Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2024: Celebrating the Best in Anime

Crunchyroll, the global hub for anime, has unveiled the categories for the eighth annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, scheduled to return to Tokyo on Saturday, March 2, 2024.

Fans worldwide will be the driving force behind the global voting process, ensuring a diverse and inclusive celebration of anime excellence.

New Categories for 2024

In recognition of the diverse genres and artistic brilliance within anime, the 2024 Anime Awards introduces three new categories:

1. Best Art Direction: Recognizing the visual elements that create the unique look and feel of an anime, including color, design, and animation style.
2. Best Cinematography: Focusing on the composition of individual scenes, encompassing the use of light and shadow, camera angles, depth of field, and scene transitions.
3. Best Slice of Life: Highlighting anime that captures everyday events in extraordinary ways, offering relief from the fast pace of the world and emphasizing relationships, emotion, humor, and heartbreak.

The Full List of Categories:

1. Anime of the Year: Recognizing the show that sets the standard with a compelling story, artistic excellence, and unforgettable characters.
2. Best Action: Rewarding shows with action at their core, featuring awe-inspiring scenes of heroes battling villains or overcoming incredible odds.
3. Best Animation: Celebrating visually stunning anime that bring stories to life with captivating animation styles.
4. Best Anime Song: Highlighting songs played during an anime series, including opening and ending sequences.
5. Best Art Direction (New): Honoring the visual elements that create the distinctive look and feel of an anime.
6. Best Character Design: Recognizing artists who have created iconic anime characters.
7. Best Cinematography (New): Focusing on the composition of individual scenes and visual storytelling elements.
8. Best Comedy: Acknowledging shows that bring laughter with surprising perspectives or witty exchanges.
9. Best Continuing Series: Celebrating ongoing shows that sustain excellence in storytelling, characters, and artwork.
10. Best Director: Recognizing the crucial role directors play in shaping the vision of an anime.
11. Best Drama: Commending anime that conveys essential aspects of the human experience, building and relieving tension.
12. Best Ending Sequence: Celebrating memorable and creative ending sequences that pair design and music.
13. Best Fantasy: Recognizing anime that transport audiences to imaginative and magical universes.
14. Best Film: Honoring non-episodic anime with runtimes longer than a standard episode.
15. Best Main Character: Acknowledging the face of a series, whether hero, anti-hero, or villain, with well-developed stories.
16. Best New Series: Honoring new anime series that stand out and captivate viewers.
17. Best Opening Sequence: Celebrating opening sequences that set the tone with striking visuals and music.
18. Best Original Anime: Recognizing new creations not adapted from source material like manga or light novels.
19. Best Romance: Acknowledging anime that captures hearts with captivating love stories.
20. Best Score: Commending original music composed for anime that adds depth and emotion to scenes.
21. Best Slice of Life (New): Recognizing anime that captures everyday events in extraordinary ways.
22. Best Supporting Character: Celebrating supporting characters that shine brightly in their roles.
23. Best Voice Actor Performance: Honoring voice actors across various languages who breathe life into characters.
24. “Must Protect At All Cost” Character: Recognizing characters that make the world feel kinder and more special.

International Recognition for Voice Actors

The Best Voice Actor Performance category will honor voice actors across multiple languages, including Arabic, Castilian, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Latin Spanish.

Judging Process and Nominee Reveal

The nominees for each category will be revealed on January 17, 2024, selected by the dedicated and independent judges of the 2024 Anime Awards.

This diverse panel includes over 100 global creatives, tastemakers, experts, and influencers, representing the largest and most diverse set of judges in Anime Awards history.

The full list of Anime Awards judges can be found here.

The Grand Event in Tokyo

The eighth edition of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards will be hosted at the Grand Prince Hotel ShinTakanawa in Tokyo on March 2, 2024.

The live ceremony, hosted by renowned voice actress Sally Amaki and popular entertainer Jon Kabira, will be supported by Sony Music Solutions, part of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.

The event will be streamed globally, allowing fans worldwide to join in the celebration of the best in anime for 2024.