In January, the Japanese Academy announced its nominees for the 46th Annual Japanese Academy Awards. Of the nominees Shin Ultraman (2022) was nominated for seven and took home four. Although the film was nominated for Best Picture and both Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno were nominated for Best Director and Best Editor, respectively, Shin Ultraman lost in those categories to Kei Ishikawa's thriller The Man (2022).
Instead, the Japanese Academy Awarded Shin Ultraman for its excellence in Cinematography, Lighting Direction and Art Direction. Daiki Arioka also won a Best Newcomer Award for his performance as Akihisa Taki--a character that seems to have high appeal from fans.
Congratulations to Osamu Ichikawa and Keizo Suzuki for their outstanding work in Cinematography, Sosuke Yoshikado for Lighting Direction and Yuji Hayashida for Art Direction. This is Hayashida's third Japanese Academy Award for Art Direction. He last won in 2017 for Shin Godzilla (2016). Compliments to the nominees for the honor of being considered by the Japanese Academy as well.
Shin Ultraman Japanese Academy Nominees and Awards:
Best Picture - Nominated
Best Director - Shinji Higuchi - Nominated
Best Cinematography - Osamu Ichikawa and Keizo Suzuki - Won
Best Lighting - Sosuke Yoshikado - Won
Best Art Direction - Yuji Hayashida - Won
Best Editing - Yohei Kurihara and Hideaki Anno - Nominated
Newcomer of the Year Award - Daiki Arioka - Won
Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno both won a Best Director Award in 2017 for Shin Godzilla, which also won best picture that year. Anno's Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) also won for Best Animated Film at last year's Japanese Academy Awards.
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Source(s):
Oricon
46th Japanese Academy Awards Official Website
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