Tokyo Anime Award Festival

2017 (March 10-13 Tokyo)

HIGHLIGHTS
The Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF)
2017, was held in Ikebukuro, one of Tokyo’s
bustling commercial and entertainment districts. Located in various locations within the area, the
festival also gave animation fans the opportunity to enjoy central Tokyo whilst making their way to
various screenings. The opening ceremony combined the atmosphere of Tokyo’s shopping centre
Lumine, with welcoming messages from directors, contributors and the mayor of Toshima attracting
a small crowd who gathered outside of the cordoned area. The public opening ceremony kick started
the festival with a warm and inclusive welcome.

TAAF’s 4th annual festival showcased

animations from Japan and directors from
other countries who have not distributed
their work commercially in Japan. The
festival brought Japanese and international
creators together who’s work show
potential, innovation, creativity, originality
and popular appeal in the anime industry.

We were given the opportunity to speak to

some of the judges of the awards, attend
the opening and closing ceremony for the TAAF’s Opening Ceremony
festival and view some of the most creative
and innovative international and home grown animation in the world demonstrating that the slogan
for the festival “Tokyo is the hub of contemporary animation” proved to be true.

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Here are our top 5 highlights from the festival.

Bad Cat
Category: Feature
Animation
Although not a winner at this year’s festival, Bad
Cat stood out for us as a nomination that we
thought reflected the diversity of the festival.

Based on a L Manik comic book character by

The opening scene from Bad Cat Directors Mehmet Kurtuluş
Ayşe Ünal -Turkey Bülent Üstün, the plot revolves around a gangster
cat called Shero who terrorises a neighbourhood
of humans and animals. In a plot that twists and turns as bad cat flees from crazed avengers whilst
pursuing pleasures of the flesh, avoiding paternal responsibilities and organising a bank robbery,
the audience is taken on a mad journey through the streets of an Istanbul neighbourhood. Political
nuances were seamlessly and comically woven into the animation while also managing to cleverly
reference elements of Turkish culture. Vulgar, raw, comical and unique, Bad Cat is a fun caper
and a joy to watch (A full review coming soon on Izanau)

Short Animations
Beautiful visuals and poignant
stories- the short animation
category took us on an
international journey of animation bites and snippets
from Japan and around the world.

Creating short animations requires an ability to capture

the audience’s attention whilst telling a story that takes
the viewer out of reality and transports them into a
new world in a short space of time. (Not an easy feat
in 30 mins or less). The short animations were moving,
(Deep in the Moss) comical, (Our wonderful Nature –
The feeding habits of the common Chameleon)
bizarre, (Between Walls) scary Look at me Only),
thought provoking (Screen Romance) and beautiful
(The Orangish Tree). The range of styles and themes
not only showcased international and Japanese talent,
but also revealed how stories and images from around
the world are universal. (Short animation highlights
Screen Romance Directors Emma Decoster,
coming soon to Izanau) Melanie Merny, Eglatine Vittu, Tiphaine
Cordiez, France

Variety
Whilst we would not
say that we are
animation experts, we still
appreciated the different styles and
themes that were showcased during
the 4-day festival. 2d, 3d, hand
drawn, traditional puppet, doll
motion and every other type of
The Girl Without Hands Director Sebastian Laudenbach France
animation in the industry were
reflected in the short and feature
animations. Overall, it was an
educational, as well as entertaining
experience.
 Interview with TAAF Judges
In between weaving our way through
Tokyo crowds as we made our way from
screening to screening, we were given the
opportunity to talk to 3 of the
competitions judges, Keiko Shiraishi, Haruki Kasugamori, both
members of the short animation pre-selection committee and
Tomoyuki Saito from the preselection committee for feature
animations. They talked to us about the selection criteria, the
differences between international and Japanese animation, their
personal favourites for this years’ competition and how they
viewed the future of the animation industry. They also gave us
some words of wisdom to give to aspiring animators and
animation fans around the world. (Interview with judges coming
soon on Izanau) Keiko Shirashi and Haruki Kasugamori - Members of
the preselection committee for the short animation
category

The Closing
Ceremony
(Announcing the Winners)
The festival reached a peak at the closing
ceremony as directors, judges and entrants
came together to announce the winners
and present and accept awards.

The ceremony also highlighted the 100th

Yoko Maekawa performing at TAAF’s closing ceremony
anniversary of Japanese animation and several
special achievement awards were given to honour people who have contributed to the industry
over the decades, acknowledging the contribution made by the animation industry’s older
generation, as well as recognising and appreciating new talent.

We were also treated to a short performance by Yoko Maekawa who received an achievement
award for her contribution to animation theme tunes and the ceremony was also attended by Mr
Yukio Takano (the mayor of Toshima) and Ms Yoriko Koike (the Governor of Tokyo) who
highlighted the importance of animation as an art form in Japan with the goal towards peace
through international collaboration and appreciation of anime throughout the world.

Short and long animation reviews and the winning entries from each category, coming soon on
Izanau.