Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Look Back clinch Anime of the Year Awards at Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025

Modified Feb 01, 2025 11:30 GMT

On February 1, 2025, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Look Back emerged as the stars of the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025, winning their respective award categories. The voting period for these awards lasted nearly a year, with hundreds of anime eligible for consideration.

Tokyo Anime Award Festival is an annual ceremony dedicated to recognizing excellence in animation achievements. The ceremony was inaugurated in 2002 but got its name, Tokyo Anime Award Festival, in 2005.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Look Back win at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2025

Expand Tweet

The Tokyo Anime Award Festival features three award categories for anime: Best Works, Individual Awards, and the Anime Fan Award. The first award is divided into two parts: The Best Theatrical Film and Best TV Anime. The winners are decided by the fans in a year-long poll, specifically for Japanese fans.

Madhouse's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End was awarded the 'Best TV Anime' in the 'Best Works' category. The past winners of this category include Spy x Family, Zombieland Saga, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Studio Durian's Look Back won the award for 'Best Theatrical Film' in the 'Best Works' category. The past winners of this category include One Piece: Film Red, The First Slam Dunk Film, and Violet Evergarden: The Movie.

Toei Animation's Birth of Kitarō: The Mystery of GeGeGe Anime Film was awarded the Anime Fan Award. Past winners include a non-Japanese anime film called Mechamato (a Malaysian anime film). The Individual Awards category is divided into five parts and awards staff members for their outstanding performances.

Hiroyuki Yoshino was awarded the Best Screenplay / Original Story award for his work as the screenplay artist on the Birth of Kitarō: The Mystery of GeGeGe Anime Film. Kiyotaka Oshiyama was awarded the Best Director and Production Department award for his work as the director of Look Back Anime Film.

Touko Yatabe was awarded the Best Animator award, while Mai Ichioka received the Best Art, Color, and Video Artist award for their work as a character designer and art director on the Birth of Kitarō: The Mystery of GeGeGe Anime Film. Lastly, Evan Call was awarded the Best Sound and Performance Artist award for his work as a music composer on Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

Final thoughts

Visual from the anime film (Image via Toei Animation)

While Crunchyroll Anime Awards always become a controversy for awarding 'popular anime' instead of 'most loved ones,' the Tokyo Anime Award Festival's Anime Fan Award might be the perfect way for the underdogs to win. On the other hand, the winning of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End might also be a given, as it was popular worldwide due to its music, animation, and everything else.

Related Links

Edited by Shubham Soni