Mainichi Film Award

The Mainichi Film Awards are a series of annual animation awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since the end of the World War II.

Following the death of pioneering animator Noburō Ōfuji in 1961, Mainichi established a new Ōfuji Noburō Award (大藤信郎賞, Ōfuji Noburō shō^?) in his honour to recognise animation excellence. A specialist in silhouette animation, Ōfuji was one of the earliest Japanese animators to gain international recognition, winning accolades at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival and the 1956 Venice Film Festival. This award was first presented in 1962 for Tale of a Street Corner (ある街角の物語, Aru Machi Kado no Monogatari^?) by Tezuka Osamu.

With the growth of the animation industry in Japan, the award in the 1980s came to be dominated by big budget studio productions, over the work of the independent animators for whose efforts it was originally established. To address this concern, the Animation Grand Award was established to reward large scale cinematic animation, enabling the Ōfuji award to focus on shorter pieces again. This award was first presented in 1989 for Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便, Majo no Takkyūbin^?) by Hayao Miyazaki.

The award encompasses a much wider variety of animation than many western anime fans would consider. Two of the most frequent winners over the years, Tadanari Okamoto (岡本忠成, Okamoto Tadanari^?) and Kawamoto Kihachirō (川本喜八郎^?), specialize mainly in stop motion rather than cel animation. As well as being an adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, The Old Man and the Sea is the winning work of Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov.

Recent winners

1995

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Memories (「MEMORIES」大友克洋) by Katsuhiro Ōtomo
• Animation Grand Award: Junkers Come Here (ユンカース・カム・ヒア)

1996

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Rusuban(るすばん) by N&G Production
• Animation Grand Award:Black Jack (ブラック・ジャック)

1997

• Animation Grand Award: Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 Mononoke Hime) by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli

1998

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Mizu no Sei Kappa Hyakuzu (水の精河童百図) by Shirokumi
• Animation Grand Award: Doraemon: Nobita no Nankai Dai Bōken (ドラえもん　のび太の南海大冒険)

1999

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Rōjin to Umi - The Old Man and the Sea (「老人と海」アレクサンドル・ペトロフと技術スタッフ) by Aleksandr Petrov
• Animation Grand Award: Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (人狼) by Production I.G

2000

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Blood: The Last Vampire by Production I.G
• Animation Grand Award: Doraemon: Obā-san no Omoide (ドラえもん　おばあちゃんの思い出)

2001

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Kujira Tori (くじらとり) by Studio Ghibli
• Animation Grand Award: Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) by Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli

2002

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Millennium Actress (千年女優 Sennen Joyū) by Satoshi Kon
• Animation Grand Award: Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Appare! Sengoku Dai Kassen (クレヨンしんちゃん　嵐を呼ぶアッパレ!戦国大合戦)

2003

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Winter Days (冬の日 Fuyu no Hi)
• Animation Grand Award: Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ) by Satoshi Kon

2004

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Mind Game (マインド・ゲーム)
• Animation Grand Award: The Place Promised in Our Early Days (雲のむこう、約束の場所 Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho) by Makoto Shinkai

2005

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: tough guy! by Kishimoto Shintarō
• Animation Grand Award: Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (劇場版　鋼の錬金術師　シャンバラを征く者 Gekijōban Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Shanbara o Yuku Mono) by Seiji Mizushima

2006

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: Tekkon Kinkreet (鉄コン筋クリート, Tekkon Kinkurīto^?) by Michael Arias
• Animation Grand Award: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Tsutsui Yasutaka

2007

• Ōfuji Noburō Award: A Country Doctor (カフカ　田舎医者) by Kōji Yamamura
• Animation Grand Award: Summer Days with Coo (河童のクゥと夏休み, Kappa no Kū to Natsuyasumi^?) by Keiichi Hara

External links

• 毎日映画コンクール Official site (Japanese)
• IMDb: Mainichi Film Concours
• Mainichi page with table of awards (web archive)
• Pellas page on Ōfuji Noburō Award
• Ōfuji past winners showing at the Laputa anime festival in 2000

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