The 2025 Academy Award Nominations are here and anime fans might be a little taken aback when they review the lists. While recent years have seen Studio Ghibli winning a Best Animated Picture Award and the King of The Monsters taking home an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, this year’s nominee list are missing some big heavy hitters. While some major animated features are in the running for Oscar gold, there are most assuredly some anime movies that are more than fit to be in the running. With the nomination list recently hitting the ‘net, now seems like the perfect time for anime fans to review what could have been a contender.
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While the anime industry wasn’t represented in categories like “Best Animated Feature” for the 2025 Academy Awards, there was a surprising representative from the medium for this year’s Oscars. Toei Animation was nominated for “Best Animated Short Film” for its work on “Amedama.” The short film was one that used CG-animation and followed a young boy who receives a supernatural piece of candy that lets him hear the thoughts in the hearts of those around him. When it comes to the Best Animated Feature Nominees, they include The Wild Robot, Flow, Inside Out 2, Memoir of a Snail, and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Foul.
[RELATED: Toei Animation May Have a Shot at Its First Oscar This Year]
The Oscars Need To Look Back
When it comes to the most obvious choice for an anime film that should have been nominated for an Academy Award, it has to be Studio Durian’s Look Back. The film was created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the manga artist responsible for Chainsaw Man, and told a heart-wrenching story surrounding creativity and friendship. Hitting the ground-floor running in Japan, the movie currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes amongst critics, with the audience reviews coming in a hair underneath perfect at 99%.
Look Back wasn’t the only mover and shaker on the silver screen when it comes to anime in 2024. Haikyu: The Dumpster Battle scored big at the box office and had the action and emotion to make it worthy of Oscar gold. Haikyu wasn’t the only sports anime movie that arrived last year, as Blue Lock: Episode Nagi also used soccer anime action to help the franchise reach new heights. On the emotional spectrum, Science Saru’s The Colors Within could also be worthy of an Oscar nod thanks to its emotional impact.
Anime Oscar Winners
As mentioned earlier, Studio Ghibli has been one of the only examples of an anime studio winning big at the Academy Awards. While many of Hayao Miyazaki’s films have been nominated for Oscars in the past, only Spirited Away and The Boy And The Heron took home for the gold for Best Animated Feature. Fingers crossed that in the future, the anime world will continue winning Academy Awards.
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