UKA post their annual anime awards

[Buzz201]

UKA have finished their awards. The winners, runners up, nominees, and deliberations can be found at their site (Just be warned there are spoilers, especially in Best Moment).

But here's the TL;DR:
Best Action Anime - Mob Psycho 100
Best Comedy - Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun
Best Drama - A Silent Voice
Best Film - Your Name
Best Streaming Anime - Flying Witch
Best OP/ED - Mob Psycho 100 OP
Best Manga/Light Novel - Kizumonogatari
Biggest Surprise - Crunchyroll & Funimation Tie-Up
Biggest Disappointment - The Continuing Existence of Piracy
Best Visuals - Kizumonogatari
Best Soundtrack - Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky
Best Moment - The Finnish Team Do Their Thing (from Girls Und Panzer Der Film)
Best Character - Arataka Reigen (from Mob Psycho 100)
Best Physical Release - Fullmetal Alchemist Ultimate Edition
Worst Anime - The Lost Village
Best Overall Anime - A Silent Voice
Reader's Choice - Your Name



Let's be blunt, they screwed up. Mr. Osomatsu isn't even nominated in Best Comedy. KIZNAIVER isn't nominated for Best OP/ED and I'd argue Mr. Osomatsu should have been nominated there too. There is no Ryogho Narita in Best Light Novel category, somehow for reasons I don't understand. Also, what are One Punch Man and Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- doing in Worst Anime nominees. I'm not really on board with either, but neither deserves to be nominated for Worst Overall Anime of 2016.

Also, and this is the biggest, most stupid thing I can see here. How can you object to piracy whilst simultaneously rewarding a 90 minute film that cost £80, and at least two films which only had festival screenings. Until you stand up to ******** like this and stop hyping things people can't see, you're literally just encouraging it...

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

Yet more Sound! S2 snubs, sad times. Quite an odd choice to count shows released on home video for awards. Like, alright for Best Release, but having them in the running aside shows that actually aired in 2016 is very weird and isn't something I'd really agree with. Shocking that Flying Witch got Best Streaming Anime. I haven't seen it, but from what others say, it doesn't sound like it was worthy. I'd have much rather have it go to JoJo or Re:Zero. I'd say Sound! S2, but I believe shows from this season don't count.

Oh well, at the end of the day, these are just the opinions of a handful of people, can't say it's anything worth making a fuss over. I don't know about anyone else, but the whole AUK Awards seem to be quite self aggrandizing, seeing how much of a big deal they're making about it. Why did they need to record hours and hours of podcasts when you could have just put out a list like everyone else?

 

[Buzz201]

Yet more Sound! S2 snubs, sad times. Quite an odd choice to count shows released on home video for awards. Like, alright for Best Release, but having them in the running aside shows that actually aired in 2016 is very weird and isn't something I'd really agree with. Shocking that Flying Witch got Best Streaming Anime. I haven't seen it, but from what others say, it doesn't sound like it was worthy. I'd have much rather have it go to JoJo or Re:Zero. I'd say Sound! S2, but I believe shows from this season don't count.

Don't despair Winter shows aren't eligible until the following year. So neither Sound! nor Yuuri!!! was eligible for anything, if I understand correctly.

Oh well, at the end of the day, these are just the opinions of a handful of people, can't say it's anything worth making a fuss over. I don't know about anyone else, but the whole AUK Awards seem to be quite self aggrandizing, seeing how much of a big deal they're making about it. Why did they need to record hours and hours of podcasts when you could have just put out a list like everyone else?

Given there's some obvious and ridiculous snubs here (I don't like Mr. Osomatsu, but I don't understand how it wasn't even in contention for Best Comedy), I would suggest you've hit the nail on the head.

And given how quite frankly rude they were to @thedoctor2016 when he asked why One-Punch Man hadn't gotten a Reader's Choice nomination. I rather got the impression they were deliberately trying to skew nominations towards things they liked, rather than perhaps more deserving titles. I did vaguely enjoy listening last year, but UKA's whole attitude this year, soured things for me and I have, until now, avoided them. Glad I did too, as there's not a single winner I could point to and whole-heartedly agree with. (Mostly because looking at that list, the only winning title I've seen is The Lost Village, which I rather liked.)

 

[jonno394]

@Buzz201 What film cost £80?

 

[Buzz201]

@Buzz201 What film cost £80?

