At the 10th Anime Trending Awards, ‘Heavenly Delusion’ won the prestigious Anime of the Year award. The sci-fi anime secured a total of five wins, marking it as the first exclusive series from Production I.G and Disney+ to achieve this mark.
In addition to Anime of the Year, ‘Heavenly Delusion’ also won in the following categories: Best in Episode Directing and Storyboard for ‘Their Choices’ by Ryo Nakano (Episode Direction) and Haruka Fujita (Storyboard), as well as Best in Sceneries and Visuals for the work of Yuuji Kaneko (Art Director). Izumi Hirose (Color Design), and Kentaro Waki (Director of Photography).
The anime series also secured awards in the Mystery or Psychological and Supernatural categories. This marks another remarkable victory for ‘Heavenly Delusion’ as it surpassed ‘Oshi no Ko’ during the Spring 2023 Anime Awards, where the latter took second place in the annual Anime of the Year voting.
Heavenly Delusion also won awards for ‘Favorite Mystery or Psychological Anime’ and ‘Favorite Supernatural Anime’ at Anime Trending’s Spring 2023 Anime awards.
Before the season began, it ranked #17 in the Pre-Spring 2023 Anime Polls, then climbed to the sixth spot at the start of the season, finally reaching the top spot during the last four weeks.
By the eighth week, ‘Heavenly Delusion’ had almost guaranteed its first-place position until Week 11, surpassing titles such as Oshi no Ko by 51 votes, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury by 68 votes, and Hell’s Paradise by 223 votes.
The top 10 nominees for this year’s Anime of the Year award included ‘Tengoku-Daimakyo’ with 6,291 votes, followed by ‘Oshi no Ko’ with 6,132 votes, ‘Vinland Saga Season 2’ with 6,055 votes, ‘The Dangers in My Heart’ with 5,970 votes.
JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 2′ with 5,368 votes, ‘My Happy Marriage’ with 4,759 votes, ‘The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten’ with 3,976 votes, ‘The Eminence in Shadow’ with 3,692 votes.
‘The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You’ with 3,200 votes, and ‘Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2’ with 2,874 votes.
The anime series was directed by Hirotaka Mori, known for his work as the assistant director of ‘Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale’. Makoto Fukami, the series screenwriter behind ‘Blade of the Immortal’, contributed to the script.
Utsushita from Minakata Laboratory, recognized for the “Adventuring Party Heroes of Forest” music video, served as the character designer. Ryota Furukawa, co-main animator for ‘Psycho Pass 3’, took on the role of Hiruko designer.
Shinobu Tsuneki, known for ‘Fena: Pirate Princess’, worked as the mechanical designer, while Akira Takata, from ‘Moriarty the Patriot’, designed the guns. Kensuke Ushio, acclaimed for ‘Chainsaw Man’, composed the music. The animation production was handled by Production I.G.
The voice cast for ‘Tengoku-Daimakyo’ includes Gen Sato as Maru, Sayaka Senbongi as Kiruko, Hibiku Yamamura as Tokio, and Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kona.
Misato Fukuen as Mimihime, Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shiro, Tomoyo Kurosawa as Kuku, Misato Matsuoka as Anzu, Yuuki Shin as Taka, Kazuya Nakai as Robin Inazaki, Masako Isobe as the nursery director, Tadashi Mutou as Sawatari, and Atsumi Tanezaki as Aoshima.
The anime series is based on the original manga by Masakazu Ishiguro, which started in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine on January 25, 2018.
The manga is published under the Afternoon KC imprint and has released 10 tankoubon volumes as of February 2024.
In the U.S., Hulu streamed ‘Tengoku-Daimakyo’, while Star+ streamed the series in Latin America. Disney+ carried the anime for viewers worldwide in other regions.
Plot
Inside the protected walls, kids grow up in a nursery-like place run by robots. Although life seems routine, the children are curious and talented. It’s like a piece of paradise.
Outside, the world is a harsh place. It’s mostly devoid of technology, now home to strange and powerful supernatural beings.
Maru, along with Kiruko’s help, ventures out into what was once Tokyo, seeking paradise. But after a long search, they start to wonder if heaven is just a distant dream, not something they can find.