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 Voice Artist Performance
- Japanese (JP) (since 2019)
- English (EN) (since 2019)
- German (DE) (since 2022)
- French (FR) (since 2022)
- Latin American Spanish (LA) (since 2022)
- Castilian Spanish (SP) (since 2022)
- Portuguese (PT) (since 2022)
- Arabic (AR) (since 2023)
- Italian (IT) (since 2023)
- Hindi (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 Anime (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 Voice Artist Performance
- Russian (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
Notable awards and nominees
Series
Films
Records (as of April 2025)
Nominees
- Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba earned the highest nominations in each year with 46.
- 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.
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba earned the most nominations for a franchise with 50.
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
External links
- Official website
- Crunchyroll Anime Awards at IMDb
