Amongst the many winners and runner ups in animation that took the category top spots in Animation Magazine's Best of 2019 list it is easy to find films by Dreamworks or Pixar. Fans expect to see names like
Toy Story 4 and
Rick and Morty in the winner and runner up columns - as 2019 was a solid year for animation both in terms of that fourth film and the fourth season of the series on Adult Swim.
However, anime films often go under the radar and that's why it is refreshing to see GKIDS take the runner up spot for Best Indie Studio - but more importantly than that is the Best Feature Director win which went to Makoto Shinkai - the Director of
Weathering With You - an anime film which we previously reported on earlier in the year.
It's great to see that the world is opening up more to animation and with that comes not just cartoons - but anime too. Check out the full list of all seventeen categories with the winners and runner ups below!
Best Animated Feature (Major Studio)
Klaus (Netflix)
Runner Up: Toy Story 4 (Disney/Pixar)
Best Animated Feature (Indie/Intl.)
Missing Link (LAIKA)
Runner Up: I Lost My Body (Xilam/Netflix)
Best Animated Short
Hair Love (Sony)
Runner Up: Kitbull (Pixar)
Best New Animated Series
Love, Death + Robots (Netflix)
Runner Up: Infinity Train (Cartoon Network)
Best Primetime TV Series
Rick and Morty (Cartoon Network)
Runner Up: Bob’s Burgers (FOX)
Best Family TV Series
Steven Universe (Cartoon Network)
Runner Up: We Bare Bears (Cartoon Network)
Best Preschool Show
Ask the Storybots (JibJab Media, Netflix)
Runner Up: Arthur (9 Story Media, WGBH)
Best Major Studio
Pixar
Runner Up: DreamWorks
Best Indie Studio
LAIKA
Runner Up: GKIDS
Best Animation Outlet
Netflix
Runner Up: Cartoon Network
Best Feature Director
Tie: Sergio Pablos (Klaus) and Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You)
Runners Up: Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck (Frozen II)
Best Showrunner/Creator
Genndy Tartakovsky (Primal)
Runner Up: Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe)
Best Voice Over Artist
Tie: Tara Strong and Tony Hale
Runner Up: Aimee Carrero
Best Animation Software
Toon Boom Harmony
Runner Up: Maya
Best Animation School
CalArts
Runner Up: Savannah College of Art and Design
Best Intl. TV Animation Player
Cartoon Saloon
Runner Up: Cake
Best Conference, Event or Festival
Annecy Festival and Market
Runner Up: MIP Junior
Do you disagree with any of these choices? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!