FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF JAPANESE ANIMATION ANNOUNCES SPJA INDUSTRY AWARD FINALISTS AT TOKYO INTERNATIONAL ANIME FAIR

 

Bandai Entertainment Leads with Most Nominations Followed by Viz Media, Geneon Entertainment, Bandai Visual and FUNimation Entertainment

 

Anaheim, California (March 27, 2008)

 

‹ The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the overseeing body of the nation¹s largest anime/manga convention (Anime Expo®), announced the SPJA Industry Award finalists for 2008 at the SPJA Symposium held at Tokyo International Anime Fair held within Tokyo Big Sight¹s Special Theatre 2(Thursday; March 27, 2008; 16:30-18:00-Tokyo time). More information can be found on the website www.spja.org <http://www.spja.org> . 

Leading the pack, of top five (5) companies receiving nominations, is Bandai Entertainment with thirteen (13) nominations including two (2) for Best Voice Actor (English) followed by Viz Media with twelve (12) nominations including two (2) for Best Voice Actor (English) as well. Geneon Entertainment follows with 11 nominations including two (2) for Best Voice Actor (Japanese), Bandai Visual with 9 nominations including two (2) for Best Background Design and FUNimation with seven (7) nominations. Other companies receiving nominations include:

 

· Anime News Network

· Aniplex

· ADV Films

· BONES

· Broccoli Books

· Columbia Music

· Dark Horse Comics

· defSTAR Records

· Del Rey Manga

· Digital Manga Publishing

· Gonzo

· Infinity Studios

· Kodansha

· Ki/oon Records

· Kudokawa Shoten

· Lantis

· Media Works

· Otaku USA

· Oxybot

· Right Stuf

· Shaft

· Shogakukan

· Sony

· Sony Music

· Toei Animation

· TokyoPop

 

 

The public is invited to vote for their choices for the 21 categories via the SPJA (

 

www.spja.org <http://www.spja.org> ) and Anime Expo® (www.anime-expo.org <http://www.anime-expo.org> ) websites. 

SPJA Industry Awards official criteria for eligibility, rules, procedures and forms can be downloaded from the official SPJA website

 

www.spja.org <http://www.spja.org> . Inquiries can be made to Awards@spja.org 

SPJA Industry Awards Nominees

 

Category 01: BEST VOICE ACTOR (JAPANESE) 1. Jun Fukuyama xxxholic Kimihiro Watanuki 2. Mamoru Miyano Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Double O) Setsuna F. Seiei 3. Joji Nakata Hellsing Ultimate Arucard 4. Daisuke Namikawa Black Lagoon Rock 5. Tomokazu Sugita The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Kyon

 

Category 02: BEST VOICE ACTOR (ENGLISH)

1. Johnny Yong Bosch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Itsuki Koizumi 2. Crispin Freeman The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Kyon 3. Alessandro Juliani DEATHNOTE L 4. Christopher R. Sabat One Piece Zoro 5. Jason Spisak Zatch Bell! Kiyo Takamine

 

Category 03: BEST VOICE ACTRESS (JAPANESE) 1. Aya Hirano The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Haruhi Suzumiya 2. Ayako Kawasumi Nodame Cantabile Megumi ³Nodame² Noda 3. Rie Kugimiya Hayate no Gotoku! Nagi Sanzenin 4. Nana Mizuki Darker Than BLACK Misaki Kirihara 5. Mamiko Noto sola Matsuri Shihou

 

Category 04: BEST VOICE ACTRESS (ENGLISH) 1. Laura Bailey Shin-chan Shin-chan 2. Maryke Hendrikse Black Lagoon Revy 3. Shannon Chan-Kent DEATHNOTE Misa 4. Anna Morrow The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye Honoka 5. Stephanie Sheh The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Mikuru Asahina

 

Category 05: BEST CASTING DIRECTOR

1. Randi Riediger Black Lagoon

2. Kaeko Sakamoto The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3. Hiroyuki Sakurada Ge-Ge-Ge No Kitaro 4. Jamie Simone Naruto 5. Kazuhiro Wakabayashi Darker Than BLACK

 

Category 06: BEST CHARACTER DESIGN

1. Shoko Ikeda The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2. Makoto Koga sola 3. Shino Masanori Black Lagoon 4. Ken Ueno Ge-Ge-Ge No Kitaro 5. Makoto Uno Witchblade

 

Category 07: BEST MECHANICAL DESIGN

1. Black Lagoon (Staff includes Masahiro Kimura) 2. Eureka 7 (Staff includes Shoji Kawamori) 3. Full Metal Panic! TSR (Staff includes Kanetake Ebikawa) 4. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Staff includes Kanetake Ebikawa, Naohiro Washio, Takayuki Yanase) 5. The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye (Staff includes Naohiro Washio)

