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The Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) unveiled its 2025 Animation of the Year winners on Jan 31, 2025, with Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End taking the top prize in the television category and Look Back winning in the animated film category.
The TAAF jury selected winners from anime that premiered between Oct 1, 2023, and Sep 30, 2024.
The festival also recognized outstanding individuals across various creative roles and announced the recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe won the Anime Fan Award with 21,316 votes, reflecting its enduring popularity among viewers.
Individual Category Winners:
- Original Work/Screenplay: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion)
- Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Look Back, Flip Flappers)
- Animator: Toko Yatabe (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, The Dragon Dentist)
- Background/Coloring/Visual: Mai Ichioka (Digimon Ghost Game, The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe)
- Sound/Performance: Evan Call (Violet Evergarden, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)
Lifetime Achievement Awards:
- Producers: Masami Iwasaki (Moomin, Mobile Suit Gundam – The Movie Trilogy) and Takayuki Yoshii (Dirty Pair, Crusher Joe: The Movie)
- Animators: Kazuhide Tomonaga (Lupin III: Part II, The Cat Returns)
- Color Designers: Sachiko Nonaka (Ghost in the Shell, Doraemon films)
- Editors: Shuichi Kakesu (Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie)
- Music Directors: Seiji Suzuki (Soreike! Anpanman, Lupin III: Part II)
- Voice Actors: Kenyu Horiuchi (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Onihei)
The 2025 festival will take place in Tokyo from March 7-10, 2025.
Source: Official Website, ANN
