Mamoru Hosoda Wins Best Director a Third Time

The twelfth fair, and the last one to carry the Tokyo International Anime Fair name, drew 105,855 visitors and 223 exhibitors to Tokyo Big Sight in March 2013.

Wolf Children took Animation of the Year, and Mamoru Hosoda won Best Director for it, his third win in that category at this ceremony, after The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2007 and Summer Wars in 2010. No other director had managed three wins here by this point. He shared Best Screenplay with longtime collaborator Satoko Okudera, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, fresh off his Summer Wars win, took Best Character Designer for it too.

Television belonged to Kuroko's Basketball and Sword Art Online, a sports anime and an isekai adventure that would both go on to build enormous international followings. Sword Art Online creator Reki Kawahara picked up Best Original Story for it, and Yuki Kaji won Best Voice Actor for his work that year.

There was no OVA category at this ceremony, the first time that slot went empty since the format split off medium-specific prizes back in 2003. Yoko Kanno picked up another Best Music win, her fifth at this ceremony, this time for Aquarion Evol.

Nobody knew it yet, but this was the end of an era. The next spring, the Tokyo International Anime Fair would merge into something new, and the awards built around it would carry on under a different name.