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Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Film Wins Japan Academy Film Prizes' Animation of the Year

The Japan Academy Film Prize Association for excellence in film revealed on Friday that the Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijō-ban :||) anime film won the Animation of the Year award at the 45th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes. The other nominees were BELLE, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, and Sing a Bit of Harmony.

Mamoru Hosoda's BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime) anime film won the Best Music award. The association honored the film's composers Ludvig Forssell, Taisei Iwasaki, and Yuta Bando.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time also won the Popularity Award.

From live-action films of manga, the association honored Tokyo Revengers' Mio Imada and Honey Lemon Soda's Ai Yoshikawa for Best New Actress, and What Did You Eat Yesterday?'s Hayato Isomura for Best New Actor.

Producer Kyōko Ōbayashi, film art lettering designer Toshiyuki Sasatake, and animator Sadao Tsukioka each received a Special Award from the Association for lifetime achievement.

The following received the Chairperson Award for lifetime achievement:

• Mitsuko Kusabue (actor)
• Natsuko Toda (film subtitler)
• Teruyo Nogami (recording/Kurosawagumi production manager)
• Masako Nozawa (voice actress)
• Hanae Mori (costume design)
• Tsutomu Yamazaki (actor)

The recipients of posthumous Special Awards from the Chairperson for lifetime achievement were:

• Yasuo Ōtsuka (animator)
• Masato Hara (producer)
• Kunie Tanaka (actor)
• Sonny Chiba (actor)
• Shin'ichirou Sawai (director, scriptwriter)
• Tan Takaiwa (Toei and Toei Animation president and producer)
• Emi Wada (costume design)

Kyoto Animation and Toei Animation received the Shigeru Okada Award for "producing high-quality films that combine entertainment and art with unique creativity and advanced technology."

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 Film Prizes every year. The nominees all received "Awards of Excellence," but the actual top award in each category was presented in a ceremony on Friday at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo.

Movies are eligible if they opened in Japan between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021.

The Animation of the Year category was only created 15 years ago. Last year, Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train 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, In This Corner of the World, Night is Short, Walk On Girl, Mirai, and Weathering With You were the previous winners. Before that, Studio Ghibli won the overall Picture of the Year Award for Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Source: Japan Academy Film Prize Association's website and Twitter account