The 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards were held in Tokyo on May 24, 2025, celebrating the very best in anime from late 2023 through early 2025. In case you missed it, we’ve broken down all the winners and major awards.
Major Awards
- Anime of the Year – Solo Leveling (Season 1)
- Film of the Year – Look Back
- Best Original Anime – Ninja Kamui
- Best Continuing Series – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc
- Best New Series – Solo Leveling
Character & Voice Performance
- Best Main Character – Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)
- Best Supporting Character – Fern (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)
- Best VA Performance (Japanese) – Aoi Yūki as Maomao (The Apothecary Diaries)
- Best VA Performance (English) – Aleks Le as Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)
- Best VA Performance (Hindi) – Lohit Sharma as Kento Nanami (Jujutsu Kaisen S2)
- Best VA Performance (Spanish) – Masumi Mutsuda as Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)
Music & Technical Categories
- Best Anime Song – “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan)
- Best Opening Sequence – “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan)
- Best Ending Sequence – “request” by krage (Solo Leveling)
- Best Score – Hiroyuki Sawano (Solo Leveling)
- Best Animation – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc
- Best Character Design – Dan Da Dan
- Best Art Direction – Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Genre Awards
- Best Action – Solo Leveling
- Best Comedy – Mashle: Magic and Muscles
- Best Romance – Blue Box
- Best Drama – Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
- Best Isekai – Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World
Special Recognition
- Global Impact Award – Attack on Titan
Personal Opinions
Personally, I didnt expect a lot of the winners, such as Solo Leveling (Season 1) winning Anime of the Year. Hear me out: I really do love Solo Leveling. I’ve played the game, read the light novel and the manhwa, and of course watched the anime. Sure, it really is a good adaptation, mainly thanks to the amazing voice actors and talented artists that worked on this.
But Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End should have taken the crown. The worldbuilding, its emotional rollercoaster of a story, the incredibly animated fights, and stunning OST – everything should have made Frieren Anime of the Year. I’m sorry but behind all that aura farming and sigma behavior from Sun Jin Woo, is a story that couldn’t have competed with Frieren’s.
For more information on the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, visit Crunchyroll’s official website!