Mobile Suit Gundam: December Sky, thanks to an import from Anime Limited/Sunrise.

 

[Rui]

I only paid £40 for my Gundam Thunderbolt as I shunned the LE (money was tight that month). But yeah, in general I prefer UK rankings to stick to stuff legitimately available in the UK. Otherwise all kinds of weird niche stuff should appear :3

I didn't vote for anything in the UKA awards so I don't really have an opinion; they have a very different demographic split to this site IMO.

R

 

[Buzz201]

I only paid £40 for my Gundam Thunderbolt as I shunned the LE (money was tight that month). But yeah, in general I prefer UK rankings to stick to stuff legitimately available in the UK. Otherwise all kinds of weird niche stuff should appear :3

I'm not bothered that they nominated it or it won or anything, it just seems really stupid that they'd be arguing against piracy, whilst simultaneously recommending things which just aren't accessible to the vast majority of fans.

I don't know how many fans would even think of importing the standard edition from Japan, never mind actually doing it. Even so, £40 is quite steep for a 90 minute film. Then again I think the £20-30 AL normally charge is too steep, so maybe I'm alone on this...

I didn't vote for anything in the UKA awards so I don't really have an opinion; they have a very different demographic split to this site IMO.

R

Only the Reader's Choice is voted, everything else is just 5 or 6 middle-aged men arguing in a room...

 

[Smeelia]

Shocking that Flying Witch got Best Streaming Anime. I haven't seen it, but from what others say, it doesn't sound like it was worthy.

It's a really good show and I'm sure it'd be a favourite for quite a few people so I could understand it winning top spots for individuals/small groups. I would say that it's the kind of show that focusses on just a few particular elements and executes them particularly well, so it's not likely to have the width of appeal that some other shows do but it's easy for fans to strongly enjoy. (Also, I'd say there's a reasonable chance you'd enjoy it if you do get around to watching it at some point, though perhaps not enough for it to knock anything from your top spots).

I'd have thought that a category for Best Streaming would lean on why the show particularly worked well streaming though. I suppose that Flying Witch was a reliable dose of good feelings each week if you were watching the simulcast, but I'd have thought other shows that rely more on cliff-hangers and between episode discussions could arguably benefit more from that. I could see a pretty strong argument for something like Re:Zero being especially effective when watched weekly. I suppose another benefit of streaming is that a show could be watched almost anywhere more easily than with physical media and I suppose Flying Witch is the kind of show that you might not mind being seen watching in public.

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

It's a really good show and I'm sure it'd be a favourite for quite a few people so I could understand it winning top spots for individuals/small groups. I would say that it's the kind of show that focusses on just a few particular elements and executes them particularly well, so it's not likely to have the width of appeal that some other shows do but it's easy for fans to strongly enjoy. (Also, I'd say there's a reasonable chance you'd enjoy it if you do get around to watching it at some point, though perhaps not enough for it to knock anything from your top spots).

I'd have thought that a category for Best Streaming would lean on why the show particularly worked well streaming though. I suppose that Flying Witch was a reliable dose of good feelings each week if you were watching the simulcast, but I'd have thought other shows that rely more on cliff-hangers and between episode discussions could arguably benefit more from that. I could see a pretty strong argument for something like Re:Zero being especially effective when watched weekly. I suppose another benefit of streaming is that a show could be watched almost anywhere more easily than with physical media and I suppose Flying Witch is the kind of show that you might not mind being seen watching in public.

Oh, I have no doubt it'd be something I'd like, I just never would have guessed it's beat a lot of of the juggernauts of the year such as ReZero and JoJo.

 

[Professor Irony]

Having read the little blurb on their site, I suppose I can follow the logic of wanting to award something that hasn't really been served by the other categories, but to give it to Flying Witch just seems like a sop. Feels like they'd have been better off with a 'Best SoL' category, or something along those lines.

Clearly their staffers are not on the Jojo train anyway.

 

[Buzz201]

Having read the little blurb on their site, I suppose I can follow the logic of wanting to award something that hasn't really been served by the other categories, but to give it to Flying Witch just seems like a sop. Feels like they'd have been better off with a 'Best SoL' category, or something along those lines.

Clearly their staffers are not on the Jojo train anyway.

I'm not sure JoJo's fans give much thought to how divisive that show really is. I've seen posts that from JoJo's fans that said "There are two types of people, those that love JoJo's and those that haven't seen it yet." I'm not going to sit here and slag it off (I've tried and I've tried, just nothing about the show clicks with me), but it's fans do seem to struggle with the idea that there might be people who don't like it.

