A Zombie Idol Group Steals the Whole Ceremony

Here's the premise: a group of dead girls, spanning several decades of Japanese pop culture history, get reanimated as an idol group to revitalize a struggling prefecture's tourism. That's Zombie Land Saga, and it had no business becoming one of the most talked-about anime of its year, let alone winning Animation of the Year, Television. But word of mouth carried it, and the judges agreed.

On the film side, there was nothing surprising at all. Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer took Animation of the Year, Film, another entry in a franchise that shows up at this ceremony almost as reliably as the calendar does. Director Yoshiaki Kyogoku also picked up Best Director for it, the kind of steady, expected win that balances out a year with a genuinely weird one sitting right next to it.

The rest of the night stayed close to Zombie Land Saga's corner. Jukki Hanada took Best Screenplay for it, Hitomi Kariya won Best Animator, and Mamoru Miyano, part of the show's cast, picked up Best Music. Two Merit Awards, the ceremony's career-honor category, went to industry veterans director Hisayuki Toriumi and voice actress Kazuko Sugiyama.