Japan Media Arts Festival 2011

Summary

Puella Magi Madoka Magica wins the 2011 Animation Division Grand Prize in the 15th Japanese Media Arts Festival. The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The Animation Division competition includes theatrical animation, TV animation, other original animation, animated short films, with even some foreign submissions. This year, there were 425 entries submitted for the Animation Division.

The chair is Kondo Seiichi, the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs. The Operating Committee is:

• Hamano Yasuki, Professor, The University of Tokyo Graduate School
• Hayashida Hideki, Director, The National Art Center, Tokyo
• Tatehata Akira, President, Kyoto City University of Arts

The Jury for 2011's Animation Division:

• Furukawa Taku, Animation Artist
• Hikawa Ryusuke, Anime Critic
• Ito Yuichi, Animation Director
• Oshii Mamoru, Film Director
• Sugii Gisaburo, Animation Director

The Grand Prize winner gets a Certificate from Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Trophy and 600,000 Japanese Yen. All award-winning works are scheduled to be on exhibit from February 22, 2012 until March 4, 2012 at the National Art Center, Special Exhibit Gallery 1E in Roppongi, Toyko. The awards ceremony is scheduled for February 21, 2012 at Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi. Announcements of results are made on the official site, TV, newspapers and magazines.

Reason for Award

The winner of the Grand Prize for a television series for the second year in a row. This year the work drew particular praise as an original work for anime, rather than being based on an existing manga or novel. The series continued to be an ambitious one, skilfully setting critical traps that shook the very foundations of the genre, leaving viewers unsure about the premises upon which this otherwise common theme of the “magical girl” is based. The seemingly adorable familiar Kyubey offers to grant a girl a wish if she will enter into a “contract” to become a magical girl and fight witches. Both the terror that lurks within “desire” and the emotional reaction to “miracles” that overcomes that fear...these are two sides of one coin, both born of the human heart. Putting the particular “media characteristics” of a television series--in which one must wait a full week to learn what happens next to their best use, the series maximized the tension within the viewers' minds even as they enjoyed the show’s beautiful images. The script is overflowing with the revolutionary energy that always strives to change things. With the hope that this series will become the necessary catalyst to change the world we live in, we award it the Grand Prize.

Trivia

• Puella Magi Madoka Magica is only the second TV anime to win the Animation Division Grand Prize. This award has traditionally been dominated by films.

Gallery

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  Announcement in Japanese

External Links

• Madoka Magica twitter announcement (JP)
• Festival awards pdf in English
• Festival awards pdf download (JP)
• ANN
• MSN (JP)
• Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper (JP)
• Nico live video (JP)
• Ume Aoki twitter congratulations message (JP)
• Hanokage twitter congratulations message (JP)

See Also

• Other awards
• Translated magazines