But, Diamond is Unbreakable doesn't seem to have had as much buzz about it as Battle in Egypt did. So I can see why it might be disappointing for them.

 

[Professor Irony]

Given its softer, more contemporary look and almost slice-of-life esque composition, I had hoped DiU might have had more appeal outwith the Jojo bubble, as it were, but... meh.

 

[Buzz201]

Given its softer, more contemporary look and almost slice-of-life esque composition, I had hoped DiU might have had more appeal outwith the Jojo bubble, as it were, but... meh.

I don't really know that anthology series of any kind really increase viewership much later on. Even though there's minimal continuity most people won't bring themselves to start at something widely referred to as "Part 4"...

 

[ConanThe3rd]

I don't really know that anthology series of any kind really increase viewership much later on. Even though there's minimal continuity most people won't bring themselves to start at something widely referred to as "Part 4"...

Which is largely why they don't for the most part beyond the J4 graphic in the ending sequence.

 

[Hanners]

Well, while I'm here, let's grasp this nettle, shall I?

Let's be blunt, they screwed up. Mr. Osomatsu isn't even nominated in Best Comedy. KIZNAIVER isn't nominated for Best OP/ED and I'd argue Mr. Osomatsu should have been nominated there too. There is no Ryogho Narita in Best Light Novel category, somehow for reasons I don't understand. Also, what are One Punch Man and Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- doing in Worst Anime nominees. I'm not really on board with either, but neither deserves to be nominated for Worst Overall Anime of 2016.

I fully agree that I personally screwed up by missing the Kiznaiver OP out of the best OP/ED category - I actually had a prolonged period of swearing at my keyboard while writing up our nominations.

As for the others, it's simply that even amongst our staff we can't watch and read everything published in the west, and even if we were doing this gig full time that would still be an issue. For me personally:

- Mr. Osomatsu is a series I really should watch more of personally (although haven't a bunch of episodes been removed now?)
- I like Ryogho Narita's work but guess I'm a little jaded on it personally
- The One Punch Man and Re:Zero worst anime nominations were a joke (well, partly at least) that were instantly jettisoned in the deliberations once we'd done our respective "look at how we hate these popular shows" bit.

Also, and this is the biggest, most stupid thing I can see here. How can you object to piracy whilst simultaneously rewarding a 90 minute film that cost £80, and at least two films which only had festival screenings. Until you stand up to ******** like this and stop hyping things people can't see, you're literally just encouraging it...

If there's one thing I'm doing a lot of thinking about after 2016's awards, it's exactly this. I want to celebrate amazing anime first and foremost, and December Sky, Your Name and A Silent Voice are all truly amazing, but I do appreciate your point, especially in Gundam Thunderbolt's case. Did we screw up? Maybe, but hot-damn is that film nigh-on perfection.

Your Name is less of an issue for me as it got a very wide theatrical run, sufficiently so to win the reader's choice award! We need to draw a line somewhere for what qualifies and what doesn't, and I suspect we'll draw that line differently in 2017.

Quite an odd choice to count shows released on home video for awards. Like, alright for Best Release, but having them in the running aside shows that actually aired in 2016 is very weird and isn't something I'd really agree with.

This is another thing we're pondering for 2017, not because we think home video shouldn't count but because it seems unfair for those releases to compete against the excitement of the "now" and streaming shows which tend to dominate mindshare and discussion simply due to their freshness. This was a year in which Fullmetal Alchemist, Akira, Escaflowne and Death Note got released, and yet they won nothing between them. That doesn't seem right to me, in retrospect.

I don't know about anyone else, but the whole AUK Awards seem to be quite self aggrandizing, seeing how much of a big deal they're making about it. Why did they need to record hours and hours of podcasts when you could have just put out a list like everyone else?

1. Because we can
2. Because we have fun doing it
3. Because other people mostly seem to have fun listening to "a bunch of middle-aged men arguing"
4. Because it allows full transparency over the reward process and how decisions came to be - for me this is the most important thing, as a plain list of names says little about why x is subjectively better than y.
5. Because #content over Christmas, where nothing else is happening and you want to desperately escape your family talking about Brexit.

