Crunchyroll recently announced the return of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards to Japan. The ninth yearly event will be held at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo on May 25, 2025, and it will also be live-streamed on YouTube.
They revealed this during their panel at CCXP and included some notable changes, including an updated eligibility period for anime—now covering five seasons from October 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024. Moving forward in 2026, nominations will align with the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).
Fan voting will open on April 3, 2025, and run through April 14. Before that, the judges will finalize the nominees across 32 categories, which now include Best Isekai, Best Background Art, and Best Hindi Voice Artist.
Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards mix fan votes and judge decisions, but there are some ongoing issues with how it all works.
How It Works Now
Here’s a basic breakdown of the Anime Awards process:
Nomination Phase: A panel of over 100 judges, including industry experts, journalists, and fans, nominates up to five entries per category. The top six from this phase become the official nominees.
Voting Phase: Fans vote once per day for about ten days on Crunchyroll’s official site.
Winners: The final winners are decided based on a mix of fan and judge votes. In 2022, the split was 70% judges, 30% fans. Crunchyroll hasn’t clarified this split in recent years, which raises some concerns about transparency.
What Needs to Change
Judges Have Too Much Control: The current system gives judges almost total control in the nomination phase. Fans don’t get to weigh in until after the six nominees per category are already locked in. This has led to some questionable omissions in the past.
For example, Mushoku Tensei, despite being hugely popular, didn’t make it into many categories where it deserved recognition. Sure, it’s a polarizing series, but it would’ve easily ranked in the top three of several categories if fans had any say early on. Instead, it felt like the judges’ personal preferences or biases played too big a role.
Crunchyroll should introduce community input in the nomination phase. Even if fan votes only count for a percentage—say 30%—it would still make the process feel more balanced.
Lack of Transparency in the Voting Split: Crunchyroll used to disclose how much weight fan votes carried compared to judge votes. In 2022, it was 70/30 in favor of judges, but now they’ve stopped specifying. This lack of transparency leaves fans guessing whether their votes even matter. Crunchyroll needs to clarify the split again so everyone understands how winners are chosen.
Also Read: Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year Awards: All Winners and Losers
Fan Input in Nominations: Allowing fans to participate in the nomination phase would address much of the frustration around overlooked anime. Yes, popular series might dominate, but Crunchyroll can still cap the influence of fan input to ensure balance. For example, judges could contribute 70% of the preliminary scores while fans contribute 30%.
The Crunchyroll Anime Awards have come a long way, and the return to Japan for the 2025 event is a positive step. But Crunchyroll needs to address the lack of community involvement in nominations and clarify how much fan votes count in the final decision. Without these changes, the awards risk losing credibility with the audience they’re meant to represent.
