Colorful, Umizaru Win at 65th Mainichi Film Awards

[Eudemon]

The 65th Annual Mainichi Film Awards were announced on Monday, and the anime feature Colorful and the manga-based live-action film The Last Message Umizaru were among the winners. Keiichi Hara and Asention's Colorfulwon the Best Animation Film Award, while Eiichirō Hasumi's The Last Message Umizaru won the Japanese film category of the TSUTAYA Film Fan Award.

In the "heart-warming comedy" of Eto Mori's original Colorful novel for young adults and Hara's film adaptation, a person finds himself trapped outside the normal endless circle of life and death. Thanks to winning a lottery in the angel world, the protagonist is brought back to inhabit the body of a 14-year-old boy — who just committed suicide. Thus, the protagonist begins a new life. Hara had previously won the Animation Film Award for 2002's Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen and 2007's Summer Days with Coo.

Takashi Miike (Yatterman, Ichi the Killer, Nintama Rantaro) earned the Best Director Award for his live-action samurai film 13 Assassins. Unlike in previous years, no work this year received the Noburou Oofuji Award, which honors animated works that offer new forms of creative expression. Summer Wars and Ponyo won the Best Animation Film Award last year and the year before.

Source:ANN