The winners of the Anime of the Year category at the international animation film festival "Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025 (TAAF2025)" (sponsored by the TAAF Executive Committee and the Association of Japanese Animations) were announced on January 31st, with it being revealed that "Lookback" (directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama) won the Best Feature Film award, and "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" won in the TV Series category.
The individual awards went to Hiroyuki Yoshino, who wrote the scripts for "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" and "The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe," in the original/script category, Director Oshiyama, who worked on "Lookback ," in the director/director category, Toko Yatabe , character designer and chief animation director for " The Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe ," in the animator category, and Mai Ichioka, art director for the same work, in the art, color, and video category. Evan Cole, who wrote the music for " My Happy Marriage" and "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" won in the sound and performance category.
The "Anime Fan Award," chosen by fan vote, was also announced, with "Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGe" (directed by Go Koga) winning. The award is given to the "Most Beloved Work of 2024," and it came in first out of a total of 21,316 votes.
The Anime of the Year category will be selected from the "Everyone's Best 100" chosen by fan vote from all 417 anime works screened, broadcast or streamed between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. The "Best Work" and "Individual Award" will be selected by votes from producers, creators, and stores selling anime goods active in the anime industry, while the "Anime Fan Award" will be selected by fan vote.
TAAF has been held since 2014 with the aim of promoting anime culture and industry, and discovering and nurturing new talent. It selects winners in categories such as the "Competition Section" for anime from around the world that have not yet been screened in Japan, and the "Anime of the Year Section" for anime released in Japan. It will be held in Ikebukuro, Tokyo from March 7th to 10th.
