In 2017, Crunchyroll created its own equivalent of the Academy Awards for anime, providing recognition of the artistic merit of Japanese animation and provided excitement for many fans. The first three years of the Awards had Anime of the Year go to truly revolutionary titles like Yuri on Ice, Made in Abyss, and Devilman Crybaby. Starting in 2020, there were signs that something was wrong with these awards, something seriously wrong. Since the turn of the decade, the award has exclusively gone to action titles, almost always Shonen Jump titles, with the flashiest animation, at the expense of titles with more profound stories, characters, and themes. The Crunchyroll Anime Awards seem to the anti-Academy Awards of sorts where the big dumb Michael Bay popcorn flick always wins Best Picture. There are categories for best action and best animation, but the big, flashy action title seems to always win that Anime of the Year award. Fans of the titles that kept getting snubbed year after year had a concession of a judge panel having 70% sway on the awards, rather than just a fan vote, but that has not helped the situation.
2025 featured the most controversial edition of the Awards ever, when I though last year was the most controversial ever. In the 21st century, 2024 might have been of the best years for anime this century, with Frieren, Dan Da Dan, and The Apothecary Diaries all being landmark and downright incredible titles. Deep, profound stories and believable rounded characters do not matter as the winner of the awards was power fantasy title Solo Leveling, which featured amazing action sequences but was the most bare bones title in terms of plot or characterization out of all the nominees. Even Solo Leveling‘s dedicated forum on MyAnimeList called foul of it winning an award. When a show’s own fanbase is protesting it winning an award, and there are signs that something is fundamentally broken about the awards.
Since the 2020 awards, it seems like the awards have reinforced this idea that an action filled show with minimal plot or characterization is the platonic ideal of what anime should be. Even though anime is made for a Japanese audience first, the sheer proliferation of these style over substance shows seems to be proof that this is the new future of anime. This is the era of Tiktok youth who consume bite sized clips with flashy animation. Yes, I do understand the appeal of recent winners like Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Solo Leveling and all those flashy shows with what the kids call “sakuga” (pretty animation essentially), but it does feel like the current fanbase’s obsession with flashy action over story and character has hurt the medium significantly. When the fans demand less in terms of story and characterization, this deincentives anime and manga writers from caring too.
I do know this does sound like a grumpy over thirty guy screaming about a medium mainly targeted to teens (although there adult anime out there and great ones too), and I understand the new generation and actual target demographic has profoundly different tastes than I do. Yes, it does seem like the Crunchyroll Anime Awards Frieren vs. Solo Leveling controversy is a microcosm of the generational battle over what anime should be. I guess that Demon Slayer‘s 2020 win over Promised Neverland season one, Mob Psycho 100 season 2, and Vinland Saga season 1 was a sign that a new generation’s taste controls these awards. What just stings about Frieren‘s loss is that it seemed like this generation’s anime fandom was finally gravitating back towards deeper and more complex material and seemed to be the shoe-in, but it failed to beat the “sakuga” juggernaut of the year. At least the existence of Frieren is proof that narratively rich anime are still going to be made even if “sakuga over story” series dominate the market and sweep the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
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