hideaki Anno. Previous winners of the Animation Lifetime Achievement Award are: Michihiko Umezawa, producer Shuji abe, editor Toshihiko Kojima, sound engineer Katsumi ItÅ, Pierrot Workshop founder Yuji Nunokawa, color design artist Michiyo Yasuda, editor Masashi furukawa, and Animation Toei.
Japan began hosting the awards in 1992 after seeing many other countries hosting similar awards. Prior to 2010, prices did not include categories specific to animation. Frequent Studio Ghibli composer Joe hisaishi won the Best Film Music Artist Award in 2009.
Source: Animate the times (Haruka Ishibashi)