 

Category 08: BEST MALE CHARACTER

1. Arucard Hellsing Ultimate

2. Hei Darker Than BLACK

3. Ichigo Kurosaki Bleach

4. Lelouch Lamperouge Code Geass

5. Luffy One Piece

 

Category 09: BEST FEMALE CHARACTER

1. Haruhi Suzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2. Matsuri Shihou – sola 3. Megumi ³Nodame² Noda Nodame Cantabile 4. Nami One Piece 5. Revy Black Lagoon

 

Category 10: BEST MASCOT CHARACTER

1. Kanaka Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed 2. Mokona Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles 3. Mokkun Shonen Onmyouji 4. Na-san Kirarin Revolution 5. Shamisen The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

 

Category 11: BEST BACKGROUND DESIGN

1. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Sunrise

2. Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei Shaft

3. Shigofumi: Letters from the Departed J.C. Staff/Bandai Visual 4. sola Nomad/Bandai Visual 5. The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye XEBEC/Right Stuf

 

Category 12: BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO

1. Detective Conan: Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief Shogakukan 2. Hellsing Ultimate Geneon Entertainment 3. I Luv Halloween TokyoPop 4. Naruto: The Lost Story: Protect the Waterfall Village Viz Media 5. Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Animation OVA Bandai Visual USA

 

Category 13: BEST FEATURE FILM

1. Paprika Sony

2. SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next Bandai Visual USA 3. Stranger Mukoh Haden BONES 4. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Bandai Entertainment 5. Vexille Oxybot

 

Category 14: BEST TELEVISION SERIES

1. Black Lagoon Geneon Entertainment

2. Darker Than BLACK BONES

3. DEATHNOTE Viz Media

4. One Piece FUNimation Entertainment

5. sola Bandai Visual

 

Category 15: BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Beat Crusaders defSTAR Records 2. Darker Than BLACK Yoko Kanno Sony Music 3. Naruto Toshio Masuda & Musashi Project Aniplex 4. sola Hitoshi Fujima Lantis 5. The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye Megumi Ohashi Columbia Music Entertainment

 

Category 16: BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1. ³Hare Hare Yukai² (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto Lantis 2. ³Hit in the USA² (BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad) Hidaka Toru The Beat Crusaders / defSTAR Records 3. ³Nagareboshi ~ Shooting Star ~² (Naruto Shippuden) HOME MADE Kazoku – Ki/oon Records 4. ³Red Fraction² (Black Lagoon) MELL Geneon Entertainment 5. ³Tsukiakari² (Darker Than BLACK) Rie Fu Sony Music

 

Category 17: BEST DIRECTOR

1. Sunao Katabuchi Black Lagoon

2. Tomoki Kobayashi sola

3. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Naruto

4. Hiroshi Nagahama Mushi-Shi

5. Tensai Okamura Darker Than BLACK

 

Category 18: BEST MANGA – ACTION

1. Black Lagoon Rei Hiroe Shogakukan 2. Gunsmith Cats Burst Kenichi Sonoda Dark Horse Comics 3. Murder Princess Sekihiko Inui Broccoli Books 4. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles CLAMP Del Rey Manga 5. Vampire Hunter D Hideyuki Kukuchi / Saiko Takaki Digital Manga Publishing

 

Category 19: BEST MANGA – COMEDY

1. Disgaea 2 Hekaton Broccoli Books

2. Dramacon Svetlana Chmakova TokyoPop 3. Hayate no Gotoku! Kenjirou Hata Shogakukan 4. Gintama Hideaki Sorachi Viz Media 5. Negima! Ken Akamatsu Del Rey Manga

 

Category 20: BEST MANGA – DRAMA

1. Blood Alone Masayuki Takano MediaWorks / Infinity Studios 2. Eden Hiroki Endo Dark Horse Comics 3. Eureka Seven Jinsei Kataoka / Kazuma Kondou Bandai Entertainment 4. Kitchen Princess Miyuki Kobayashi / Natsumi Ando Del Rey Manga 5. Lovely Complex Aya Nakahara Viz Media

 

Category 21: BEST PUBLICATION

1. Anime Insider Wizard Entertainment

2. Newtype Kudokawa Shoten

3. Otaku USA Otaku USA

4. Protoculture Addicts Anime News Network 5. Shojo Beat Viz Media

 

About Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property Anime Expo®. More information can be found at its website (

 

www.spja.org <http://www.spja.org/> ).