Though we didn’t have much in the way of conventions last year based on the dreaded Coronavirus Pandemic, we were able to have some sense of normal life based on the assorted streaming services such as Crunchyroll. That being said, its now time to celebrate the best of the best from the fine folks at Crunchyroll. Let’s take a look at the full press release and nominees as provided by their media facilitators.

The Press Release:
Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand, is excited to announce the nominees for the fifth annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, presented by Princess Connect! Re: Dive, with voting open and available for fans starting today. The Anime Awards are a celebration of the best and brightest in Japanese animation from 2020, all made possible by the world’s most passionate community. The full list of nominees have been revealed below and can also be found on the Anime Awards website. Fans are encouraged to vote every day for their favorites between today, Friday, January 15 through Friday, January 22. Voting will reset every day at 12 AM PST. Logged in Crunchyroll users who vote in every category will also receive a special digital gift when voting ends delivered directly to their email! Crunchyroll’s Tim Lyu will host the awards show this year, along with a special guest – Crunchyroll’s beloved princess Crunchyroll-Hime!

The winners will be revealed live during the Anime Awards show on Friday, February 19, 2021, at 5:00 PM PST. All winners will be chosen by fans across the global anime community and a committee of judges. Judges will serve as tiebreakers in the event of any ties.

Anime of the Year:
* APPARE-RANMAN!
* BEASTARS
* Dorohedoro
* Great Pretender
* JUJUTSU KAISEN
* Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Best Girl:
* Abigail Jones – Great Pretender
* Catarina Claes – My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
* Chizuru Mizuhara – Rent-a-Girlfriend
* Kaguya Shinomiya – Kaguya-sama: Love is War?
* Noi – Dorohedoro
* Sayaka Kanamori – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Continue reading Presenting The Fifth Annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards Nominations →

Greetings friends, we’ve come to that time of the year when the trophies are handed out by Crunchyroll during their annual Anime Awards. Now I’ve mentioned a few times that I am mostly a casual fan of this stuff more than a dedicated study but I do hit the two conventions of Liberty City Anime Con and Anime NYC each year and have a blast indulging in the form and meeting fans who are in excellent cosplay of these characters. Now without any further adieu here are the nominees. Don’t forget to cast your vote on the website linked below the end of the list.

Anime of the Year:
Carole & Tuesday
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Mob Psycho 100 II
O Maidens in Your Savage Season
The Promised Neverland
Vinland Saga

Best Protagonist:
Emma, The Promised Neverland
Hyakkimaru, Dororo
Saitama, One-Punch Man Season 2
Senku, Dr. STONE
Tanjiro Kamado, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Tohru Honda, Fruits Basket

Best Antagonist:
Ai Magase, BABYLON
Angela, Carole & Tuesday
Askeladd, Vinland Saga
Garou, One-Punch Man Season 2
Isabella, The Promised Neverland
Overhaul, My Hero Academia Season 4

Best Boy:
Bruno Bucciarati, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Hyakkimaru, Dororo
Kanata Hoshijima, ASTRA LOST IN SPACE
Naruzou Machio, How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?
Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama, Mob Psycho 100 II
Tanjiro Kamado, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Best Girl:
Carole, Carole & Tuesday
Chika Fujiwara, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
Emma, The Promised Neverland
Kohaku, Dr. STONE
Nezuko Kamado, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Raphtalia, The Rising of the Shield Hero

Best Director:
Tetsuro Araki, Attack on Titan Season 3
Kiyotaka Suzuki, BABYLON
Shinichiro Watanabe & Motonobu Hori, Carole & Tuesday
Yuzuru Tachikawa, Mob Psycho 100 II
Kunihiko Ikuhara, Sarazanmai
Shuhei Yabuta, Vinland Saga

Best Animation:
Attack on Titan Season 3
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia
Mob Psycho 100 II
Sarazanmai
Vinland Saga

Best Character Design:
Tsunenori Saito, Original Character Design by Eisaku Kubonouchi, Carole & Tuesday
Satoshi Iwataki, Original Character Design by Hiroyuki Asada, Dororo
Yuko Iwasa, Dr. STONE
Yuko Yahiro, Original Character Design by Aka Akasaka, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
Kayoko Ishikawa, Original Character Design by Miggy, Sarazanmai
Takahiko Abiru, Original Character Design by Makoto Yukimura, Vinland Saga

Best Score:
Hiroyuki Sawano, Attack on Titan Season 3
Mocky, Carole & Tuesday
Go Shiina and Yuki Kajiura, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Tatsuya Kato, Hiroaki Tsutsumi and Yuki Kanesaka, Dr. STONE
Yugo Kanno, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Kevin Penkin, The Rising of the Shield Hero

