Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ Wins in 2 Categories at Annie Awards; Joe Hisashi Recognized for Music Contributions

By Kayo Goto / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

18:37 JST, February 18, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and the Heron,” directed by Hayao Miyazaki, won in two award categories at the 51st annual Annie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The movie, which was released in Japan as “Kimitachi wa Do Ikiruka” (How do you live?), won awards for best character animation and best storyboarding in a feature film. The movie had been nominated for seven categories, including Best Feature, in which it lost out to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

Annie’s Best Feature is considered a prelude to the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, which will be announced next month.

Joe Hisaishi, who composed the score, for the Miyazaki film, was given the Winsor McCay Award in recognition of his contributions to the animation art.

“Music plays an important role in animation and films,” Hisaishi said in a video message. “I’m happy that this aspect has been recognized.”

“Suzume no Tojimari” (“Suzume”), directed by Makoto Shinkai, did not win any category, even though it had been nominated in seven categories. The second episode of Netflix’s “Pokemon Concierge,” directed by Iku Ogawa, had been nominated for best direction in TV/media, but did not win.