This year's Academy Awards will include an Oscar for the best 'Animated Feature Film' for the very first time.  The initial feature animation Oscar is the subject of a fierce and contentious behind-the-scenes battle between Disney (Monsters, Inc.), the studio that invented the form, and Dreamworks (Shrek), the upstart company founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who once led Disney's animation division but was forced out by current Disney chief Michael Eisner.  Lost in the squabble between the two giant American film studios (see 'Mouse Takes on Shrek' and 'Monsters Inc. in Theaters Vs. Shrek in Stores') with their $200+ million animated hits are the anime features from Japan, which because of their quality and variety of subject matter are bound to win an animation Oscar some year -- just not this year.

 

In fact few anime features are even up for Academy consideration.  Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (see 'Is It Real Or is It Final Fantasy') was made in Hawaii with a hyper-realistic style of animation that doesn't resemble traditional anime at all, so many fans don't consider the film 'anime'.  Other prominent anime releases have been disqualified for a variety of reasons.   Though Jin-Roh debuted in the U.S. this year (see 'Jin-Roh Starts Theatrical Run'), it opened in 1999 in Japan, making it ineligible for the first animation Oscar.  Blood: The Last Vampire, the popular Manga Entertainment title (see 'Blood: The Last Vampire Sets Record') was too short (by about five minutes) to meet Academy criteria.

 

Urban Vision's Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (see 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Coming in February') was initially denied Academy consideration because of a paperwork problem.  The Academy requires that each film submitted for the Best Animated Feature Film category also be submitted for the Best Feature Film category -- a requirement that the folks at Urban Vision were unaware of -- and the film was initially rejected on that basis.  However, the Academy reversed itself and decided to ignore the technicality that prevented Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust from consideration.  This does not mean that you will hear the name of Vampire Hunter D mentioned on Oscar night -- the film has not yet made the final cut.  Look for it when the Oscar nominations are announced in February.