Crunchyroll announced nominees for the streaming service’s sixth annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards today. Although fans can cast their vote for the nominees on Crunchyroll’s website, a panel selected judges that were each nominated to the position by a vote in October.
The 20 categories include awards for Anime of the Year, Best Director, Film of The Year, and Best Character Design, as well as less traditional recognitions like Best Boy and Best Fight Scene. There are seven regional categories for non-Japanese vocal performances across Crunchyroll’s dub catalog, including English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Castillian, and Russian. Altogether, Variety reports that the 156 nominees across a total of 26 categories represent 54 franchises from 38 studios.
Jujutsu Kaisen won 2021’s Anime of the Year award. This year, 86, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1, Jujutsu Kaisen’s second cour, Odd Taxi, Ranking of Kings, and Sonny Boy have all been nominated for the top award. Luckily the Best Film category has returned this year to accommodate more of the great series released last year. Nominees for Best Film are Belle, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, Shirobako the Movie, and Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop.
Best Romance is a new category debuting this year, with nominees Beastars, Fruits Basket The Final Season, Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, Horimiya, Komi Can’t Communicate, and The Duke of Death and His Maid competing for the inaugural award.
Crunchyroll also published an explainer on their criteria since several popular shows like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc didn’t qualify for this year’s awards (they will next year!).
Voting is open today through Jan. 25, with winners announced on Feb. 9.