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Crunchyroll Anime Awards
Current: 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards
Awarded for	Best in anime of the previous year
Country	United States Japan
Presented by	Crunchyroll
First awarded	January 11, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-01-11)
Website	crunchyroll.com/animeawards

The Crunchyroll Anime Awards, also known simply as The Anime Awards, are awards given annually by the anime streaming service Crunchyroll to recognize the best anime of the previous year. Announced in December 2016, the awards were first presented in January 2017. Crunchyroll describes it as a "global event that recognizes the anime shows, characters, and artists that fans around the world love most."

The 8th ceremony was held on March 2, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 won the Anime of the Year award.

Process

The awards have two rounds of voting. Initially, each judge will submit up to five potential candidates for each category. Six candidates that received the highest amount of nominations from this round will be included in the final list for the next round, which is a one-week public voting. Winners for each category are determined by the most amount of judge and public votes weighted in a 70:30 ratio respectively since at least the 6th edition.

For the first six editions of the awards, any anime that was produced by primarily in Japan and released legally on television, cinema, or online from January to December of the previous year were eligible for nomination. The eligibility period was changed for the 7th and 8th editions, from October of the previous two years (Fall season) to September of the previous year (Summer season). However, in December 2024, Crunchyroll announced that starting from the 10th edition onwards, the eligibility period will return to its previous format of eligibility from January to December, with the eligibility period for the 9th edition covering October 2023 to December 2024 to accommodate the change in format. Eligible nominations for non-Japanese VA Performance are based on the initial release of the dub irrespective of when the anime was originally released.

The set of categories that will be presented varies for each edition, with categories added, removed, or otherwise renamed. The 9th edition, for example, will feature 32 categories.

Categories

Current

• Anime of the Year (since 2017)
• Best Main Character (since 2023)
• Best Supporting Character (since 2023)
• "Must Protect At All Costs" Character (since 2023)
• Best Opening Sequence (since 2017)
• Best Ending Sequence (since 2017)
• Best Anime Song (since 2023)
• Best VA Performance (JP) (since 2019)
• Best VA Performance (EN) (since 2019)
• Best VA Performance (DE) (since 2022)
• Best VA Performance (FR) (since 2022)
• Best VA Performance (LA) (since 2022)
• Best VA Performance (SP) (since 2022)
• Best VA Performance (PT) (since 2022)
• Best VA Performance (AR) (since 2023)
• Best VA Performance (IT) (since 2023)
• Best VA Performance (HI) (since 2025)
• Best Director (since 2019)
• Best Background Art (since 2024)
• Best Animation (since 2017)
• Film of the Year (2018–2019; since 2022)
• Best Continuing Series (2018–2019; since 2023)
• Best New Series (since 2023)
• Best Original Anime (since 2023)
• Best Character Design (since 2019)
• Best Drama (since 2017)
• Best Comedy (since 2017)
• Best Score (since 2018)
• Best Action (2017–2018; since 2022)
• Best Romance (since 2022)
• Best Slice of Life (2018; since 2024)
• Best Isekai (since 2025)

Special

• Industry Icon Award (2018–2020)
• Special Achievement Award (since 2023)
• Presenter's Choice (since 2023)

Former

• Best Protagonist (2017–2022)
• Best Antagonist (2017–2022)
• Best Boy (2017–2022)
• Best Girl (2017–2022)
• Best Fantasy (2020–2024)
• Best Fight Scene (2017–2022)
• Most Heartwarming Scene (2017)
• Best CGI (2018)
• Best Cinematography (2024)
• Best Manga (2018)
• Best Couple (2017–2018; 2020–2021)
• Best VA Performance (RU) (2022)

Hero of the Year and Villain of the Year awards were renamed as "Best Hero" and "Best Villain" respectively in 2018. However, they were renamed again in 2019 as "Best Protagonist" and "Best Antagonist" respectively. On the same edition, "Best Opening" and "Best Ending" were renamed as "Best Opening Sequence" and "Best Ending Sequence" as well. In 2024, "Best Film" and "Best Art Direction" were renamed as "Film of the Year" and "Best Background Art" respectively.

Editions

9th edition

The 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards will be held on May 25, 2025 at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa in Tokyo, Japan. It will be hosted by Sally Amaki and Jon Kabira, who both hosted the previous two ceremonies. Announced during Crunchyroll's industry panel at CCXP 2024 in São Paulo, Brazil, anime series released from October 2023 to December 2024 are eligible for this edition, with Crunchyroll further noting that future editions will feature anime series released from January to December. This edition will feature 32 categories, including new categories for Best Background Art, Best Isekai Anime, and Best VA Performance (Hindi). Categories were revealed on December 6. Nominees will be revealed on April 3, the first day of public voting, which will run until April 14.

Notable awards and nominees

Series

Films

Records (as of March 2024)

Nominees

• Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen earned the highest nominations in each year with 44.
• Chainsaw Man earned the highest nominations in a single year / edition (8th) with 25.
• Megalo Box and Wonder Egg Priority are the two anime series to receive the most nominations with 11, without a win.
  • Wonder Egg Priority is the only original anime series to receive the most nominations without a win and did not nominate the Anime of the Year category.
• Suzume earned the most nominations for films with 6.
• Jujutsu Kaisen earned the most nominations for a franchise with 48.

Winners

• Jujutsu Kaisen earned the highest wins in each year with 21.
• Jujutsu Kaisen earned the highest wins in a single year / edition (8th) with 11 including Anime of the Year, which also became the first anime to win the award twice.
• At the inaugural ceremony, Yuri on Ice swept all of the seven nominations including the Anime of the Year, amid controversy by fans.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 earned the most wins for a film with 3.
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the first anime adaptation of video games to win the Anime of the Year category, which was based on a video game Cyberpunk 2077 by Polish video game development studio CD Projekt Red.
• Jujutsu Kaisen earned the most wins for a franchise with 24.

See also

• List of animation awards

References

1. "Crunchyroll Announces Its First Ever Anime Awards". Anime News Network. December 21, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
2. "How It Works | The Anime Awards - Crunchyroll". Crunchyroll Anime Awards (crunchyroll.com/animeawards). Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
3. ^ Coats, Cayla (January 21, 2022). "How Anime Awards Judging Works and How Winners Are Chosen". Crunchyroll. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
4. ^ "Crunchyroll Anime Awards Returns to Tokyo on May 25, 2025". Crunchyroll News (crunchyroll.com/news). Crunchyroll. December 6, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
5. "How It Works". Crunchyroll Anime Awards (crunchyroll.com/animeawards). Crunchyroll. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
6. Loveridge, Lynzee (January 12, 2019). "Megalobox, Devilman crybaby Dominate Crunchyroll Anime Award's Nominations". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
7. Wolf, Ian (January 30, 2017). "Yuri!!! On Ice wins Crunchyroll's "Anime of the Year" Award – Angering Crunchyroll users". Anime UK News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Crunchyroll Anime Awards at IMDb

• Crunchyroll Anime Awards
• Anime awards
• Awards established in 2017