In short, for all of the stuff I take seriously about UK Anime, above all else the end of years are supposed to be entertaining first and foremost - a celebration of what's good, yes, and an opportunity for people (like yourself and any of the 201 Buzz's in the world) to say "Hey, what about this series you morons?!", but also an excuse to sit around and talk or think about anime for hours on end.

And given how quite frankly rude they were to @thedoctor2016 when he asked why One-Punch Man hadn't gotten a Reader's Choice nomination.

I apologise to @thedoctor2016 if he were offended, I was simply ribbing him that he (or one of the countless other people who entered nominations) should have spoken up during the process if they wanted it on the list. We don't have any horse in the Reader's Choice race, that's the entire point. I mean, even Kill Me Baby got onto the 2016 nomination list!!

Anyway, to surmise, the entire award process is meant to provoke discussion both internally and externally, and judging by the passionate and personal responses in this thread: mission accomplished!

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

1. Because we can
2. Because we have fun doing it
3. Because other people mostly seem to have fun listening to "a bunch of middle-aged men arguing"
4. Because it allows full transparency over the reward process and how decisions came to be - for me this is the most important thing, as a plain list of names says little about why x is subjectively better than y.
5. Because #content over Christmas, where nothing else is happening and you want to desperately escape your family talking about Brexit.

In short, for all of the stuff I take seriously about UK Anime, above all else the end of years are supposed to be entertaining first and foremost - a celebration of what's good, yes, and an opportunity for people (like yourself and any of the 201 Buzz's in the world) to say "Hey, what about this series you morons?!", but also an excuse to sit around and talk or think about anime for hours on end.

Perhaps, in retrospect, I was a little harsh. I just found it odd that a relatively small site such as UKA was producing so much content, when I'm not too sure how many would be willing to site through ~10 hours worth of podcasts over such a short period. I mean, I love Giant Bomb to death, but even I don't think I could possibly listen to their extensive GOTY podcasts. Perhaps I underestimate the amount of people who can sit through hours upon hours of podcasts. Seeing as you all have fun doing it, I guess there's no harm in doing so.

 

[qaiz]

Pfftt the Giant Bomb GOTY podcasts aren't long enough. I need more!

 

[Demelza]

I listen to the Anime of the Year discussions but otherwise I do tend to find that UKA just puts out too much content for me to keep track of. That's more of a problem with me and podcasts rather than UKA though.

I do like the end of year discussions though because like @Hanners said himself, it's interesting being given a window into how these decisions came about. Perhaps something similar could be condensed down into text as well though for those who don't want to sit through hours of podcasts?

If there's one thing I'm doing a lot of thinking about after 2016's awards, it's exactly this. I want to celebrate amazing anime first and foremost, and December Sky, Your Name and A Silent Voice are all truly amazing, but I do appreciate your point, especially in Gundam Thunderbolt's case. Did we screw up? Maybe, but hot-damn is that film nigh-on perfection.

Your Name is less of an issue for me as it got a very wide theatrical run, sufficiently so to win the reader's choice award! We need to draw a line somewhere for what qualifies and what doesn't, and I suspect we'll draw that line differently in 2017.

I personally don't think a movie should be ruled out if it's only shown at Scotland Love's Anime and perhaps at London/Leeds once afterwards because frankly it's still being shown and being given the chance to win an award like this might make it stick in people's minds. I really enjoyed A Silent Voice and I hope it does well when released in the next couple of months, so I'm not going to complain about it winning. I think if something like Kizu had won then it's probably equally important for its eventual home video release (although then again, it is Monogatari so it's going to be selling anyway!).

This is another thing we're pondering for 2017, not because we think home video shouldn't count but because it seems unfair for those releases to compete against the excitement of the "now" and streaming shows which tend to dominate mindshare and discussion simply due to their freshness. This was a year in which Fullmetal Alchemist, Akira, Escaflowne and Death Note got released, and yet they won nothing between them. That doesn't seem right to me, in retrospect.

I honestly think Fullmetal Alchemist should have beat out the majority of the stuff it went in against to be honest. I think future year's seperating the home releases and the streaming is potentially less interesting to me on a whole, as I think no matter when an anime is released or how it should be able to compete for the options it's up for. That's just my two cent though.

If nothing else the UKA awards show how different the anime community can be. If it were me I'd have chosen my winners very differently than the UKA team (and I don't think everything picked really was deserving), but it was interesting to see the results none the less.

 

[IncendiaryLemon]

Pfftt the Giant Bomb GOTY podcasts aren't long enough. I need more!

