The Second Annual Clays

It's been another fantastic year for animation, with incredible movies big and small coming from all corners of the globe. I count myself so lucky to be alive at a time when so many artists are making so many exciting animated works, and even luckier that I get to write about them all here. 2025 was my first full calendar year of animation, and it set the bar high.

This year, I saw more than 100 animated features that are in contention for these awards. Even though it's just me calling the shots here, I like to put up a list of nominees rather than just picking straight-up winners, so there's more room to celebrate all the greatness.

KPop Demon Hunters

As usual, because of when/where/how I see things, there are some movies that are in this year's awards race that I considered last year (like Olivia & Las Nubes and Boys Go to Jupiter), just as some of the movies I'm considering this year (like ALL YOU NEED IS KILL) will be counted as 2026 releases by many. So it goes!

Because there weren't a lot of animated documentaries this year, I did consider some docs that are partially nominated, and it's a smaller category than the others.

Because of my difficulty in slimming down the Best Original Song category, I ended up making all categories have six nominees, which I'll probably stick with in years to come, as well.

I like to kind of follow the year's movies to figure out categories, so you'll see some new categories that may or may not return in the future -- that's part of the fun.

Because Witch Watch: Watch Party! was the beginning of the series, and thus the first time audiences got to experience the show (including its theme song and performances), I let it slide into more categories than that kind of release normally would. 

I would like to give a Special Mention to Kristen Wiig's performance in Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie. It is one of my favorite performances of the year, and a worthy Best Supporting Actress winner, but because the performance is mostly live-action, I decided it didn't really make sense to nominate alongside other performances that are voice-only. But know that I love her, love that performance, and love that movie. Watch it!

Without further ado, here are this year's Clays: 

Best Picture
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- The Movie: Infinity Castle
Elio
**KPop Demon Hunters** - WINNER
Nobody
Ordures
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Best Director
Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, KPop Demon Hunters
Benjamin Nuel, Ordures
**Momoko Seto, Dandelion's Odyssey** - WINNER
Shui Yu, Nobody
Shinnosuke Yakuwa, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
Tatsuya Yoshihara, Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc

Dandelion's Odyssey

Best Writing -- Original

Dog of God - Lauris Abele, Ivo Briedis, Raitis Abele, Harry Grundmann
Elio - Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones (Story by Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Julia Cho)
The Girl Who Stole Time - Yu Ao, Yicheng Shu, Zhou Tienan
**KPop Demon Hunters - Maggie Kang, Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Chris Applehaus (Story by Maggie Kang)** - WINNER
Lesbian Space Princess - Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese
Ordures - Géraldine de Margerie, Niels Rahou, Kim Keukeleire

Best Writing -- Adapted
100 Meters - Yasuyuki Muto
Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc, Hiroshi Seko
The Green Dinosaur - Wojtek Wawszczyk and Hanna Malarowska
**Nobody - Jia Liu and Shui Yu** - WINNER
Space Cadet - Mylène Chollet
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl in the Window - Shinnosuke Yakuwa and Yosuke Suzuki

Best Actress
Shabana Azeez, Lesbian Space Princess
Arden Cho, KPop Demon Hunters
**Rina Kawaguchi, Witch Watch: Watch Party** - WINNER
Liliana Ohno, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window
Shan Xin, The Legend of Hei 2
Lu Yanting, Ne Zha 2

Best Actor
Ahn Hyo-seop, KPop Demon Hunters
Asa Butterfield, Stitch Head
Sébastian Chassagne, Ordures
**Yonas Kibreab, Elio** - WINNER
Hong Kyung, Lost in Starlight
Kikunosuke Toya, Chainsaw Man -- The Movie: Reze Arc

Best Supporting Actress
Gemma Chua-Tran, Lesbian Space Princess
Fortune Feimster, Zootopia 2
**May Hong, KPop Demon Hunters** - WINNER
Lucy Smith, Super Charlie
Reina Ueda, Chainsaw Man -- The Movie: Reze Arc
Ji-young Yoo, KPop Demon Hunters

Best Supporting Actor
Remy Edgerly, Elio
Thomas Lennon, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
Lu Yang, Nobody
Liu Mingyue, The Legend of Hei 2
Mamoru Miyano, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- The Movie: Infinity Castle
**Koji Yakusho, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window** - WINNER

