SPJA Award Finalists Announced
So while I was in the FUNi panel I got an alert that the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, a.k.a. that company that runs Anime Expo, has announced the finalists for its SPJA Indusry Award.
Bandai Entertainment, a.k.a. “that company that put out Haruhi in ‘07,” has the most nominations. VIZ Media is in second place. Interestingly, Geneon has a hold on 3rd place– the pity vote? –followed by Bandai Visual (really!?) and FUNimation.
Wait, really? Bandai Visual USA is beating out FUNimation? That’s wacky. That’s the number of nominations in various categories, not votes for a particular company by the way.
Want to vote? Here’s your shot. There are nominations for best voice actor (separate votes for Japanese and English), best voice actress, best casting director, best character design, best mech design, best male character, best female character, best mascot character, best background design, best original video, best feature film, best TV series, best score, best original song, best director, best manga (in comedy, action, and drama), and best publication.
Whew, that’s a lot. Get voting! I’ll share my own votes after the jump.
Best Voice Actor (JP): Tomokazu Sugita for Haruhi, ’nuff said.
Best Voice Actor (EN): Abstain.
Best Voice Actress (JP): Aya Hirano for Haruhi, but it was a tough call between that and Ayako Kawasumi for Nodame. They’re both very distinct and interesting voices. (I LOVE Nana Mizuki’s voice, but Kirihara in Darker than Black just isn’t that amazing to me).
Best Voice Actress (EN): Abstain.
Best casting director: Kaeko Sakamoto for Haruhi; the actors work together phenomenally and the voices are distinct and interesting.
Character design: Shino Masanori for Black Lagoon, ’cause those are amazing characters. (Haruhi’s characters are also nice, but not that distinct, really).
Mech design: I’m not really into any of these, so I went with Gundam 00.
Best male character: Geass‘ Lelouch. He’s like Light from Death Note, except awesome, and hotter. (I DARE YOU TO DISAGREE.)
Best female character:
This one’s difficult! I like Haruhi; I can sympathize with her a lot, especially when you sneak behind the bitchy exterior, but Nodame and Revy are also pretty high on my list. Haruhi’s going to get a lot of votes though, so I think I’ll go with Revy.
Best mascot character: Shamisen from Haruhi, ’cause I don’t like the others except Mokona, and Mokona is really too long-standing a mascot to count, IMO.
Best background design: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, hands down.
Best original video: Hellsing Ultimate is HOTHOTHOT.
Best feature film: Paprika. But I haven’t seen Girl Who Leapt Through Time yet! T_T
Best TV series: Black Lagoon.
Best original score: Darker than Black
Best original song: Black Lagoon for Red Fraction.
Best director: Hiroshi Nagahama for Mushi-Shi.
Best manga - action: Black Lagoon
Best manga- comedy: Hayate no Gotoku!
Best manga - Drama: Lovely Complex (…drama? really?)
Best publication: Anime Insider, but I’m just a liiiittle bit biased!
Tags: awards, japanese-industry
March 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Nodame would be disappointed!~ *gyabo* :(
Did Mushishi really only get one nod? What’s the deal with that…?