The title character from the animated film “Scarlet.”
Rafu Wire Service Reports
The Japanese anime film “Scarlet” was nominated in three categories at the annual Annie Awards on Jan. 5.
At the 53rd Annie Awards, sponsored by ASIFA-Hollywood, Mamoru Hosoda’s film centering on a medieval princess earned nominations for best independent feature, best feature direction and best feature writing. It was screened as an official selection at the Venice International Film Festival in 2025.
The Annie winners will be announced at the award ceremony on Feb. 21 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
“Mirai,” a previous work by Hosoda, known for blending reality with fantasy, won best animated independent feature in 2019.
His latest film follows a princess named Scarlet. After her father, the king, is killed and her quest for revenge fails, she awakens in the Land of the Dead, where she meets a present-day Japanese nurse and begins a harsh journey.
Two other animated titles, “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” and “Dan Da Dan,” based on popular manga series currently serialized in Japan, were nominated for best feature direction (Tatsuya Yoshihara) and best TV/media direction (Fuga Yamashiro and Abel Góngora), respectively.
The streaming anime “My Melody & Kuromi,” starring Sanrio favorites, received a nomination in the children’s category of the TV/media division. Japan’s Sanrio is best known for Hello Kitty, one of the world’s most widely recognized character brands.
Sony Pictures Animation’s “Kpop Demon Hunters” scored 10
nominations:
Best feature (Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix)
Best FX-feature (Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Lewis, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle)
Best character animation-feature (Ryusuke Furuya)
Best character design-feature (Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson)
Best direction-feature (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans)
Best music-feature (KPop Demon Hunters Music Team)
Best production design-feature (Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim)
Best voice acting-feature (Arden Cho as Rumi)
Best writing-feature (Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan,
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans)
Best editorial-feature (KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team)
“Kpop Demon Hunters” tied with Pixar’s “Elio” for most nominations.
Nominees for best FX-TV/media included Takashi Okamoto, Kohei Yamamoto, Genyo Sasaki, Chizuru Nakamura, and Erika Matsui for an episode of Polygon Pictures’ “Star Wars: Visions.”
Nominees for best character animation-video game included Hideo Kojima and Masaaki Kawata of Kojima Productions for “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.”
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Zootopia 2” received five nominations, including beat feature and best storyboarding-feature (Hikari Toriumi).