Dylan Hysen, Delaney Stovall, Sam Quattro, Justin Cummings, and Michelle Anderer reveal the results to the 1st Annual OVA-ies Animation Awards!

Check out the winners and commentary for each category below as you listen along during the podcast, but don’t look below first!

Here are the winners of each category (in reverse order like we go through them on the podcast). I list the Winner (which was chosen by open popular vote) the Patron winner (which was chosen by a vote of just our Patrons and Co-hosts), and my choice for each category followed by my commentary on the results.

Let’s start with these three individual production acknowledgements that were not voted on, but rather were determined out of suggestions from our Patrons and Co-hosts.

No storyboarder or storyboarding team shined more this year than Lauren and Hilary who beautifully crafted the Peridot and Lapis arc, one of the most memorable all year. No team was more obviously instrumental in a single plot arc, as Lauren and Hilary storyboard and wrote every essential “Lapidot” episode, beautifully shaping the direction of their dynamic and relationship with hilarious moment after hilarious moment.

I’m definitely biased towards Giancarlo, who directed in all three seasons of my eternal favorite Avatar. I was so ecstatic to see his name pop up on Star vs. the Forces Of Evil this year and it coincided with a large leap in quality for the show, the largest of any show this year. Two Giancarlo directed episodes stand out in particular with “Mr. Candle Cares” achieving humor and characterization at an extremely high level and then the perfectly executed “Bon Bon the Birthday Clown”, which featured arguably the best production execution top to bottom out of any animated episode this year. Credit for that has to go to the director and I hope Giancarlo and the rest of the Star crew continue to take the show to new heights as its second season continues next year.

Another year, another triumph for Steven Universe which continues to firmly hold down its place as the best animated show on TV and was nominated heavily by our Patrons in these awards (19 times). Rebecca Sugar is at the heart of it all and has amassed a group on incredible talent that has crafted such wonderful characters, plot arcs, and themes that have resonated so deeply with many different types of people.

Now onto the open voting categories:

Alexandrite vs. Malachite was great, and one of several memorable fight sequences from Steven Universe this year, but I think it’s a shame not to give this category to the show with clearly the best action of the year, Voltron. The Voltron vs. Gladiator sequences was wonderfully executed. My 2nd choice here would be the stunningly creative Star vs. Ludo sequence from Bon Bon.

The “Here Comes a Thought” scene from “Mindful Education” was maybe the most creative, inventive, emotional, and intricately executed scene of the year, and for that it deserves recognition, so it’s a good pick by the voters. For me it’s not nearly the best of the year though, as Steven confronting Bismuth was a shocking, impactful, and incredibly written scene that capped off the best episode of the year. I’ll take narrative over aesthetic gold any day, but the voters went the opposite way. (The end of Moana is maybe a wonderful combination of the two.)

Deedee did wonderful work again this year and always does, but this should be Shelby’s category for as long as Peridot remains the dominant force that she is on Steven Universe. Shelby’s performance is such an integral, intricate, and emotional component of Peridot and she shines in every episode Peridot is in. The same can be said for Deedee though so she’s certainly a worthy choice here as well. (Auli’i also received a lot of love from voters as Moana.)

These are 5 phenomenal songs but “It’s Over, Isn’t It” shined through with its powerful thematics, great vocals from Deedee Magno Hall, and a wonderful surrounding sequence in “Mr. Greg”. My 2nd choice for this category would be “How Far I’ll Go”, one of many incredible songs from Moana.

This was a close race all week with all five deserving options having a shot at it. In the end, Yuri & Victor narrowly edged out Star & Marco. Yuri and Victor were notable for wonderful male-male romance representation in an anime that actually featured a queer romance, so it’s obviously a worth choice here. Star and Marco also would have been a great pick as they’ve had a wonderful long-term plot arc this season. My pick would have been Lapis and Peridot who also had a great year-long arc that featured some of the most memorable scenes of the year. My true pick though was snubbed in the nominations! Ruby and Sapphire were the couple of the year with “Hit the Diamond” and “The Answer” being the two best romance episodes of the year.

This is a no-brainer. Peridot is once again the character of the year after seeing the fruits of last year’s great redemption arc. She shined on screen with Lapis and just about with every character she interacted with.

These were all strong choices and of course Pearl was incredible this year, especially shining in “Mr. Greg” and “Last One Out of Beach City”. I chose to put Pearl in this category instead of Supporting (the Patrons largely nominated her there) as I thought it’d be unfair for the likes of Janna to go up against her. Maybe it’s just as unfair for her to be in this category though, against my choice, Star, who had tons of development in several great arcs this year while appearing in almost every episode. Pearl’s ability to shine while only the focus of half (if that) episodes of Steven Universe shows the strengths of her character.

The Gravity Falls series finale is undoubtedly a good choice. It was definitely one of the best episodes of the year and a great cap to one of the best animated series of all time. My pick in this category is “Bismuth” by a fair amount though, which I think is absolutely incredible and one of the best animated episodes we’ve seen in a while.

This was a particularly strong year for animated films and these are five great choices. My pick for this category was Moana until a few days ago. Moana is worthy winner here as it’s one of the best modern Disney animated films ever (the best?) with incredible animation, music, and a wonderful lead. I think Your Name is the best of the bunch here, and maybe the best film of the year in general. It’s stunningly gorgeous, incredibly emotional, and has some great character work.

Fittingly, the highest percentage of the vote in any category went to Steven Universe here. It wasn’t close and it shouldn’t have been. The other shows in this category are great but Steven Universe is the best show on TV and had its best year ever. That’s 7 out of 10 category wins for Steven Universe.

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