Over 11 million global votes cast for favorite characters, series and creators, with winners announced during live ceremony at Crunchyroll HQ in San Francisco.
Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand, has announced the winners from the fourth annual Anime Awards, presented this past Saturday night during a live ceremony held at the company’s San Francisco HQ and streamed on their website and various social platforms. The annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards celebrate the best and brightest in Japanese animation with categories this year honoring fan favorite series, characters, moments, and more from anime in 2019.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba took home the award for Anime of the Year, with Mob Psycho 100 II taking the award for Best Animation.
This year, over 11 million global votes were cast across 18 categories, 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 this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards include:
- Anime of the Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Best Animation: Mob Psycho 100 II
- 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
- 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 Fight Scene: Tanjiro & Nezuko vs. Rui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- 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
- Industry Icon: George Wada, WIT STUDIO
Additional highlights from the Anime Awards:
- Commenting on his Industry Icon Award honor, George Wada, President of WIT STUDIO, said, “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. 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 back country. Having no administrative skill, 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.
- The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (April 2020)
Hosts at this year’s Anime Awards:
- WWE Superstar Xavier Woods (AKA Austin Creed)
- Tim Lyu, Host of Crunchyroll
Presenters included:
- 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)
Source: Crunchyroll
