After being nominated for the 44th Annie awards, Makoto Shinkai’s Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) was awarded Best Animated Film in what is for many cinefile the precursor to the Oscar awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA).

This award makes the Oscar nomination almost a certainty. Just for reference, their last year’s winner, Inside Out, went to win the same award in the Oscars. The competition will be fierce if it does get the nomination since it will go against the amazing Kubo and the Two Strings and Disney’s Zootopia and Moana.

Your Name also recently surpassed Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle to become the second highest earning Japanese film at the box office. So far, the movie has earned a revenue of 19.96 billion yen.