The winners were finally announced from the American Anime Awards back in February:
- Best Cast: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Best Manga: Fruits Basket
- Best Male Actor in a Comedy: Dave Wittenberg (Zatch Bell)
- Best Actress in a Comedy: Debi Derriberry (Zatch Bell)
- Best Theme Song: Rewrite (Fullmetal Alchemist)
- Best Anime Feature: Final Fantasy 7 – Advent Children
- Best Package Design: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Best Anime Comedy: FLCL
- Best Actress: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG)
- Best Anime Short Series: FLCL
- Best Anime Long Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Fernandez
You can watch the show on the American Anime Awards website.
The one problem I had with these awards was that many of the nominees/winners were from shows/manga that have been out for a few years. It’s kinda strange to see a show like FLCL (an incredible show) – which came out a few years ago – in the same list as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Were you surprised/happy/unhappy with the winners? Who did you choose?
This is a very strange list. With anime from different years like this, why not throw in Akira or Chibi Maruko-Chan?
I’ll hold all of my opinions on the actual winners, lest I say something negative about FMA and the hounds are released.
@Narcolepsy
Here is a paragraph from the American Anime Awards website about voting information:
“The ballots contain nominations from industry companies and professionals. All nominations will appear on the ballot. To be eligible for an award, anime or manga must be available in the U.S. during 2006, whether by DVD (or book or periodical, in the case of manga), national TV, or theatrical release. Anime and manga are defined, for purposes of this award, as animation or comics, respectively, originally produced in Japan.”
As you can see, the eligibility requirements are rather broad which is why such a wide range of anime was available for nomination.
Actually, Akira made it into three of the categories as a nominee:
Best Anime Feature
Best Actor – Johnny Yong Bosch (Akira, Bleach, Eureka 7)
Best Actor in a Comedy – Johnny Yong Bosch (Akira)
I haven’t figured out that last nomination…I had read a brief explanation about it on another blog, but I forget what was said as it didn’t make much sense to me.
Only two of the nominees I voted for won…fairly typical.
Now that the inaugural awards have been given out, hopefully they will rework the eligibility requirements again…at least have the current winners not eligible for next year.
Well, I would think that an annual awards ceremony would limit nominations to current material. It’s kind of weird.
And how does Akira not win best animated feature? I mean, I love Advent Children, but fan service does not trump originality. Ever.
@Narcolepsy
It took me a while to find since animeblogger.net seems to be having some problems, but below is an excerpt from another blog with regards to the nomination issue:
“In an interview with ANN, Milton Griepp from ICv2 was asked about this. Below are both the question and Griepp’s response:
‘Why are there so many anime series on the ballot that have been available for years? Is the ceremony celebrating the entire history of anime in America or are these awards for series released or broadcast in 2006?
The awards are to celebrate the best anime in America in 2006, as selected by fans. In order to be eligible, the anime had to be available on TV, in theaters, or on DVD during that period. Again, this method was chosen to make the process as open and inclusive as possible; rather than making an arbitrary distinction based on whether an anime was first seen during 2006, the nominators and voters will decide what’s best from everything that was available last year.’”
If you want to read the full post, see:
http://anime.crumplednapkin.net/2007/02/26/american-anime-awards-room-to-improve/
If you want to read the interview:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2007-01-03
As to the winner of Best Animated Feature…well, that was the pick of the fans that voted…it wasn’t my choice either.
Good find!
What was your choice?
@Narcolepsy
The nominees were:
Akira
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Fullmetal Alchemist–The Movie
Inuyasha Movie 4: Fire on Mystic Island
Pokemon Movie 8: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
I voted for Akira.
Strange list. Strange nominees. It’s nice that Akira was nominated, but that was the first anime I saw, way back around 1993. Oh well. I guess they never really recognize the most deserving candidates at any awards show.
@Chris
True enough…remember though:
The nominations were made by the industry (ADV, Geneon, Funimation, etc.) and by a select group of independent “journalists” (Anime Insider, Anime News Network, and Anime on DVD). They had to restrict their nominations to anime “available in the U.S. during 2006, whether by DVD…, national TV, or theatrical release”. The inclusion of DVDs really opened up the potential nominees list…without it, Akira would have been ineligible.
It does not surprise me that the nominees tend to be ones selected more for their financial and popular merits rather than ones lauded for their artistry/creativity. Art is so subjective; it is easier to benchmark finance and popularity.
Narcolepsy – I love your quote: “Fan service does not trump originality. Ever.”
Chris – It’s very strange indeed. To me, it felt like a time warp back to 2002 or 2003 lol!
mochi – Thanks for the info and links to help clarify the nomination rules!
If they do it next year, I would suggest that they keep the rules simple. Since they’re calling it the “American Anime Awards”, the rules should be better-defined. Here’s a few rules I would suggest:
Rules to submit an anime series, anime movie or manga to the 2008 American Anime Awards:
I have a lot more thoughts on the rules, but I’ll probably write a whole article on the thing.
yea i gotta agree with the idea that akira should have won i loved that series definitley deserved to win although still some good ones that won like FMA
hi guys Im looking a anime movie its quite old and I dont remember much of it cuz I watched long time ago I only remember that a robot fucked a human girl and the robot said I dont have circumcision or something like that hahaha and I also remember that the bad guy in the movie its like a green energy ball and its trying to destroy the world!!!
do you know the name of this movie??
I really want to watch it again
if u know please contact me georgie_boy007@hotmail.com
bye bye