Hiromasa Yonebayashi's "The Borrower Arriety" sweeps the 10th Tokyo Anime Awards

by Chris MaGee

While the latest Studio Ghibli production, Goro Miyazaki's "Up on Poppy Hill", hasn't been setting the Japanese box office on fire the way its producers may have liked, another Studio Ghibli film is continuing to amass critical acclaim and awards.

The folks at Tokyo Hive reported this week that Hiromasa Yonebayashi's "The Borrower Arriety" picked up the Animation of the Year Award at the 10th annual Tokyo Anime Awards. The adaptation of Mary Norton's classic children's novel "The Borrowers" tells the story of a tiny family living under the floorboards of a manor house. The family's daughter, Arriety, forms a friendship with a human boy living in the manor.

Besides winning the top honour of the awards, which is held in conjunction with the Tokyo International Anime Fair, "The Borrower Arriety" also took home trophies for Best Director for Yonebayashi, Best Art Direction for Yoji Takeshige and Noboru Yoshida, Best Music for Cécile Corbel and Best Domestic Feature Film. For a full list of this year's winners head to the Tokyo Anime Awards website here; and congratulations to Yonebayashi-san and Studio Ghibli.