Summary

TAAF Anime of the Year Award announced winners for 2025, including Frieren and Look Back.
Selection process involved 100 anime titles with professionals and general users voting.
Look Back won "Best Work" in feature film category, Frieren won in TV anime, and Kitaro won the Fan Award.

The official website of the Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) announced the winners of their Anime of the Year Award for the year 2025 on January 31. Among the winning titles are 2023's breakout fantasy anime, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and 2024's hard-hitting Look Back created by CHAINSAW MAN author Tatsuki Fujimoto.

The awards are given to the "most outstanding" anime works that were broadcast, screened or streamed in the 2024 fiscal year (October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024), with 100 works in contention during the selection process that are voted on by various professionals in the animation industry, while the "Fan Award" winner is selected by gathering votes from general users.

Look Back Speaks to the Artist in All of Us

This adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's one-shot is a short but powerful celebration of creation, camaraderie, and the will to live.

Posts

By Matthew Magnus Lundeen

The TAAF Anime of the Year Award Selection Process

"Best Work", "Individual Award" and "Fan Award" Were In Contention

The selection process for the TAAF Anime of the Year Award involves a pool of 100 anime titles, 80 of them TV anime and 20 theatrical releases, with industry professionals voting on the title they think deserves "Best Work", or an "Individual Award", while the "Fan Award" is won by the title that the general users voted on the most. The Studio Durian-produced anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Look Back won "Best Work" in the feature film category, and given the immensely positive reception to the 58-minute film, the award is well-deserved. Look Back was released in Japan on June 28, 2024, making about 2.04 billion yen (13 million USD) in its domestic box office run.

Look Back has been raking in the awards, also winning "Best Film" at the Filmarks Annual Awards 2024. The fall 2023 TV anime, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End won "Best Work" in the TV anime category, while The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe, a film released in celebration of GeGeGe no Kitaro author Shigeru Mizuki's 100th birthday, won the "Fan Award" with over 21 316 votes from fans. The PG-12 rated version of the film was released in Japan on November 17, 2023, while the R15+ rated version, Shinsei-ban, was released in October 2024. Together, the films have raked in over three billion yen (approx. 19 million USD) in box office revenue. In addition to the aforementioned awards, there were individuals who won awards for their involvement in various projects:

Writer: Hiroyuki Yoshino (The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe)
Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Look Back)
Animator: Toko Yatabe (The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe)
Visual Artist: Mai Ichioka (The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe)
Sound Artists: Evan Call (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

The Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025 (TAAF2025) has been slated for March 7-10, in Tokyo. The event has been held since 2013, by the Tokyo Anime Award Festival Executive Committee, the Association of Japanese Animations, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, with the goal being "developing and promoting Tokyo's animation culture and industry by discovering and fostering the next generation of animation creators and contributing to the promotion of tourism in Tokyo by communicating the city's attractions."

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is available on Crunchyroll, while Look Back can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

Source: Crunchyroll

Rating block community and brand ratings Image

Display card tags widget

TV-14

Animation

Action & Adventure

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Drama

Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget

Release Date: September 29, 2023
Network: Nippon TV, YTV, FBS, Chukyo TV, RNB, FCT, STV, KNB, HTV, YBS, RAB, TVI, YBC, UMK TV Miyazaki, TSB, MMT, TeNY, RNC, NIB, KKT, KTK, NKT, ABS, JRT, Daiichi-TV, FBC, RKC, KYT, KRY
Directors: Kento Matsui, Kota Mori, Takahiro Natori, Morio Asaka, Lim Ka-hee, Taku Kimura, Ken Ando, Hirotaka Mori, Ayaka Tsuji
Writers: Tomohiro Suzuki