LOS ANGELES: Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” won the Oscar for the best animated feature at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.

It was the second Oscar-winning work by Miyazaki, 83, after his “Spirited Away” became the first Japanese feature-length animated film to take the prize in 2003.

Meanwhile, “Godzilla Minus One” by Japanese director Takashi Yamazaki, 59, netted an Oscar for best visual effects, becoming the first Japanese winner in the category.

Meanwhile, “Perfect Days” directed by Germany’s Wim Wenders and starring Japanese actor Koji Yakusho missed out on the Oscar for the best international feature.

“The Boy and the Heron” was Miyazaki’s first work in a decade. It is about a boy led by a mysterious bird to a fantasy world following the death of his mother in a fire during war.

It was released in Japan last July and in North America last December, and ranked first in North American weekend box office sales the week it was released.

“Miyazaki was delighted from the bottom of his heart when I told him by phone of his Oscar win,” Toshio Suzuki, producer at Miyazaki’s anime powerhouse Studio Ghibli Inc., told a press conference.

“Miyazaki’s sense of the times has not faded even after reaching his 80s,” Suzuki said. “He has done it this time as well.”

The visual effects of “Godzilla Minus One” were created by Yamazaki, whose past works include “Always Sanchome no Yuhi.” The latest Godzilla film beat blockbusters from Hollywood studios that extensively use computer graphics.

The movie, released in the United States last December, has become the highest-grossing Japanese live-action work ever.

“To someone so far from Hollywood, even the possibility of standing on this stage seemed out of reach,” Yamazaki said in his acceptance speech. “This award is proof that everyone has a chance.”

JIJI Press