 So the 2019 Oscars are being held this Sunday, February 24th, the Oscars, the top accolade in film. In a word show so prestigious that even being nominated for an Oscar gives you the privilege to tack on Academy Awards nominee to your name for the rest of your life. Your name, or Kimi no Nawa, has been regarded by many critics as a cinematic masterpiece, and a lot of people even think it's the greatest anime movie ever made. It has a 97% on Ron Tomatoes, and across 21 film festivals and award organizations, it has won best film or best animated feature four times, and it's been nominated 11 times. It's grossed $357 million, making it the highest grossing Japanese film of all time, beating Spirited Away. Despite all of these amazing accolades, it was never even nominated for the 2017 Oscars. Instead, it was beat out by these five movies. Coco, Ferdinand, Loving Vincent, The Breadwinner, and, wait for it, Boss Baby. Forget about your name or a silent voice, we have Boss Baby, truly an absolute masterpiece, the epitome of animation cinema right there. I can't think of a better movie. Granted, Coco was a good film, great film actually, and Coco 100% deserved to win that year. But Boss Baby, we were able to speak with Kyle Abert, famous for being Gohan and the narrator from Dragon Ball, Kiba from Naruto, Kakyoin from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, and many other roles. Now that it's considered cool to be a geek and whatnot, what is necessarily popular isn't necessarily up for grabs in terms of critical acclaim in all that, but that doesn't negate the impact that anime has. An award show is an award show. Whether something makes a personal difference in your life or simply entertains, that is something that is entirely subjective. To date, only seven animes have ever been nominated for an Oscar. Spirited away in 2002, Howl's Moving Castle in 2005, The Wind Rises in 2013, The Tale of Princess Kaguya in 2014, when Marnie was there in 2015, The Red Turtle in 2016, and finally, Marae in 2018. The reason why this year is so important is that Marae is the first anime ever nominated for an Oscar that isn't made by Studio Ghibli. It's a miracle it's even up there. This year, it'll go up against Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. Since the start of the award, Disney and Pixar have won 12 of the 18 years. Only one anime in history has ever received an Oscar for Best Animation, and that's Spirited Away, which is critically acclaimed to be the best anime movie ever. This was a unique moment in history, particularly for anime fans. We were able to see, in our lifetimes, one of our own received the most coveted award in film. This doesn't happen very often because Hollywood likes to look after their own. After all, Hollywood runs the Oscars. It's a tight-knit group that doesn't really allow a lot of outsiders. A lot of its members are from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Old white men who probably think anime is just for kids. If you're not in with them, good luck getting a nod your way. That being said, how did Spirited Away even get nominated? As I'm sure everyone knows, Spirited Away was produced by Studio Ghibli, a Japanese studio. But who was responsible when it needed to be distributed in America? That's right, our very own Walt Disney. You see, Walt Disney also had the rights to localize it in America, and they decided that John Lasseter, who at the time was an executive producer and director at Pixar, was a man for the job. And what do you know? John Lasseter was the biggest Miyazaki fan of all time. He hired some Hollywood actors to do some voiceovers, and I guess the rest is history. When a movie's got big names like Disney and Pixar and John Lasseter backing you, there's no surprise that it was nominated for an Oscar only a year later. Look, Spirited Away is a great film for a good reason. It truly is a masterpiece, but when nominating a film, we should be looking at the film itself and not just nominate it because we're a fan of the director. This begs the question, how do Oscar nominations and voting work exactly? You see, it's a huge privilege to be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There are 6,000 voting members of the Academy, and they require each member to have some kind of distinction. They need to have been credited in several movies, and they have to be recent movies, or they have to have been nominated for an Oscar themselves. In the past, for nominations, directors would nominate best directors, actors would nominate best actors, animators would nominate best animation. When it goes to voting, however, anyone can pretty much vote for anything, and as of 2018, even the nominations have opened up to everyone. As the YouTuber Jeff Thu, also known as Mother's Basement, aptly explained in his own video why the Oscars don't get animation. A lot of the voters just don't care about best animation. They don't give two shits about animation as an art form, and a lot of them don't even bother to watch all the nominees before mindlessly casting their votes in the category. It doesn't matter how much better the other nominees might be, the Academy voters never bother to watch them in the first place. First things first, I think it would be great if the Academy members would actually do their job and watch the movies that are nominated, like, at least once. And just as a side note, your grand kid watching Big Hero 6 three times, it doesn't count as you watching it. And when you do watch all the nominees, judge fairly, instead of simply picking whatever feel good Disney Pixar movie was released that year. In 1994, Hoop Dreams, one of the most widely acclaimed documentaries of all time, was passed up for an Oscar nomination. People called it the worst Oscar snub of all time. A lot of people said the reason why is because the Academy members were tired and didn't watch all of it. Other members claimed that they did watch it all the way through, though. While he didn't say what films specifically, director and Academy member Chuck Workman stated that a lot of good movies were turned off because people didn't want to spend the time. There was a whole world of nonfiction films going on that they just kind of missed. When you have a bunch of people with similar backgrounds gathered together in a group like the Academy, they tend to have similar views and opinions on things. It's no secret, Hollywood isn't the most diverse place in the world. Even they acknowledge it. Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and widest, sorry, brightest. According to a 2015 study, when it comes to Academy voters, 93% were white, 76% were male, and 86% were 50 years or older, with the average age being 63. You have to give them credit, though. In recent years, the Academy has actually brought on more diversity, and we hope that these new Academy members will be able to nominate a wider range of films, besides the same five Disney Pixar films we see every year. We still got a lot of work to do, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. I for one am excited to see how this decision will impact the future of the Academy. Anime has come in waves of popularity. I don't think it's ever going to go away. I think it is here to stay. I don't think it will ever overtake domestic animation in terms of art form or popularity, but it is definitely here to stay.