You're crazy, I tell you!

 

[elliotpage]

Hello! I am Elliot Page, the host of the UK Anime Network Podcast, previously discussed.
I wanted to offer some answers to questions raised earlier on regarding the year end awards, and am happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
Apologies for the mild thread necromancy - Also I see that Hanners already beat me to the punch and posted while I was writing this, dammit. EFB and all that. Anyway, here is an additional take from the Podcast Host.

Mr. Osomatsu isn't even nominated in Best Comedy.

I can't speak for the rest of the judges but this is admittedly a miss on my part. I have at this point watched half of the show and have enjoyed it (its on backlog) and it should have gotten a nomination at least. That being said, I doubt this would have changed the overall results as I think only I watched it.

KIZNAIVER isn't nominated for Best OP/ED

Yep, this is a miss. The day after recording two of the judges independently mentioned this and how it should have been considered.

There is no Ryogho Narita in Best Light Novel category

None of the judges read any of the Ryogho Narita works released this year, I believe.

What are One Punch Man and Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- doing in Worst Anime nominees.

Individual members of the judges strongly disliked these shows and so included them in this category. They were rapidly struck off after those judges voiced their distaste - this is included on the podcast recordings.

How can you object to piracy whilst simultaneously rewarding a 90 minute film that cost £80, and at least two films which only had festival screenings. Until you stand up to ******** like this and stop hyping things people can't see, you're literally just encouraging it.

We comprehensively discuss these points during the deliberations podcast, and do wrestle with the availability of Gundam Thunderbolt whenever it comes up in an award. It was struck off of consideration for overall Best Anime for this very reason.

Yet more Sound! S2 snubs,

Sound! Euphonium Season 2 had not finished at the time of recording, and will be considered in next years awards - in fact, it is already listed in the nominees document.

Quite an odd choice to count shows released on home video for awards.

This is really interesting to read as I have also had the opposite opinion raised in other discussions! We are thinking a lot about this for 2017, given how much the landscape has changed in recent years. (This is also briefly mentioned during the awards recordings.)

Shocking that Flying Witch got Best Streaming Anime. I haven't seen it, but from what others say, it doesn't sound like it was worthy.

Our discussions podcast go into depth about this - there was a lot of strong feeling towards the show from the judges.

I'd have much rather have it go to JoJo

You and me both! Sadly my co-hosts do not like the JoJo. I have championed JoJo constantly but dont get traction.

Why did they need to record hours and hours of podcasts when you could have just put out a list like everyone else?

There are a number of reasons behind this:
1) So people can hear the arguments and discussions behind the awards, and hear our reasoning behind the choices in a natural manner.
2) Its some content we can put up between Christmas and New Year without needing to work our butts off (Its already recorded and edited!)
3) We have already met up and have to hash out the awards anyway, so why not shove a microphone in front of our gobs and record it at the same time? Its little extra work. (The editing is another story, but that is on me).

I prefer UK rankings to stick to stuff legitimately available in the UK.

(RE: Gundam Thunderbolt) - This is the rule we have as well. We hashed this out in the awards discussions- as Thunderbolt was available via Anime Limited direct (and streamed to the UK via the Gundam Info Youtube Channel) we took this as a legitimate UK Release. Its not a comprehensive one, for sure, and as mentioned we do grapple with this a lot during the awards!

Only the Reader's Choice is voted, everything else is just 5 or 6 middle-aged men arguing in a room.

Yep, that's entirely right. This is admittedly something I have spent a lot of time thinking about and regretting - the site awards reflect the site staff, which is mostly 30 year old (ish) men. I'd love nothing to diversify the lineup and get some alternative voices. Contributors always welcome!

I did enjoy the hour or so of deliberations I listened to.

Glad you liked it! At the risk of pushing my luck I'd be honoured if you continued if only to justify the work it took to edit the podcasts, haha.

I'm not too sure how many would be willing to site through ~10 hours worth of podcasts over such a short period.

Admittedly I have already lived through the podcasts 3 times (once recording, twice editing) but having a 2-hour chunk of audio you can put on to escape politics discussions with workmates/family is always welcome during the holiday season. Plus, you can always save them for listening later!

Pfftt the Giant Bomb GOTY podcasts aren't long enough. I need more!

Hear, hear! As long as its not Brad being obstinate again.

As mentioned, Andy pipped me to the post but happy to offer any additional insight!