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Best Ensemble
The Bad Guys 2
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- The Movie: Infinity Castle
KPop Demon Hunters
**Lesbian Space Princess** - WINNER
Nobody
Ordures

Best Editing
**100 Meters** - WINNER
Dandelion's Odyssey
Grand Theft Hamlet
KPop Demon Hunters
The Legend of Hei 2
Space Cadet

Best Original Score
**100 Meters** - WINNER
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Mahavatar Nishima
Nobody
The Quest

Best Original Song
**"Golden," KPop Demon Hunters** - WINNER
"Selalu Ada di Nadimu," Jumbo
"Soda Pop," KPop Demon Hunters
"Tapestry," David
"Watch Me!," Witch Watch: Watch Party
"What It Sounds Like," KPop Demon Hunters

Best Documentary
Endless Cookie
**Grand Theft Hamlet** - WINNER
I Was Born This Way
A Paradise Lost

Grand Theft Hamlet

Funniest Movie
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
KPop Demon Hunters
**Lesbian Space Princess** - WINNER
Nobody
Ordures
Zootopia 2

Best Action Scenes
**Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- The Movie: Infinity Castle** - WINNER
KPop Demon Hunters
The Legend of Hei 2
Mahavatar Narsimha
Ne Zha 2
Predator: Killer of Killers

Best "For Kids" Movie
Animal Tales of Christmas Magic
Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches
**Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie** - WINNER
The Greatest Thing Ever: A Garden Cartoon Movie
Peppa Meets the Baby Cinema Experience
Tummy Tom 2: A New Friend for Tummy Tom

Best Sequel, Prequel, Remake, Spin-off, Etc.
Chainsaw Man -- The Movie: Reze Arc
**Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- The Movie: Infinity Castle** - WINNER
The Legend of Hei 2
Ne Zha 2
Predator: Killer of Killers
Zootopia 2

Best "Not in the US Yet" Movie
Dandelion's Odyssey
Death Does Not Exist
**Ordures** - WINNER
Space Cadet
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
The Treasure of Barracuda

The "Eye-Popper" Award for Best Visuals
Animal Tales of Christmas Magic
ChaO
Dandelion's Odyssey
**Little Amélie or the Character of Rain** - WINNER
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
The Treasure of Barracuda

The "WTF" Award for Wildest Ride
All Operators are Currently Unavailable
**Dog of God** - WINNER
Dragon Heart: Adventures Beyond This World
Endless Cookie
The Great History of Western Philosophy
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Best Movie That is Actually Just a Bunch of Episodes of TV
DAN DA DAN: Evil Eye
The Greatest Thing Ever: A Garden Cartoon Movie
JUJUTSU KAISEN: Hidden Inventory / Premature Death - The Movie
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-
**Witch Watch: Watch Party** - WINNER

Best Animation/Live-Action Hybrid
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
The Green Dinosaur
I Was Born This Way
**Ordures** - WINNER
A Paradise Lost
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Best Short Film
**The Drifting Guitar** - WINNER
Hurikán
Ovary-Acting
Playing God
Retirement Plan
Sosuke the Duck

The Drifting Guitar

Best Title
Ashita no Arika (Whereabouts of Tomorrow)
Death Does Not Exist
Endless Cookie
**Grand Theft Hamlet** - WINNER
Lesbian Space Princess
Maya, Give Me a Title

Most Pleasant Surprise
Dongeng Sang Kancil
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
**Light of the World** - WINNER
Out of the Nest
Predator: Killer of Killers
Stitch Head

The Tearjerker Award
**Elio** - WINNER
The Girl Who Stole Time
In Your Dreams
KPop Demon Hunters
Lost in Starlight
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

The Boyfriend Award
Jay, Lost in Starlight
Jinu, KPop Demon Hunters
Keiji, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL
Satoru Gojo, JUJUTSU KAISEN: Hidden Inventory / Premature Death - The Movie
**Seventeen, The Girl Who Stole Time** - WINNER
Wolf, The Bad Guys 2

The Girl Who Stole Time