Pokémon: The First Movie’s Screenwriter To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award In Japan

Many years ago when Pokemania was at its peak, Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back was released, and is fondly remembered to this day by Pokemon fans everywhere.

Today, we have news that Takeshi Shudo, the screenwriter of Pokemon: The First Movie, will receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2020. Shudo, who passed away in 2010, was not only the screenwriter of the Pokemon movie, but also the lead writer for the main Pokemon anime series from the show’s beginning in 1997  up until 2002.

Aside from Shudo, Hisao Shirai, who served as the Director of Photography for many Pokemon films, will also receive a posthmous Lifetime Achievement Award at the event.

You can check out the full list of award winners below, as shared by Crunchyroll:

• Shoji Sato, Producer, Future Boy Conan
• Junzo Nakajima, Producer, Heidi, Girl of the Alps
• The late Takeshi Shudo, Screenwriter, Pokémon the Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution
• The late Kazuko Nakamura, Animator, Astro Boy, White Snake Den
• The late Hisao Shirai, Director of Photography, My Neighbor Totoro, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, Pokémon TV anime
• Akiko Koyama, Color Design, Little Women, Soul Eater (episodes 14 and 22)
• Michio Mamiya, Composer, Gauche the Cellist, Grave of the Fireflies
• Masako Ikeda, Voice Actor, Maetel in Galaxy Express 999, Sharon in Space Brothers
• Seiki Co., Ltd., for precision filming equipment used in animation, the company is dissolved.

The Tokyo Anime Award Festival will be held in Ikebukuro from 13th March to 16th March 2020.

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