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TOKYO -- "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," Mamoru Hosoda's feature-length toon about a time-traveling teenage girl, scooped the Animation of the Year prize at the Tokyo Anime Awards ceremony at the Tokyo Anime Fair on Thursday.

The pic, which was a surprise hit at the BO in Japan last year, won prizes in a total of six categories, including Best Director, Best Original Story, Best Script, Best Art Direction and Best Character Design.

Both Hosoda and Yasutaka Tsutsui, the author of the 42 -year-old novel on which the toon was based, were on hand to receive their prizes. "Anime cannot be done by one person alone -- it also depends on a wonderful original story and script, as well as wonderful character design," Hosoda commented.

The Tokyo Anime Awards have two main divisions-- Nomination Entries, for commercial works released or broadcast last year, selected by 300 industry pros for Animation of the Year and other prizes, and Public Entries, for general entrants and students, with nominees vetted by a panel of 13 judges. This year the Public Entries Division attracted a total of 217 entries from 17 countries.