American Anime Award winners
Fullmetal Alchemist cleans up at ceremony
(Source: www.icv2.com)
Fullmetal Alchemist is clearly the fans' choice, taking five American Anime awards last Saturday. The series took Best Actor (Vic Mignogna), Best Cast, Best DVD Package Design, Best Anime Theme Song ("Rewrite" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation), and Best Long Series.
The first annual American Anime Awards were handed out February 24th as part of the New York Comic Con (NYCC). Over 43,000 online voters cast their ballots for their favourite anime, manga and voice actors.
There were some surprises. The cult comedy FLCL was a dark horse winner for both Best Anime Comedy and Best Short Series. This is especially surprising since FLCL was made 6 years ago and was released in the U.S. in 2002.
The voice casting director for Zatch Bell should get a raise: it received both Best Actor and Best Actress in a Comedy awards.
Anime voice actor, director and producer Peter Fernandez received a Special Award for Outstanding Achievement. Fernandez has had a long history in anime but is best known for reading the title role in the English dub of Speed Racer.
Being its first year, there were some bugs in the American Anime Awards system. Some felt the nomination process lacked clarity while others were confused by the fact that some people were being honoured for work they had done years, even decades, ago (eg: Johnny Yong Bosch for his voice work in 1988's Akira). Some actors were nominated for multiple works while others didn't even have their appearances mentioned. Eyebrows were also raised at Bosch's nomination as Best Actor in a Comedy (again for his work in Akira, most definitely not a comedy).
Here is the full list of winners.
- Best Anime Feature: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
- Best Comedy Anime: FLCL
- Best Long Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Best Short Series: FLCL
- Best Manga: Fruits Basket
- Best Voice Actor: Vic Mignogna (Fullmetal Alchemist, Macross)
- Best Voice Actress: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG)
- Best Actor in a Comedy: Dave Wittenberg (Zatch Bell)
- Best Actress in a Comedy: Debi Derryberry (Zatch Bell)
- Best Cast: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Best DVD Package Design: Fullmetal Alchemist
- Best Anime Theme Song: "Rewrite" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Fullmetal Alchemist
- Special Award for Outstanding Achievement: Peter Fernandez
To find out more about the American Anime Awards, and to get in on next year's voting, check out the website.
