Cherry and Virgin Earns Satoshi Kon Jury Recognition at Fantasia

Masanao Kawajiri’s animated feature Cherry and Virgin has received the Special Mention of the Jury in the 2026 Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The honor was announced on July 25, when the French animated feature Blaise claimed the top prize in the category, Best Animated Feature.

Cherry and Virgin film had its world premiere in the festival’s Animation Plus section on July 18. Jury president Sylvie Trouve, alongside Peter Ferguson and Jeff Waye, selected the honorary prize for the film’s authentic character portrayal, emotional honesty, relatability, and animation technique.

“It’s a story with so much heart, and one where the animation technique and storytelling couldn’t be a better fit,” stated the Jury while presenting the Satoshi Kon Award to Cherry and Virgin. They stated the film beautifully captured the burden of “insecurity, vulnerability, and human connection.”

Organized annually in Montreal, Fantasia has become one of North America’s most influential genre festivals. Beyond its top prize, Cheval Noir, the Satoshi Kon Award recognizes innovation in animated filmmaking in honor of the late Japanese filmmaker behind Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika.

Cherry and Virgin's Six-Year Road to The Fantasia International Film Festival

Cherry and Virgin arrived in Montreal nearly six years after its original 2021 announcement and a planned 2022 release, which never materialized. This film is Kawajiri’s first feature following his acclaimed short A Japanese Boy Who Draws (2018). 

A Japanese Boy Who Draws was a hybrid project, which mixed animation, live action, and manga panels. The feature film also applies that same rotoscoping technique, tracing over live-action performance footage, and tells a romance between an adult BL manga reader and a male erotic manga artist. 

In Cherry and Virgin, the romantic drama follows Ryo, a 32-year-old erotic manga artist, and  28-year-old Ami, who meet through a dating app, with both struggling with intimacy and social anxiety. The 86-minute film builds an adult narrative with an unglamorous protagonist in their 30s, departing from anime norms where teenage and young-adult leads usually dominate. 

Director Kawajiri co-wrote the script with Misato Kaga. Cherry and Virgin still has no confirmed Japanese release date beyond a general 2027 window. However, recognition at Fantasia reinforces its visibility as an independent anime project across the international festival circuit. 

Fantasia’s animation lineup this year also included the North American premiere of Sekiro: No Defeat and the world premiere of CloverWorks’s Grotesqqque anthology. For Cherry and Virgin, the Special Mention positions the debut feature as one of this year’s notable auteur animation titles before its commercial release in Japan.