Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand, has announced the winners from the fourth annual Anime Awards, a celebration of the best and brightest in Japanese animation from last year.
Anime’s popularity has continued to soar over the last year with the industry valued at more than $10 billion. Fans also have more ways to enjoy anime than ever before, through streaming, fan events, theatrical screenings, celebrity and athlete endorsements, and video games, just to name a few.
This year, over 11 million global votes were cast across 18 categories from fans celebrating their favorite characters, series, and creators, eclipsing the 5 million votes cast in 2019. The top five countries that voted this year were the United States, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Winners of the Anime Awards were announced during a live event at the Crunchyroll HQ in San Francisco, hosted by WWE® Superstar Xavier Woods™ (AKA Austin Creed) and streamed on the Crunchyroll homepage and across Crunchyroll social media platforms.
The Crunchyroll Anime Awards was sponsored by Bokksu, the leading subscription box and media platform for Japanese snack food discovery and authentic storytelling, and Naruto Slugfest, launching in Spring of 2020 from Mars Games.
Winners of this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards include:
Anime of the Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Animation: Mob Psycho 100 II
Best Boy: Tanjiro Kamado, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Girl: Raphtalia, The Rising of the Shield Hero
Best Score: Mocky, Carole & Tuesday
Best VA Performance (JP): Yuichi Nakamura voices Bruno Bucciarati in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Best VA Performance (EN): Billy Kametz voices Naofumi in The Rising of the Shield Hero
Best Director: Tetsuro Araki, Chief Director and Masashi Koizuka, Director – Attack on Titan Season 3
Best Character Design: Satoshi Iwataki, Original Character Design by Hiroyuki Asada, Dororo
Best Protagonist: Senku, Dr. STONE
Best Antagonist : Isabella, The Promised Neverland
Best Couple: Kaguya Shinomiya & Miyuki Shirogane, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
Best Drama: Vinland Saga, WIT STUDIO
Best Fantasy: The Promised Neverland, CloverWorks
Best Comedy: KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR, A-1 Pictures
Best Fight Scene: Tanjiro & Nezuko vs. Rui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Opening Sequence: Mob Psycho 100 II, ♪ 99.9 – MOB CHOIR feat. sajou no hana
Best Ending Sequence: KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR, ♪ Chikatto Chika Chikaa♡ – Konomi Kohara
Industry Icon: George Wada, WIT STUDIO
“I am honored to receive such a wonderful award. I am in a state of wonder and simultaneously full of gratitude for all the people who have been involved in creating anime,” said George Wada, President of WIT STUDIO, about his Industry Icon Award honor. “Most of all, I felt very strongly that I would like to continue creating anime.” The Industry Icon Award recognizes influential figures who have meaningfully contributed to the art and industry of anime.
Crunchyroll announced that four new titles will be coming to the platform including:
The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (April 2020)
Synopsis: Shingo Ichinomiya, a 25-year-old man working at a firm company, while thinking of tomorrow’s busy working day, goes to sleep. However, when he woke up, he found himself in a room unknown to him and realized that he is inside a 6-years-old body, taking over his body and mind. He soon learns from the memories of the boy that the boy was born as the youngest child of a poor noble family living in a backcountry. Having no administrative skills, he can’t do anything to manage the vast land his family has. Fortunately, he is blessed with a very rare talent, the talent of magic. Unfortunately, while his talent could bring prosperity to his family, in his situation it only brought disaster. This is the story of the boy, Wendelin Von Benno Baumeister, opening his own path in a harsh world.
My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (April 2020)
Synopsis: Wealthy heiress Katarina Claes is hit in the head with a rock and recovers the memories of her past life. It turns out the world she lives in is the world of the game Fortune Lover, an otome game she was obsessed with in her past life… but she’s been cast as the villain character who tries to foil the protagonist’s romances! The best ending the game has for Katarina is exile, and the worst, death! She’ll have to find a way to avoid triggering the flags of doom, and make her own happy future! The misunderstanding-based screwball love comedy now begins!
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 (Fall 2020)
So I’m a Spider, So What? (Coming 2020)
Winner of the Best Animation award, “Mob Psycho 100 II” is featured in the mobile game “Mob Psycho 100: Psychic Battle,” an original, turn-based RPG mobile game, which is available for download now on iOS and Android.
To increase global participation, Crunchyroll localized voting for the Anime Awards in 8 languages and held 6 watch parties around the world in Sydney, Australia; São Paulo, Brazil; Richmond and Toronto, Canada; and Fort Worth and New York City, US.
Fans participated in two contests during the Anime Awards. Crunchyroll offered a Bokksu giveaway on Twitter during the livestream. Within the livestream chats on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube; US-based fans entered to win one of three custom-made Crunchyroll-Hime skinned Xbox consoles by posting #himexbox.
Crunchyroll Anime Awards Hosts:
- WWE® Superstar Xavier Woods™(AKA Austin Creed)
- Tim Lyu, Host of Crunchyroll
Presenters include:
- KING VADER – Actor, Director and Influencer of anime’s hip-hop culture
- Gibi – YouTube creator (@Gibi ASMR)
- SungWon Cho (ProZD) – Actor, voice actor, and YouTube Creator (“Red vs. Blue,” “Nomad of Nowhere”)
- Cole Gallian – Host and Producer, Rooster Teeth (“Fan Service”)
- Miranda Sanchez – Executive Editor at IGN
- Tristan Gallant – YouTube Creator (“Glass Reflection”)
- Mark Phillips – YouTube Creator (“RDCWorld1”)
- Geoffrey Thew – YouTube Creator (Mother’s Basement)
- Kiera Please – Creator/Influencer/Music Artist
- LilyPichu – Livestreamer and YouTube Creator
- Anthony Carboni – Host (Emmy award-winning “The Star Wars Show”)
- Connor ‘CDawgVA’ Colquhoun – Content Creator and Voice Actor (“Dragon and Weed: Origins Season 1 Vol 1,” “Chronexia and the Eight Seals”)
Don’t forget to follow the Crunchyroll, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch pages.
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