Gundam SEED Brings Back the Single Champion

March 2004 brought the Tokyo International Anime Fair back to Tokyo Big Sight for a third round, and the growth kept coming: 72,773 visitors and 166 exhibiting companies, both new highs for the young event.

The awards ceremony reunited its top prize too. After a year of three separate medium-specific winners, Animation of the Year returned as one combined trophy, and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED took it. That made it the first television series to win the overall Grand Prix outright, after Spirited Away claimed it for film back in 2002.

The television field around it was stacked. Astro Boy (the 2003 reboot), Fullmetal Alchemist (then only a few months into what would become one of the defining shonen runs of the decade), and Gundam SEED itself all shared the Notable Entry trophy. *Pick a favorite, I dare you.*

On the film side, Satoshi Kon finally got his Best Director win, this time for Tokyo Godfathers, a year after Millennium Actress put him on the radar. Sho Aikawa picked up Best Screenplay for Fullmetal Alchemist, and Romi Park won Best Voice Actor for playing Edward Elric, a role she'd carry through movies, specials, and a full second series over the next decade.

Yoko Kanno kept her streak alive too, winning Best Music for the second year running, both times for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. *Some composers just don't lose.*