The anime film of Mizuki Tsujimura’s Lonely Castle in the Mirror (Kagami no Kojō) novel won a Special Mention for the AniMovie award at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film in Germany.
Sunao Katabuchi’s In This Corner of the World film won the Special Mention for the Animovie award in 2017.
Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo won the AniMovie award in 2010, and Makoto Shinkai’s The Garden of Words film won the award in 2014.
The jury stated the film won the Special Mention “for brave and sensitive story-telling in dealing with the important theme about overcoming loneliness through unlikely friendship.”