Malaysia’s ‘Mechamato’ becomes first non-Japanese series to win Tokyo Anime Award Fest fan award

Malaysia’s Mechamato series has become the first non-Japanese animation to win the ‘Anime Fan Award’ at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF).

• READ MORE: ‘Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Part 2’ review: a spectacularly savage climax begins

The series was part of a small list of winners – including grand prize recipients Spy x Family (TV series) and One Piece Film Red (Film) – that were revealled on Thursday (February 9) and ahead of the upcoming festival on March 10.

Nizam Abdul Razak, the chief executive officer of production house Animonta Studios (Monta), said the victory marked a good start for the studio’s animation series in the international market, Malay Mail Online (via news agency Bernama) reported on Friday (February 10).

Watch the trailer for the series below.

“We thank everyone who voted for Mechamato. We are very excited to have won the award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, which is from Japan, a country famous for its animation industry,” Nizam said in a statement.

“Monsta is confident that Mechamato will be able to captivate the hearts of the Japanese audience, especially children, because of its unique concept and the story, which is full of noble values.”

TAAF’s official website announced that Mechamato clinched a total of 40,590 votes, rising above 50 other competitors in the same category.

The Malaysian series was allowed to compete for the award after premiering on Cartoon Network Japan in March 2022, before gaining wider popularity following its debut on Netflix Japan in October 2022. So far, the series has only one season with a total of 13 episodes.

Set in the Malaysian fictional town of Kota Hilir, Mechamato chronicles the life of a boy named Amato and his robot sidekick named Mechabot, who both battle against bad robots. The series also forms part of the BoBoiBoy franchise and is set prior to the BoBoiBoy galaxy.

Other than Japan and Malaysia, the Mechamato series is currently being aired in over 70 countries including South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The series also has a movie, a series prequel which has been airing in Malaysian cinemas since December 8 last year and collected RM36 million so far.

The TAAF festival, which started in 2002, had given its first main award to fantasy film Spirited Away the same year. Other notable winners included the likes of Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa in 2006, Attack on Titan in 2014, and Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer in 2019. Last year, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken took home the grand prize for the TV category, while Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time won for best film.

The post Malaysia’s ‘Mechamato’ becomes first non-Japanese series to win Tokyo Anime Award Fest fan award appeared first on NME.