Summary
- No anime titles won at the 52nd Annual Annie Awards.
- The Wild Robot and Arcane were the big winners this year.
- Lack of anime awards highlights Western animation quality.
On Saturday, the winners of the 52nd Annual Annie Awards were announced. The awards are part of the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, and are used to honor excellence in animation that features on TV and in theaters in America each year. The entrants do not need to be American in origin, but they do have to be broadcast in America. This year, despite having nominations in a few categories, no anime titles took home any awards.
The two titles that won the most Annie Awards this year were The Wild Robot and Arcane, both of which won several awards each. Historically, though, at least one anime has taken home an Annie Award most years. No awards for anime for 2024 is a hard hit for the anime industry in America, even though it has been growing and increasing in popularity each year – though it also shows a high quality of Western animation that anime had to compete against.
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What Anime were Nominated at the Annie Awards?
And What Did They Lose To?
The anime (or anime-like shows) that were nominated for Annie Awards at the 52nd Annual Awards show were Ultraman: Rising, Look Back, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Transformers One, and Secret Level. Sadly, though, despite multiple nominations for a few of these titles, none of them were able to take home the award. Many were lost to The Wild Robot, which took nine awards in total (in every category it was nominated). Netflix’s hit series Arcane based on League of Legends won seven awards, which also everything it was nominated for.
Ultraman: Rising was nominated for Best Feature, Best FX – Feature, and Best Production Design – Feature. It lost all three categories to The Wild Robot, which won all of them. Look Back was nominated for Best Feature – Independent, but lost to FLOW. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was nominated for Best Character Animation – Live Action, but lost to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Transformers One was nominated for Best Voice Acting – Feature, but also lost to The Wild Robot. Finally, three episodes of Secret Level were nominated for Best FX – TV/Media (“Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear,” “Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen’s Cradle,” and “Crossfire: Good Conflict”). However, they lost to Arcane.
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Anime Excellence in Past Years
A Look Back at the Annie Awards
This is not the first year that no anime has won anything at the Annie Awards. No anime titles took home anything in 2020, 2021, or 2022 either. However, in 2019, Mamoru Hosoda’s movie Mirai won the award for Best Animated Feature – Independent. Significantly, Hayao Miyazaki’s movie The Boy and the Heron won Best Storyboarding in 2023. Additionally, The Boy and the Heron‘s animation director, Takeshi Honda, won the award for Best Character Animation. Joe Hisaishi, Studio Ghibli’s composer, also won the Winsor McCay Award in recognition of all that he has contributed to the world of animated film.
For anime fans, it is disappointing to see no anime title take home an award despite an impressive number of nominations. However, it goes to show the level of excellence that Western animations like Arcane and The Wild Robot brought to the entertainment industry this year. With no blockbuster anime movies coming out in 2024, anime was put at a handicap for the awards circuit. There are still more award ceremonies to go, but the likelihood of any title not winning an Annie Award but going on to win something bigger is slim.
Source: AnimeNewsNetwork