It may be May, but there’s still awards to dole out for 2025. On Friday night, Crunchyroll held its annual anime awards, and the revealed winners were both fitting and kind of chaotic.
For the shonen heads, awards went out to the long-running series you’d expect—Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle took “Best Score” and “Film of the Year,” My Hero Academia’s wins included “Best Ending Sequence” and several regional voice acting awards, and so on. Gachiakuta, the current new kid on the block, also took home some gold for “Best New Series,” “Best Background Art,” and “Best Character Design.”
Other wins were complete surprises, though. The big one is “Best Original Anime” winner Lazarus, an anime which didn’t actually air on Crunchyroll in 2025; it was an Adult Swim/HBO Max series in North America and played on TV Tokyo in Japan. Some are going to cry foul at its quality, though, since its 60% community rating on Rotten Tomatoes clashes against its 92% critical consensus. However, this particular category feels a bit strange, given fellow nominees like Digimon Beatbreak and Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux are less original works than Lazarus, Moonrise, or Apocalypse Hotel.
Here’s some of the Anime Award nominees and bolded winners below, with the full list here. You can decide for yourself whether Crunchyroll was right on the ball or missed the mark.
Anime of the Year
Film of the Year
Best Continuing Series
Best New Series
Best Original Anime
Best Animation
Best Opening Sequence
Best Ending Sequence
Best Main Character
Best Supporting Character
Best Voice Artist Performance (Japanese)
Best Voice Artist Performance (English)
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Source: Gizmodo