General Discussion

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (the organization that runs Anime Expo) has announced that it's accepting nominations for the 2009 SPJA Industry Awards. There are a lot of categories this year...here they are:

* Best Voice Actor (Japanese)

* Best Voice Actor (English)

* Best Voice Actress (Japanese)

* Best Voice Actress (English)

* Best Casting Director

* Best Character Design

* Best Mechanical Design

* Best Male Character

* Best Female Character

* Best Mascot Character

* Best Background Design

* Best Original Video Animation

* Best Feature Film

* Best Television Series

* Best Original Score

* Best Original Song

* Best Director (Japanese)

* Best Director (American)

* Best Manga-Action

* Best Manga-Comedy

* Best Manga-Drama

* Best Publication

* Best Full-Motion Video in Video Game

So, who would you nominate? Go ahead, offer up your thoughts on as many of these categories as you want. I'll toss mine in the comments too.

Let's see...
- Voice Actor (JP) - Hmm, Jun Fukuyama for Spice and Wolf's Craft Lawrence, maybe, or Hiroshi Kamiya for Itoshiki-sensei in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
- Voice Actress (JP) - Ohhh, Ami Koshimizu for Spice and Wolf's Horo, definitely. I loved her highly stylized speech patterns.
- Voice Actress (EN) - Caitlin Glass impressed me with Ouran Host Club's Haruhi, actually.
- Best Male Character - I'm leaning towards Darker than Black's Hei on this one, unless by some act of god Kaiba's Warp stands a chance.
- Best Female Character - I'm back with Horo here. <3
- Best Mascot Character - Does Darker than Black's gruff cat Mao count?
- Best Feature Film - I haven't even seen it but I want the first Gurren Lagann flick to win. (Or if it's based on US releases, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, definitely)
- Best TV Series - That's a toughie. I'd like to give it to Kaiba myself, but as with before, I'm not sure how practical that is.
- Best Original Score - Again, if US releases are the key here, Ghost Hunt has a phenomenal soundtrack. If Japanese, then Darker than Black.

Just a few of my thoughts-- how about you guys?

US RELEASES I GUESS

 Best Voice Actor (English): Chris Patton for Welcome to the NHK's Sato

* Best Voice Actress (English): Maryke Hendrikse for Black Lagoon's Revy

* Best Female Character: Black Lagoon's Revy

* Best Male Character: Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass

* Best Background Design: Makoto Shinkai's 5cm Per Second

* Best Original Video Animation:  Genshiken OVA (sadly)

* Best Feature Film: The Girl Who Lept Through Time

* Best Television Series: Gurren Lagann or Code Geass, too tough to choose

* Best Original Score: Afro Samurai Resurrection

* Best Original Song: Libera Me/ From Hell

* Best Director (Japanese): Goro Taniguchi

* Best Director (American): James Corrigal for Black Lagoon

* Best Manga-Action: Gantz by Hiroya Oku

* Best Manga-Comedy: Love*com - By Aya Nakahara (maybe)

* Best Manga-Drama: Nana by Ai Yazawa

* Best Publication: Yen Plus

* Best Full-Motion Video in Video Game: Metal Gear Solid 4

Ahh, Kuro's so much more on the pulse of the American stuff than I am!