FUNimation’s FullMetal Alchemist wins five awards at the inaugural American Anime Awards

Anime wins Best Long Series, Best Cast, Best DVD Package Design, Best Actor and Best Anime Theme Song.

Photo not provided by FUNimation

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS — North Richland Hills-based FUNimation Entertainment, a Japanese animation distributor for the U.S., and Square Enix Co., Ltd., developer, publisher and distributor based in Tokyo, announced today that their Full Metal Alchemist series took home five awards from the inaugural American Anime Awards at the New York Comic Con on Feb. 24. The Full Metal Alchemist series won Best Long Series, Best Cast, Best DVD Package Design, Best Actor (Vic Mignogna) and Best Anime Theme Song ("Rewrite," by Asian Kung-Fu Generation).

"These awards are a great testament to the popularity of Full Metal Alchemist in the United States," says Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. "Full Metal Alchemist had a great year in the United States, and we would like to thank our U.S. fans and our Japanese business partners for making this series such a great success."

The Full Metal Alchemist series is one of the top-rated anime series on television, and the sales of its DVDs have led the U.S. anime industry. According to an analysis of Nielsen Video Scan data, all 13 volumes of the series and the movie were ranked in the Top 50 of the bestselling anime DVDs in the United States for 2006. "Basically, the Full Metal Alchemist DVDs accounted for 28% of the Top 50 bestselling anime DVDs in the United States," said Fukunaga.

This year was the inaugural year for the American Anime Awards, which are voted on by anime fans nationwide.

Source: FUNimation Entertainment