Following the choice by over 100 film critics and journalists last month, the readers of Kinema Junpo, Japan's oldest film magazine that began publication in 1919, also selected the anime film adaptation of Fumiyo Kouno's award-winning manga Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni/In This Corner of the World as the best Japanese film of 2016. The director of the film, Sunao Katabuchi is also awarded as the "Best Japanese Director" by the readers' vote. The Best Foreign Director Award goes to Clint Eastwood (Sully).

This is the first time in 17 years for an anime film to be selected as the best film of the year by the magazine's readers since Hayao Miyazaki's Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi/Spirited Away in 2001.

As reported, Shout! Factory has secured all distribution rights of the film in the U.S. and Canada, and plans to begin its theatrical release in the summer of 2017.

Kinema Junpo Japanese film Best 10 of 2016: Readers' Choice

1. "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni" (Sunao Katabuchi)

2. "Shin Godzilla" (Shinji Higuchi/Hideaki Anno)

3. "Ikari" (Lee Sang-il)

4. "Kimi no No wa." (Makoto Shinkai)

5. "Rip Van Winkle no Hanayome" (Shunji Iwai)

6. "64: First and Second Part" (Takahisa Zeze)

7. "Yu wo Wakasu hodo no Atsui Ai" (Ryota Nakano)

8. "Nagai Iiwake" (Miwa Nishikawa)

9. "Umi Yori mo Mada Fukaku" (Hirokazu Koreeda)

10. "Fuchi ni Tatsu" (Kouji Fukada)

Kinema Junpo Foreign film Best 10 of 2016: Readers' Choice

1. "Sully" (Clint Eastwood/USA)

2. "Carol" (Todd Haynes/USA)

3. "Spotlight" (Tom McCarthy/USA)

4. "Room" (Lenny Abrahamson/Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom)

5. "The Revenant" (Alejandro G. Iñárritu/USA)

6. "The Martian" (Ridley Scott/USA)

7. "Bridge of Spies" (Steven Spielberg/USA)

8. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (J. J. Abrams/USA)

9. "Brooklyn" (John Crowley/United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland)

10. "Trumbo" (Jay Roach/USA)

The 90th Kinema Junpo Best 10 Award winners:

Best Japanese Film: "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"

Best Foreign Film: "Sully"

Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa ("Yu wo Wakasu hodo no Atsui Ai")

Best Actor: Yuya Yagira ("Destruction Babies")

Best Supporting Actress: Hana Sugisaki ("Yu wo Wakasu hodo no Atsui Ai," and others)

Best Supporting Actor: Takehara Pistol ("Nagai Iiwake")

Best Young Actress: Nana Komatsu ("Oboreru Knife," "Destruction Babies," and others)

Best Young Actor: Nijiro Murakami ("Destruction Babies," "Natsumi no Hotaru")

Best Director: Sunao Katabuchi ("Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni")

Best Screenplay: Hideaki Anno ("Shin Godzilla")

Foreign Film Director: Clint Eastwood ("Sully")

Source: Kinema Junpo