The first three months of the year are filled with awards ceremonies. Earlier this week, public voting opened for Crunchyroll’s 8th annual Anime Awards, where fans like you and me decide who wins! You can vote once every day until January 27 HERE. The winners will be announced during a live broadcast from Tokyo on March 2, which will feature a star-studded cast of presenters including Megan Thee Stallion, Iman Vellani, and LiSA.
The list of nominees includes anime that aired in Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023. Anime that aired in Fall 2023 will be eligible for the 2025 Anime Awards, but you won’t see any of them on this year’s ballot. Over 40 different anime have been nominated for at least one category, with 19 being nominated for at least three different categories. Chainsaw Man leads by a remarkably wide margin at 25 nominations, whereas JUJTUSU KAISEN Season 2 comes in a not-so-close second with 16 nominations. Following these two frontrunners are Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc and OSHI NO KO with 12 nominations each; Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS and BOCCHI THE ROCK! with 10 nominations each; Hell’s Paradise with 8 nominations; SPY X FAMILY Season 1 with 7 nominations; Mob Psycho 100 III, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, and Suzume with 6 nominations each; Heavenly Delusion, One Piece, and Vinland Saga Season 2 with 5 nominations each; MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES with 4 nominations; and Buddy Daddies, Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, and TRIGUN STAMPEDE with 3 nominations each. The remaining anime have only been nominated for one or two categories.
Previously, the only Voice Acting Performance categories were for Japanese and English, but the 2024 Awards has added seven more language dubs: Castilian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Arabic, and French (however, I was not given the option to vote for these categories when I cast my votes, so my guess is these categories are only available in certain countries). They also added three additional new categories—Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Slice of Life—for a total of 32 categories. With Chainsaw Man being nominated for 25, that means there are only seven categories that this anime is not in the running to win.
Do you think we’re going to see a Chainsaw Man landslide? Let me know in the comments! In the meantime, you can read my thoughts about some of the nominated anime here (for the Fall 2022 titles) and here (for the 2023 titles).
