Rafu Wire Service and Staff Reports
Nominations for the 51st annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation from the past year, were announced Jan. 11, with two features from Japan — Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” and Makoto Shinkai’s “Suzume” — receiving seven each.
The two anime films were surpassed only by “Nimona” with 10 nominations and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” with eight.
The Disney/Pixar release “Elemental,” which director and co-writer Peter Sohn based on his experiences growing up as a child of Korean immigrants, received six nominations but was snubbed in the best-feature category.
In the television categories, “Blue Eye Samurai” received the most nominations (seven). The adult animated action streaming series was created and written by husband-and-wife team Michael Green and Amber Noizumi. During the Edo period, half-white, half-Japanese warrior Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine) quests for vengeance against four white men, one of whom is her father, who illegally remained in Japan during the closing of its borders by the Tokugawa shogunate.
The awards will be presented by ASIFA-Hollywood on Feb. 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
During the event, ASIFA-Hollywood will present its Winsor McCay Award for lifetime/career contributions to the late animator director Charlotte Reiniger, Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi, and National Film Board animator/producer Marcy Page.
Hisaishi’s credits include Miyazaki’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” “Laputa: Castle in the Sky,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Porco Rosso,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Ponyo,” “The Wind Rises,” “The Boy and the Heron” and Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” as well as live-action films directed by Takeshi Kitano.
“The Boy and the Heron” won a Golden Globe for best animated feature and Hisaishi was nominated for best movie score.
Annie Award nominees include the following:
Best Feature: “The Boy and the Heron” and “Suzume” were nominated along with “Nimona,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Best Short Subject: Nominees include “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” based on the 1971 song “Merry Xmas (War Is Over)” and executive produced by Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono. Also nominated: “Carne de Dios,” “Daffy in Wackyland,” “Humo” and “Pina.”
Best TV/Media-Preschool: Nominees include an episode of “Ghee Happy,” a playful reimagining of the Hindu deities as little kids discovering their powers in a deity daycare. Also nominated: “Batwheels,” “Playdate with Winnie the Pooh,” “StoryBots: Answer Time” and “The Creature Cases.”
Best TV/Media-Mature: “Hammerscale,” the pilot episode of “Blue Eye Samurai,” was nominated along with “Big Mouth,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Scavengers Reign” and “Tomato Kitchen.”
Best TV/Media-Limited Series: An episode of “Pokémon: Path to the Peak” was nominated along with “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire” and “Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection.”
Best FX-TV/Media: “All Evil Dreams and Angry Words,” an episode of “Blue Eye Samurai,” was nominated along with “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” “Star Wars: Visions,” “The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday” and “What If…?”
Best FX-Feature: “Elemental” and “Suzume” were nominated along with “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Peasants.”
Best Character Animation-TV/Media: Episodes of “Blue Eye Samurai” were nominated along with “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake,” “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” “Star Wars: Visions” and “The Amazing Digital Circus.”
Best Character Animation-Feature: “Elemental,” “Suzume” and “The Boy and the Heron” were nominated along with “Nimona” and “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.”
Best Character Design-Feature: “Elemental” was nominated along “Merry Little Batman,” “Nimona,” “Robot Dreams” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Best Direction-TV/Media: An episode of “Pokémon Concierge” was nominated along with “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” “My Dad the Bounty Hunter,” “Scavengers Reign” and “Star Wars: Visions.”
Best Direction-Feature: “The Boy and the Heron” was nominated along “Nimona,” “Robot Dreams,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Best Music-Feature: “Elemental,” “Suzume” and “The Boy and the Heron” were nominated along with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Best Production Design-TV/Media: Two episodes of “Blue Eye Samurai” — “Hammerscale” and “The Great Fire of 1657” — were nominated along with “Scavengers Reign,” “Star Wars: Visions” and “What If…?”
Best Production Design-Feature: “Elemental” and “The Boy and the Heron” were nominated along with “Nimona,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Best Storyboarding-TV/Media: Episodes of “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” and “Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight” were nominated along with “Craig Before the Creek,” “Fright Krewe” and “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.”
Best Storyboarding-Feature: “Suzume” and “The Boy and the Heron” were nominated along with “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “Nimona” and “Robot Dreams.”
Best Voice Acting-Feature: Hokuto Matsumura (“Suzume”) and Jack Black (“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”) were nominated along with David Hornsby (“Merry Little Batman”), Tresi Gazal (“Migration”) and Chloe Grace Moretz (“Nimona”).
Best Writing-TV/Media: The “Blue Eye Samurai” episode “The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride” was nominated along with “Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection,” “Rock Paper Scissors,” “Rosie’s Rules” and “Scavengers Reign.”
Best Writing-Feature: “Suzume” and “The Boy and the Heron” were nominated along with “Nimona,” “Robot Dreams” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Best Editorial-TV/Media: The “Blue Eye Samurai” episode “The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride” was nominated along with “Hilda,” “I Am Groot,” “Star Wars: Visions” and “The Legend of Vox Machina.”
Best Editorial-Feature: “Elemental” was nominated along with “Leo,” “Nimona,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
For a complete list of nominees, go to: https://annieawards.org/nominations