Chainsaw man, anxious guitarist and ‘new Naruto’: meet the favorites of the ‘anime Oscar’

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Anime Awards takes place this Saturday (2), in Tokyo. Series, characters and voice actors — including Brazilians — compete in 32 categories. ‘Bocchi the Rock!’, ‘Chainsaw Man’ and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, the favorite animes of the Anime Awards Disclosure The city of Tokyo will host this Saturday (2) the 2024 edition of the Anime Awards, the biggest award in the Japanese cartoon industry. The event has been held since 2017 by the online anime platform Crunchyroll. With heavy investment in advertising, the company has been working with the aim of popularizing the format around the world, in addition to “Dragon Ball” and “Pokémon”. Executives estimate that, outside of Japan, most anime are still associated with children. The award is one of the efforts to try to deconstruct this image. “You can’t say that anime is part of a niche, but it still doesn’t have a super incredible flow. We’re trying to figure out ways to expand that,” says Terry Li, the company’s executive vice president of emerging businesses. One of them, Best Voice Performance in Portuguese, is aimed at Brazilian vocal artists: Amanda Brigido (for her work on “Tomo-chan Is a Girl!”), Erick Bougleux (“Konosuba”), Guilherme Briggs (“One Piece”), Léo Rabelo (“Jujutsu Kaisen”), Luisa Viotti (“Chainsaw Man”) and Vágner Fagundes (“Mob Psycho 100”). Series, films, characters, creators, voice actors, musicians and other professionals in the segment are nominated in 32 categories at the Anime Awards. All winners were chosen by a panel of judges made up of journalists, critics and professionals from the anime market — including 10 Brazilians –, in addition to popular voting, which ended on January 28th. This year, there were more than 34 million votes, a record for the award. Voice actress Sally Amaki and presenter Jon Kabira will lead the ceremony, which will also feature singer Megan Thee Stallion and actress Iman Vellani (“Ms. Marvel”), among other guests. Discover, below, the three favorite animes for the awards. ‘Chainsaw Man’ Released at the end of 2022, the highly anticipated first season of “Chainsaw Man” is the absolute leader in nominations, with 25. The anime is based on the manga written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, a phenomenon inside and outside Japan. Scene from the anime ‘Chainsaw Men’, one of the favorites for the ‘Oscar of anime’ Disclosure The story makes a bloody critique of capitalism and the Japanese mafia. The protagonist, Denji, is an outcast and depressed young man, trying to pay off his late father’s huge debt to the Yakuza. To do this, he sells part of his organs and works hunting demons, until he himself is possessed and transformed into a type of chainsaw man, a character inspired by the horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Cinematic references are throughout the anime: the opening alludes to films such as “Pulp Fiction”, “No Country for Old Men”, “The Big Lebowski” and “The Ring”. “Chainsaw Man” gained popularity for its conspiracy plot, brutal scenes of violence, acid humor and sexual content — at 16 years old, the protagonist is shown with hormones raging, something rare in anime. The animation is also acclaimed for its inventiveness in creating absurd images: in addition to the boy with the chainsaw head, there are a flying shark with four eyes, a tomato-shaped demon with eight arms, a slug full of muscles and other bizarre creatures. Before the release of the anime, the “Chainsaw Man” manga was so successful in Brazil that it gained an alternative translation made by fans. The version was disseminated on the internet with sexist jokes, insults towards minorities and swear words, cut out in the official translation, used as the basis for dubbing the anime. One of the main names in dubbing in Brazil, Guilherme Briggs, who played the Demon of the Future in the anime, was the target of attacks and suffered threats on social media, because of changes in the text. In response to a fan, he even said that he would ask to abandon the character. ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ Another anime with demons surrounded by devoted fans is Jujutsu Kaisen, whose second season, released in July 2023, received 17 nominations at the Anime Awards. Last season of ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ received 17 nominations at the Anime Awards 2024 Disclosure Adapted from the manga by Gege Akutami, the story follows young Yuji dealing with supernatural entities attracted by negative human feelings at his school. Possessed by a powerful sorcerer, he embarks on a quest to perfect his powers, become stronger and face curses. A typical teenage fighting anime. The original “Jujutsu” manga has been published since 2018 in the Japanese magazine “Shonen Jump”, known for popularizing other stories in this genre — among them, “Naruto”, one of the most famous in Brazil. Because they share concepts and even physical aspects of the characters, the two animes are often compared. Some fans call “Jujutsu Kaisen” the “new Naruto”, although it is common for Japanese fighting animations to have similar narrative structures. In “Jujutsu”, it is also possible to identify elements from titles such as “One Piece”, “Hunter x Hunter”, among others. “Jujutsu” stands out for its choreographed fight scenes and the quality of the animation, which mixes traditional drawings with computerized special effects. However, the second season was involved in controversy when, two months after its release, employees at the Mappa studio, responsible for the anime, began to denounce on social media the heavy workload and the short time to deliver the episodes. . The studio, known for managing several projects at the same time (in the main award category, Mappa also competes with “Chainsaw Man” and “Vinland Saga”), did not respond to the complaints. ‘Bocchi the Rock!’ Coming out on top with 10 nominations, “Bocchi the Rock!” gained more engaged anime fans, which go beyond action stories. The animation is based on a yonkoma (manga strip) created by Aki Hamaji. ‘Bocchi the Rock!’ is another highlight of the Anime Awards, with ten nominations Disclosure The plot centers on Hitori, a young woman with extreme social anxiety who posts videos playing the guitar on the internet. Her life changes when she is convinced to join a band with three other girls with very different personalities. The story unfolds by showing the behind-the-scenes of the formation of a musical group in Japan and the evolution of the protagonist opening up to contact with other people. Released at the end of 2022, the “Bocchi” anime is praised mainly for the creative way in which it explores possibilities to show Hitori’s episodes of social phobia. In addition to traditional animation, comic book drawings, modeling clay scenes and even real-life footage are used. The comedy-based script and dialogues make many fans identify with the protagonist’s dilemmas. The plot has such a passionate following that, after complaints, the anime’s official pages had to ask fans to stop causing problems in the real locations shown in the story in the trendy neighborhood of Shimokitazawa, in Tokyo. In December 2022, Kessoku Band, a band formed in the anime, released an album on the internet. The 14-song project ranked first for four consecutive weeks in Oricon’s weekly digital album ranking, a company that publishes music charts in Japan.

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