The is an animation award given at the Mainichi Film Awards. It is named after Japanese animator Noburō Ōfuji.

History

Following the death of pioneering animator Noburō Ōfuji in 1961, Mainichi established a new award in his honour to recognise animation excellence. A specialist in silhouette animation, Ōfuji was one of the earliest Japanese animators to gain international recognition, winning accolades at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival and the 1956 Venice Film Festival. This award was first presented in 1962 for by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

. With the growth of the animation industry in Japan in the 1980s, the award came to be dominated by big budget studio productions, over the work of the independent animators for whose efforts it was originally established. To address this concern, the Animation Grand Award was established to reward large scale cinematic animation, enabling the Ōfuji award to focus on shorter pieces again. Th Animation Grand Award was first presented in 1989 for by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

. The award encompasses a wider variety of animation, including

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

. Two of the most frequent winners over the years, and , specialize mainly in stop motion. Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov also won for his paint-on-glass animation film, '' The Old Man and the Sea''.

Winners

*1962 - by

*1963 - '' Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji'' by Yugo Serikawa/ Toei Doga *1964 - ''Murder'' (殺人 MURDER) by Makoto Wada *1965 - ''Love'' (愛 ''Ai'') by Yoji Kuri and ''The Mysterious Medicine'' (ふしぎなくすり ''Fushigi na Kusuri'') by Tadanari Okamoto *1966 - ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' (展覧会の絵 ''Tenrankai no E'') by

*1967 - ''Two Pikes'' (二匹のサンマ ''Ni-Hiki no Sanma'') and ''The Room'' (部屋 ''Heya'') by Yoji Kuri *1968 - ''The Ugly Duckling'' (みにくいあひるのこ ''Minikui Ahiru no Ko'') by

Gakken is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales are reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US). Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces othe ...

*1969 - ''Yasashii Lion'' (やさしいライオン) by

Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima. The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry wi ...

*1970 - ''The Flower and the Mole'' (花ともぐら ''Hana to Mogura'') and ''Home My Home'' (ホーム・マイホーム) by Tadanari Okamoto *1971 - ''Tenma no Torayan'' (てんまのとらやん) by Video Tokyo *1972 - ''Oni'' (鬼) by Kihachirō Kawamoto *1973 - ''Praise Be to Small Ills'' (南無一病息災 ''Nanmu Ichibyousokusai'') by Tadanari Okamoto *1974 - ''A Poet's Life'' (詩人の生涯 ''Shijin no Shougai'') by Kihachirō Kawamoto *1975 - ''The Water Seed'' (水のたね ''Mizu no Tane'') by Tadanari Okamoto *1976 - ''Dojoji Temple'' (道成寺 ''Dojoji'') by Kihachirō Kawamoto *1977 - ''Towards the Rainbow'' (虹に向かって ''Miji ni Mukatte'') by Tadanari Okamoto *1978 - Not awarded *1979 - '' The Castle of Cagliostro'' *1980 - ''Speed'' (スピード) by Taku Furukawa *1981 - '' Gauche the Cellist'' *1982 - ''The Magic Ballad'' (おこんじょうるり) by Tadanari Okamoto *1983 - '' Barefoot Gen'' *1984 - '' Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' *1985 - '' Night on the Galactic Railroad'' *1986 - '' Castle in the Sky'' *1987 - ''Legend of the Forest Part 1'' (森の伝説) by

*1988 - '' My Neighbor Totoro'' *1989 - Not awarded *1990 - ''Briar Rose, or The Sleeping Beauty'' (いばら姫、またはねむり姫 ''Ibarahime Mata wa Nemurihime'') by Kihachirō Kawamoto *1991 - ''The Restaurant of Many Orders'' (注文の多い料理店 ''Chuumon no Ooi Ryouriten'') by Tadanari Okamoto/ Kihachirō Kawamoto *1992 - Not awarded *1993 - ''Ginga no Uo ~Ursa Minor Blue~'' (銀河の魚 ~URSA minor BLUE~) by Shigeru Tamura *1994 - Not awarded *1995 - ''

Memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is Encoding (memory), encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future Action (philosophy), action. I ...

'' (「MEMORIES」大友克洋) by Katsuhiro Ōtomo *1996 - ''Rusuban'' (るすばん) by N&G Production *1997 - Not awarded *1998 - ''Mizu no Sei Kappa Hyakuzu'' (水の精河童百図) by Shirokumi *1999 - '' Rōjin to Umi - The Old Man and the Sea'' (「老人と海」アレクサンドル・ペトロフと技術スタッフ) by Aleksandr Petrov *2000 - '' Blood: The Last Vampire'' by Hiroyuki Kitakubo/ Production I.G *2001 - ''Kujira Tori'' (くじらとり) by

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has exp ...

*2002 - '' Millennium Actress'' (千年女優 ''Sennen Joyū'') by Satoshi Kon/ Madhouse *2003 - '' Winter Days'' (冬の日 ''Fuyu no Hi'') *2004 - '' Mind Game'' (マインド・ゲーム) by Masaaki Yuasa/ Studio 4°C *2005 - ''tough guy!'' by Shintarō Kishimoto *2006 - by Michael Arias/ Studio 4°C *2007 - '' A Country Doctor'' (カフカ　田舎医者) by Kōji Yamamura *2008 - ''

Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distri ...

'' (崖の上のポニョ, Gake no Ue no Ponyo) by

*2009 - ''Denshin-Bashira Elemi no Koi'' by Hideto Nakata/Sovat Theater *2010 - Not awarded *2011 - ''663114'' by Isamu Hirabayashi *2012 - ''

Combustible A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort a ...

'' (火要鎮) by Katsuhiro Ōtomo *2013 - ''The Moon That Fell Into the Sea'' (海に落ちた月の話) by Akira Oda *2014 - ''Crazy Little Thing'' (澱みの騒ぎ) by Onohana *2015 - ''Datum Point'' (水準原点) by Ryo Orikasa *2016 - '' In This Corner of the World'' (この世界の片隅に) by Sunao Katabuchi *2017 - '' Lu Over the Wall'' (夜明け告げるルーのうた) by Masaaki Yuasa *2018 - '' Liz and the Blue Bird'' (リズと青い鳥) by Naoko Yamada *2019 - ''A Japanese Boy Who Draws'' (ある日本の絵描き少年) by Masanao Kawajiri *2020 - '' On-Gaku: Our Sound'' (音楽) by Kenji Iwaisawa *2021 - ''Pukkulapottas and Hours in the Forest'' (プックラポッタと森の時間) by Takeshi Yashiro *2022 - '' Inu-Oh'' (犬王) by Masaaki Yuasa *2023 - '' The Boy and the Heron'' (君たちはどう生きるか) by

*2024 - ''Watashi wa, Watashi to, Watashi ga, Watashi o,'' (私は、私と、私が、私を、) by Rina Itou

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofuji Noburo Award Anime awards Lists of anime films Awards established in 1962 1962 establishments in Japan Ōfuji Noburō Award Lists of films by award

History

Winners

See also

References