Anime: Five Award Winning Animes
Sometimes anime earns fan and critical acclaim alike. If you’re looking for something great to watch, check out these award-winning animes.
This week, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time checked off one more achievement. It was awarded The Japan Academy Film Prize Association for excellence in film. It’s one of the more popular anime films of last year and selling an absurd number of tickets. So it’s not surprising that the Evangelion film would be recognized this way.
But it’s far from the first anime to bring home awards. These five award-winning animes may just be required watching for the genre.
Spirited Away (2001)
Courtesy of Studio Ghibli
We all know that Spirited Away won the 2003 Oscar for Best Animated Feature. But you may not know that it was nominated for a 18 other awards? And most of those are wins. Spirited Away was so critically acclaimed and massively popular that even staunch not-fans of anime seemed to love it. Which makes sense; it’s a great movie. You’ve probably seen this one already. But if you haven’t I’m officially give you (delightful) homework for the weekend.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Courtesy of Studio Ghibli
This anime will draw you in and destroy you emotionally for days. Following two siblings in the final months of World War II, this one is one of the most difficult animes you may ever watch. But it’s also one of the most important films, too.
In 1989 the movie won the Blue Ribbon Award in the “Special” category in Japan. And six years later, it won the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival’s “Rights of the Child Award”, and “Animation Jury Award” in 1994.
Children of the Sea (2019)
Courtesy of Studio 4°C
If you’re looking for a movie with layers of symbolism, Children of the Sea will have plenty for you to sink into. Ruka’s spending her entire summer vacation hiding in the aquarium where her father works. There, she meets two boys who claim to be raised by dugongs. It gets weirder from there.
This film won the 2020 Mainichi Film Awards “Best Animation Film” category. It also took home the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards Animation Grand Prize, and the Buncheon International Animation Film Festival’s International Competition Grand Price. And it received an honorable mention for music. Children of the Sea may be the best thing to come out of 2019.
Lu Over the Wall (2017)
Courtesy of Science Saru
We’re moving from mermaid-adjacent to actually-mermaids with Lu Over The Wall. An uplifting and gorgeously animated movie, it’s a little reminiscent of a classic Ghibli film. The film won awards from the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival as well as 2018’s Mainichi Film Awards and Japan Media Arts Festival. Plus, it snagged a 2017 nomination for the Shanghai International Film Festival, Lu Over the Wall is nearly universally beloved. And it’s on Netflix! Which makes it one of the easiest animes on this list to watch.
Your Name (2016)
Courtesy of CoMix Wave Films
2016’s Your Name seemed to be released quietly, and then everyone was talking about it. Which makes sense, it’s great. Two teenagers, one from Tokyo and one from the countryside, start inexplicably switching bodies. It’s a movie that’s romance and fantasy while feeling very grounded and having emotional weight. Between the animation, music, and writing, there was a lot to praise here. And praise it received with 22 awards or nominations between 2016 and 2018. There is even an American live-action adaptation in the works right now.
Have you seen all of the animes on our list? What’s your favorite award winning anime? Is there an anime that you think deserves for acclaim and recognition than it gets? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
