Continuing their back-to-back wins from two Golden Globes and a Grammy, the record breaking movie, KPop Demon Hunters, took home ten awards at the Annie Awards. The award ceremony is hosted by the LA branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood. It works to highlight animation shown and broadcasted in US cinema and TV, and is the largest animation focused awards ceremony in the US.
The film went up against many others in its ten nominated categories, and took home all of them. Netflix’s most watched movie swept the awards, winning in the following categories:
Best FX – Feature, Best Character Animation – Feature, Best Character Design – Feature, Best Direction – Feature, Best Music – Feature, Best Production Design – Feature, Best Voice Acting – Feature, Best Writing – Feature, and Best Editorial – Feature.
Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans took home the Annie for Best Feature, Direction while Arden Cho took one for Best Voice Acting – Feature.
Many Asian TV anime and movie titles such as Studio Chizu’s Scarlet, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Starlight, DAN DA DAN, My Melody & Kuromi, and Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 received nominations, but ultimately left empty handed.
Unfortunately, anime hasn’t been a hot ticket item on the awards ballot lately as none of the nominations won any accolades at the Annie Awards, a pattern continuing from the Golden Globes. However, Michaël Dudok de Wit, the Dutch animator who directed The Red Turtle (a Studio Ghibli co-production), won the Winsor McCay Award, which is considered one of the “highest honors given to an individual” to recognize their contributions to animation. In addition, WACOM took home the Ub Iwerks Award for its technical advancement (pen and tablets), which have greatly contributed to the animation industry.
Source: Live attendance, YouTube Stream
