Howl's Moving Castle Keeps the Miyazaki Streak Alive

By 2005, the Tokyo International Anime Fair wasn't the new kid anymore. Nearly 84,000 visitors and 197 exhibitors showed up at Tokyo Big Sight that spring, both new records for the event.

Animation of the Year went to Howl's Moving Castle, and Hayao Miyazaki picked up Best Director to go with it. Four editions in, and he'd already won the top prize twice. At this point you start wondering if anyone else stood a chance.

He wasn't the only Ghibli name in the room. Joe Hisaishi took Best Music for the same film, his second win in four ceremonies, and Chieko Baisho, the voice of Sophie, won Best Voice Actor. Hisaishi and Miyazaki have been a package deal since the 1980s, and this ceremony just kept proving it.

Away from Ghibli, Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence had a strong night of its own. Oshii won Best Screenplay, Hiroyuki Okiura won Best Character Designer, and a brand new Best Original Story trophy went to Masamune Shirow, the manga creator behind the whole franchise. On television, Gankutsuou, Sgt. Frog, and Pretty Cure shared the Notable Entry trophy, which is a genuinely wild trio to put on one stage: a gothic sci-fi Count of Monte Cristo retelling next to a wisecracking alien frog next to a magical girl franchise.