Evangelion, Moyashimon, Oh My Goddess!, Mysterious Girlfriend X manga also nominated

The 54th Japan Science Fiction Convention (Nihon SF Taikai) revealed the list of nominees for the 46th Seiun Awards on Saturday. The awards this year are separated into nine categories: Japanese Long Story, Japanese Short Story, Translated Long Story, Translated Short Story, Media, Comic, Art, Nonfiction, and a "Free" category. Each category has between 4-10 nominees. The nominees were chosen among works that were released between January 1 and December 31 2014.

The attendees of "Comecon" in Yonago in Tottori prefecture will vote on the winners. The 54th Japan Science Fiction Convention will take place during the convention, and the staff will announce the winners on August 29.

"Seiun Shō" literally translates to "nebula awards," but the Japan SF Con's Seiun Awards are more akin to Worldcon's Hugo Awards, in that the attendees of each respective convention vote on the winners. There is another set of awards, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan's Nihon SF Taishō honors, that are the rough Japanese equivalent of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Awards. Like the Hugo Awards, the Seiun Awards honor all forms of speculative fiction — including but not limited to science fiction — and related materials.

Previous winners of the Seiun Awards include The World of Narue, Pacific Rim , Bodacious Space Pirates, Range Murata, Masamune Shirow, Makoto Shinkai, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam: The Origin, 20th Century Boys, Summer Wars, Card Captor Sakura, Madoka Magica and more.

The nominees of the Media and Comic categories include:

Media Category

Expelled from Paradise film

Space Dandy TV anime series

TV anime series Interstellar film

film Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199: Hoshi-Meguru Hakobune (Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Star-Voyaging Ark) film

Big Hero 6 film (called Baymax in Japan)

film (called in Japan) Kill la Kill TV anime series

TV anime series Nazo no Tenkōsei (Mysterious Transfer Student) television drama

Comic Category

Gainax, Khara, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Neon Genesis Evangelion (all 14 volumes)

Masayuki Ishikawa's Moyashimon (all 13 volumes)

Kosuke Fujishima's Oh My Goddess! (all 48 volumes)

Tamiki Wakaki's The World God Only Knows (all 26 volumes)

Kazuhiro Fujita's Moonlight Act (all 29 volumes)

Riichi Ueshiba's Mysterious Girlfriend X (all 12 volumes)

Additionally, in the Art category, Keinojou Mizutama (original character designer for MAOYU), Noriko Nagano (Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy), Naohiro Washio (mechanical designer for Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Heroic Age, Fafner), Yasushi Suzuki ( IKARUGA, Sin & Punishment, Radiant Silver Gun ), and Akihiro Yamada (character designer for RahXephon, artist for Record of Lodoss War: The Lady of Pharis manga) received nominations.

In the Japanese Long Story category, all nine volumes of Romeo Tanaka's Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity Has Declined) novels received a nomination, and both volumes of Nahoko Uehashi's Shika no Ō (The Deer King) novels also received a nomination. Tanaka's novels inspired a television anime adaptation in 2012 and Sentai Filmworks licensed and released the series in North America. Nahoko Uehashi is the author of the original novels behind Production I.G's Kemono no Sou-ja Erin and Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit fantasy anime series.

Also, Toshihiro Handa's Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 de Wakaru Tenmongaku (Understanding the Astronomy Behind Space Battleship Yamato 2199) book received a nomination in the Nonfiction category, and the Aoi Honō television drama based on Kazuhiko Shimamoto's manga received a nomination in the "Free" category.

Update: Added relevant nominations in the Japanese Long Story category. Thanks, vanfanel.

Source: animeanime.jp