September 4, 2009

Kenji Kamiyama's best selling animated TV series, Eden of the East is Best TV Animation Award Winner at the 14th Animation Kobe, the event created to promote animation and other visual arts in Japan by awarding excellence in animation achievements. The 14th Annual Animation Kobe event will hold an awards ceremony on October 18 in the city of Kobe.

Kadokawa Publishing Media Office Director and member of the jury Kenji Yano motivated the award as follows:
The very day when in this country animation stopped being called "TV manga" and became known as "TV anime", it was clear that animation had emancipated from the common perception of entertainment for children, and had gained itself the role and function of a prescription for the problems and concerns of the teenagers.
Saying it with a slightly abused expression, anime storytelling was created with standards not inferior to literature, aspiring to answer the very same old question, "How should we live our life?" And so it was perceived and received by the audience.
However, for Kenji Kamiyama those standards set but another limitation he could not be satisfied with. The first attempt to break free could be seen in his Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, an almost reckless endeavour to portray the "tomorrow" we glimpsed in Tomorrow's Joe.
Now his ambitions are further expanding in Eden of the East.
The story of Takizawa, a young man who unwillingly becomes prince in a world without king, can be translated as the story of Kamiyama and his staff, the people who created this series.
In a world where the champion has reached the top, what does it take to become a champion? I have great expectations for both the movies that will complete the story, and the tomorrow Kamiyama and his crew are heading to.

In the past editions, the following I.G works and creators were awarded at Animation Kobe: Ghost in the Shell (Theatrical Film Award 1996) Hiroyuki Okiura (Individual Award 2000 for his directorial debut in Jin-Roh), Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Individual Award 2001 for Blood: The Last Vampire), Kenji Kamiyama (Individual Award 2004 for Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG), Innocence (Theatrical Film Award 2004) and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (Packaged Work Award 2007).

14th Animation Kobe fficial Website:
http://www.anime-kobe.jp/

© EDEN OF THE EAST