The Anime Awards, the highest animation-focused honour in the industry, ran over the weekend, with little in the way of surprises. Favourites Arcane and The Wild Robot were very successful at converting nods into wins.
The Wild Robot was the biggest winner of the evening with nine awards in the feature categories. Flow, which will go head to head with Wild Robot at the Oscars, took the Best Independent Feature and writing awards.
Arcane won all seven categories in which it was nominated, but wasn’t nominated for Best TV Series.
In the Best Character Animation – Live Action category, Wētā had four nominations going into the ceremony, for Better Man, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, House of the Dragon Season 2 and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It took the win for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, with Christian Kickenweitz, Aidan Martin, Allison Orr, Radiya Alam, Howard Sly the named nominees.
Elsewhere, Wētā VFX Supervisor on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Erik Winquist, was also a winner over the weekend, an awardee at the Variety Artisan Awards which were presented at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The winners of the Annie Awards were:
BEST FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT: Flow
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION: Orion and the Dark
BEST SHORT SUBJECT: Wander to Wonder
BEST SPONSORED: Fuzzy Feelings
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL: The Tiny Chef Show “Tiny Chef’s Spooky Stump Spectacular”
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN: Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur “The Molecular Level”
BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE: Bob’s Burgers “They Slug Horses, Don’t They?”
BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES: Dream Productions “Night to Remember”
BEST STUDENT FILM: Adiós
BEST FX – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
BEST FX – FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA: Arcane
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME: Neva
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA: Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur “The Molecular Level”
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE: The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE: The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “Killing Is a Cycle”
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE: Despicable Me 4
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA: Dream Productions “Out of Body”
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE: The Wild Robot
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA: Orion and the Dark
BEST WRITING – FEATURE: Flow
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA: Arcane “Pretend Like It’s the First Time”
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE: The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation
