The First Slam Dunk has been recognized as the best animated work at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize. 

The Best Animation award was accepted by the film’s producer, Toshiyuki Matsui (Pop in Q).

The nominees, which are considered Award of Excellence winners for their category, were announced in late January. The First Slam Dunk‘s competitors for the top prize included Suzume, One Piece Film Red, Inu-Oh, and Lonely Castle in the Mirror.

While Suzume missed out on the Best Animation prize, its music composers RADWIMPS and Kazuma Jinnouchi won the Best Music Award for their work on the film.

Last year’s Best Animation winner was Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time.

The First Slam Dunk premiered in Japan on December 3. The 3DCG title is the first Slam Dunk anime movie since 1995. It is also the 31st top-grossing movie in the country at the time of writing.

The movie is directed by Slam Dunk creator Takehiko Inoue with Yasuyuki Ebara (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) as character designer and animation director, Yukiko Ban (Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line) as sub-character designer, and Daiki Nakazawa (Pop in Q) as CG director. Toei Animation and the CG company Dandelion Animation Studio are the animation production companies.

Meanwhile, the cast includes Subaru Kimura as Hanamichi Sakuragi, Kenta Miyake as Takenori Akagi, Jun Kasama as Hisashi Mitsui, Shin’ichirou Kamio as Kaede Rukawa, Shuugo Nakamura as Ryota Miyagi, and Maaya Sakamoto as Haruko Akagi.

The Slam Dunk manga was serialized from 1990 to 1996 in Weekly Shonen Jump and collected into 31 tankoubon volumes. It previously inspired a 1993 to 1996 anime series and four anime films. Takehiko drew an epilogue called Slam Dunk 10 Days Later on school blackboards in 2005, with the epilogue being reprinted in 2009.