Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards Heads To Japan For 2023
One might question why it wasn’t there from the beginning, but Crunchyroll has announced that its Anime Awards will be held in Japan for the first time next year.
The Anime Awards was founded six years ago to “celebrate fan-favorite anime series, characters, and creators across streaming, film and music.” Our first thought was these shows would probably be heavily biased in favor of shows carried by Crunchyroll, de-legitimizing them. But then we realized — Crunchyroll owns everything, so it’s moot.
But THEN we read a little further and learned the Crunchyroll Anime Awards are chosen by fan votes. Last year a record 16.9 million votes were cast for nominees representing nearly 40 anime studios, some of which had distribution rights that weren’t locked up under Crunchyroll-hime’s loving armpit (yet). So with the masses deciding, it’s probably not a tool for corporate advertising even if it’s paid for by one. Now we just have to hope the winners aren’t decided by whichever meme is most popular.
“There is no better place to celebrate the Anime Awards than the birthplace of anime itself,” said Rahul Purini, President of Crunchyroll. “Anime is a rich storytelling medium, capturing the hearts and minds of fans all over the world. We can’t wait to showcase how much love the global anime fanbase has for the studios, creators, and our trusted partners behind anime.”
The 7th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards do not have a specific date set yet, but nominees and voting will open early next year.
Angie4214go
August 19, 2022 @ 2:49 am
The 2022 Awards results are very terrible. Thank goodness they don’t matter. If you truly appreciate anime, watch it and buy its stuff. I’m hoping that this Awards event makes up for the horrible 2022 Awards in 2023.
anime-icon
August 19, 2022 @ 2:51 am
I can’t pretend to care about…any award show anymore much less this one, but I’m curious to see if movies and series will compete in best animation or if there will be another objectively wrong snub or if Chainsaw Man’s (let’s be honest here) borderline already determined win will result in a ton of “Chainsaw Man is overrated” threads.
Kabuto_10
August 19, 2022 @ 2:52 am
They’re potentially alienating two fanbases, and we all know how notoriously vengeful some extreme otaku are. There will be some unfavorable reactions to Mushoku Tensei not even receiving a nomination, which is blatant trash.
Icefish
August 19, 2022 @ 2:54 am
Even if it’s still terrible enough for everyone to make fun of it, Crunchyroll now has the resources to make this a happening that anime lovers won’t be able to ignore. They have funding now so I have hopes for this event to be a blast to watch.
MoonKNight
August 19, 2022 @ 2:58 am
Anitrendz Awards is 10 times better than this boring circus. At least they give every Anime a chance, even the less well-liked ones, as opposed to giving mainstream trash the majority of the nominees. Crunchyroll saw an all-time low in 2017.
King Bam
August 19, 2022 @ 3:01 am
This year, I’m hoping additional categories will be open to movies. When the best animated films are disallowed from entering the “Best Animation” category, it’s just absurd. Because Mugen Train was a TV series, they continued by really awarding “Best Animation” to the movie TV recut of the same name. Such a joke. Then call them “The TV anime awards.”
TheViper
August 19, 2022 @ 3:02 am
I bet this have higher ratings than Oscars