Nominees considered for Rockie Award in animation category

The Banff World Media Festival announced last month that Barakamon and Nobunaga Concerto are among nominees in the Rockie Awards' animation category.

The two anime are competing against Dutch short film Munya In Me , Nickelodeon's The Legend of Korra , British television series The Octonauts , and French film The Rooster of St-Victor .

The winners of the Rockie Award will be announced at the June 7-10 festival in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

The Banff World Media Festival describes the 2014 anime Barakamon :

As a punishment for punching a famous calligrapher, young handsome calligrapher Seishu Handa is exiled to a small island. As someone who has never lived outside of a city, Handa has to adapt to his new wacky neighbors, like people traveling on a tractor, unwanted visitors who never use the front door, annoying kids using his home as a playground, etc. Can this city guy handle all the crazy hardships? Find out in this wacky island comedy full of innocence and laughter!

Funimation streamed Barakamon in North America as it aired in Japan. Crunchyroll streamed the series in Europe (outside the United Kingdom and Ireland), the Middle East, and North Africa.

Kinema Citrus (Yuyushiki, Code:Breaker) produced Barakamon for Nippon TV. Masaki Tachibana (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky) directed the series off of Pierre Sugiura's (Yuyushiki, Bottom Biting Bug) scripts. Majiro (Nagareboshi Lens) is handled the character designs, and Kenji Kawai (Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, Patlabor 2: The Movie) handled the music.

The Banff World Media Festival describes the 2014 anime Nobunaga Concerto :

Nobunaga Concerto is Fuji TV's 55th anniversary project, a cutting-edge Sengoku period entertainment where Oda Nobunaga, the greatest hero in Japan's history turns out to be a high school student. Who would've ever imagined that Nobunaga, who is said to have anticipated the future had been replaced by a young student from modern times? The unforeseen story unfolds to reveal the incredible deeds Saburo leaves behind in place of the renowned warlord.

Crunchyroll streamed Nobunaga Concerto as it aired in Japan.

Yūsuke Fujikawa directed the anime off scripts written by Natsuko Takahashi (Antique Bakery, Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru, Moyashimon), and Masaru Yokoyama (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Nobunaga The Fool, Joshiraku) scored the music.