Crunchyroll Anime Awards nominees out

Anime awards can feel fluffy. But the Crunchyroll Anime Awards matter because they sit right where fandom, marketing, and industry prestige meet. This year’s news is simple — on April 2, Crunchyroll revealed the 2026 nominees, opened fan voting, and locked in the live ceremony for May 23 in Tokyo as the event marks its 10th anniversary. (crunchyroll.com) ### What actually got announced? Crunchyroll dropped the full nominee list for the 2026 awards and started public voting the same day. The ceremony is set to stream live from Tokyo, Japan, on May 23, 2026, with a pre-show at 5 p.m. JST and the main show at 6 p.m. JST. Voting ran daily through April 14, which means the nomination reveal was the real starting gun for this year’s campaign season. (crunchyroll.com) ### Which shows are leading the conversation? The biggest headline is the Anime of the Year field. The six nominees are The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, DAN DA DAN Season 2, Gachiakuta, My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Takopi’s Original Sin. That lineup says a lot by itself — sequels are still dominant, but darker and more experimental newer titles are clearly breaking through. (crunchyroll.com) ### Is this just one big award? Not even close. Crunchyroll says the 2026 show spans 32 categories, covering the obvious stuff like Anime of the Year and Film of the Year, but also more granular fan-favorite lanes like Best Opening Sequence, Best Score, Best Character Design, Best Main Character, and voice acting awards across multiple languages. Basically, it is trying to be both an Oscars-style industry show and a giant fandom poll at the same time. (crunchyroll.com) ### Why does MyAnimeList matter here? Because this is one of the clearest signs that Crunchyroll wants the awards to feel bigger than its own platform. For the first time, voting was available not just on the Anime Awards site and Crunchyroll, but also on MyAnimeList. That widens the funnel. It brings in fans who track anime obsessively but do not necessarily live inside Crunchyroll’s app ecosystem. (crunchyroll.com) ### What does the nominee list say about anime right now? It shows a medium in a sequel-heavy phase, but not a stale one. Big franchise names like My Hero Academia still have awards gravity. But nominees like The Summer Hikaru Died and Takopi’s Original Sin point to something else — horror, psych(crunchyroll.com)etting stronger. That’s an inference from the nominee mix, not a formal category statement. (crunchyroll.com) ### What else is attached to the show? Crunchyroll is treating the ceremony like a full entertainment event, not just a trophy handoff. The company announced presenters including Winston Duke and RZA, plus performances from DEAN FUJIOKA, PORNOGRAFFITI, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, and an earlier-announced Yoko Takahashi appearance t(crunchyroll.com)global pop-culture show, not only an anime-insider gathering. (crunchyroll.com) ### Why does the Tokyo setting matter? Because Crunchyroll is a global streaming brand, but anime’s symbolic center is still Japan. Holding the 10th anniversary show in Tokyo lets the company borrow cultural legitimacy while broadcasting outward to international fans. It is a bridge move — local stage, global audience. (expo.crunchyroll.com) ### So what’s the bottom line? The nominee reveal is not just a list. It is the annual map of what anime companies think mattered in 2025 — and what fans might help turn into the next wave of must-watch hits by the time the winners are announced on May 23. (crunchyroll.com)