Ponyo Cleans House, Again

The eighth fair drew its biggest crowd yet: nearly 130,000 visitors and 255 exhibitors at Tokyo Big Sight in March 2009, a number the event wouldn't top again for years.

Ponyo won Animation of the Year, making Hayao Miyazaki a three-time winner of the ceremony's top prize: Spirited Away in 2002, Howl's Moving Castle in 2005, and now this. He also won Best Director and Best Original Story for the same film. At some point you stop calling it a streak and start calling it a habit.

Television belonged to two very different giants. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 and Macross Frontier shared the Notable Entry trophy. Jun Fukuyama won Best Voice Actor for playing Lelouch, and Yoko Kanno picked up Best Music for Macross Frontier, her fourth win at this ceremony by now, more than any other composer here to that point.

Detroit Metal City, a satirical death-metal comedy about as far from Ponyo's world as anime gets, took the Notable Entry OVA trophy. Two Merit Awards also went out this year, one for director Hiroshi Sasagawa and one for voice actor Joji Yanami, both honoring long careers rather than single projects.

Eight editions in, and one name had already won the top prize more than anyone else. Whatever came next, Miyazaki had set the bar for the ceremony's first decade.