Best Fight Scene:
Emperor Crimson vs. Metallic, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Levi vs. Beast Titan, Attack on Titan Season 3
Mob vs. Toichiro, Mob Psycho 100 II
Tanjiro & Nezuko vs. Rui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Thorfinn vs. Thorkell, Vinland Saga
Ushiwakamaru vs. Tiamat, Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia

Best Couple:
Baki Hanma & Kozue Matsumoto, Baki
Kaguya Shinomiya & Miyuki Shirogane, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
Mafuyu Sato & Ritsuka Uenoyama, given Reo & Mabu, Sarazanmai
Rika Zonazaki & Shun Amagi, O Maidens in Your Savage Season
Ymir & Historia, Attack on Titan Season 3

Best VA Performance (JP):
Mamoru Miyano as Reo Niiboshi, Sarazanmai
Saori Hayami as Shinobu Kocho, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Yuichi Nakamura as Bruno Bucciarati, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Yukino Satsuki as Ai Magase, BABYLON
Yuuko Kaida as Isabella, The Promised Neverland
Yusuke Kobayashi as Senku, Dr. STONE

Best VA Performance (EN):
Kyle McCarley as Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama, Mob Psycho 100 II
Laura Bailey as Tohru Honda, Fruits Basket
Erica Mendez as Retsuko, Aggretsuko Season 2
Billy Kametz as Naofumi, The Rising of the Shield Hero
Faye Mata as Aqua, KONOSUBA -God’s blessing on this wonderful world!
Casey Mongillo as Shinji, Neon Genesis Evangelion

Best Comedy:
Aggretsuko Season 2
How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?
Isekai Quartet
KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
My Roommate Is a Cat
Sarazanmai

Best Fantasy:
Ascendance of a Bookworm
ASTRA LOST IN SPACE
Attack on Titan Season 3
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Sarazanmai
The Promised Neverland

Best Drama:
BABYLON
Carole & Tuesday
Fruits Basket
Stars Align
The Promised Neverland
Vinland Saga

Best Opening Sequence:
♪ Kiss Me by Nai Br.XX & Celeina Ann, Carole & Tuesday (Animation Director & Storyboard Artist – Bahi JD)
♪ Kawaki wo Ameku by Minami, Domestic Girlfriend (Animation Director / Storyboard – Shota Ihata; Character Designer – Naomi Ide)
♪ Inferno by Mrs. GREEN APPLE, Fire Force (Storyboards – Akitoshi Yokoyama; Direction – Yuki Yase; Animation Director – Hideyuki Morioka)
♪ 99.9 by MOB CHOIR feat. sajou no hana, Mob Psycho 100 II (Animation Director – Yoshimichi Kameda; Storyboard Artist – Yuzuru Tachikawa)
♪ Touch Off by UVERworld, The Promised Neverland (Animation Director – Kazuaki Shimada; Storyboard Artist – Atsushi Nishigori)
♪ Mukanjyo by Survive Said the Prophet, Vinland Saga (Animation Director – Takahiko Abiru; Storyboard Artist – Kazuya Murata)

Best Ending Sequence:
♪ Hold Me Now by Nai Br.XX & Celeina Ann, Carole & Tuesday (Animation Director – Yoshiyuki Ito; Storyboard Artist – Norimitsu Suzuki)
♪ Sayonara Gokko by amazarashi, Dororo (Animation Director – Osamu Kobayashi; Storyboard Artist – Osamu Kobayashi)
♪ veil by Keina Suda, Fire Force (Storyboards, Direction, Animation, Coloring & Backgrounds – Taiki Konno)
♪ Chikatto Chika Chikaa♡ by Konami Kohara, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR (Animation Director / Storyboard Artist – Naoya Nakayama)
♪ Stand by me by the peggies, Sarazanmai (Animation Director – Kayoko Ishikawa; Storyboard Artist – Tao Tajima)
♪ Torches by Aimer, Vinland Saga (Animation Director / Storyboard Artist – Toshiyuki Yamashita)
Vinland Saga

*** end of list ***

PiercingMetal Thoughts: So there you have it, the full rundown of nominees for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. This year has me a bit clueless as I didn’t manage to watch any of the Anime stuff despite being really interested in doing so. I am finding that there is only so much TV and movies that I can watch. I also need an expert to guide me on it all so please do submit some recommendations to me. Though the list is long, I’d love for those expets in the format to let me know who they hope to win big in a few of the categories so please do chime in down below. It will be great to learn even more about it all. Now as their website discloses “The Anime Awards will culiminate in a live awards show on February 15, 2020 at 5pm PST. Be sure to mark your calendars to tune in and celebrate the winners!” – This will be done across their official website and their social networks so mark your calendars. Of course, I will also return with a rundown of the full winners list as well. Now back to the everything else. See you next time and once again do NOT forget to cast your vote. Part of me is thinking that is has to amount to more than the BS “Fan Vote” for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees but I digress. Sound your voice now! nOW!! NOW!!!

Official Website: http://www.crunchyroll.com