The Choices Between Anime of the Year at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Are Just Mean

The 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards are just around the corner! The Anime Awards are the biggest award ceremony for anime that fans can actually tune in to watch. But not only can we watch—alongside a panel of judges, fans can vote for their favorites and have an active say in the outcome of the ceremony!

Last year, Crunchyroll hosted the awards in Tokyo for the first time ever and coaxed multiple Hollywood celebrities to fly out. This year’s slate of nominees includes anime that aired in Q4 of 2022, which—if you don’t remember—was absolutely stacked. Just having to pick a favorite among the five nominees for Anime of the Year was enough to cause my brain to split in half.

But who’s nominated, who’s presenting at the ceremony, and when and how can you watch the proceedings?

And the nominees are … !

The 2024 Crunchyroll Awards will have 32 wide-ranging categories, from Best New Series to Best Score to Best Ending Sequence (the correct answer to the ladder is Maximum The Hormone’s all-timer contribution to Chainsaw Man). There are also multiple categories for best Voice Actor performance, with a category each for Japanese, English, Spanish, Castilian, French, Arabic, German, Italian, and Portuguese performances.

Nominees did not have to air on Crunchyroll to be included—Oshi No Ko, which streamed in the US on competitor HIGHDIVE, is an obvious example. My favorite category? “Must Protect At All Costs” Character. Although having to choose between Pochita, Bocchi, and Bojji feels morally wrong.

Crunchyroll has a full list of this year’s categories and nominees. But here are the nominees for the five “headlining” categories (listed alphabetically). Note that the nominees for contention began in the fall 2022 season. Fall 2023 anime were not eligible, which is why you see Chainsaw Man and not potential future contenders Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Pluto, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, or The Apothecary Diaries.

Anime Of The Year

• BOCCHI THE ROCK!
• Chainsaw Man 
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc 
• JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 2 
• 【OSHI NO KO】
• VINLAND SAGA SEASON 2 

Best Continuing Series 

• Attack on Titan (Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 1)
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc) 
• JUJUTSU KAISEN (JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 2) 
• ONE PIECE 
• SPY x FAMILY (SPY x FAMILY Season 1 Cour 2)
• VINLAND SAGA (VINLAND SAGA SEASON 2) 

Best New Series

• BOCCHI THE ROCK! 
• Chainsaw Man 
• Heavenly Delusion 
• Hell’s Paradise 
• 【OSHI NO KO】
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 

Best Film 

• Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King 
• BLUE GIANT 
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-
• PSYCHO-PASS: Providence
• Suzume
• THE FIRST SLAM DUNK

Best Original Anime 

• Akiba Maid War
• BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story- Season2
• Buddy Daddies
• Do It Yourself!!
• Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch From Mercury
• THE MARGINAL SERVICE

Was Mob Psycho 100‘s astounding third season completely robbed? Oh my, yes. Would having to choose between that and the other exceedingly worthy competitors for Anime of the Year have broken my soul a little bit? Yes. As the category is, I’m split. Even as a huge Chainsaw Man fan, I’m beyond delighted to see so much love for BOCCHI THE ROCK!, which was a dark horse series when it first premiered. I’m also delighted to see some love for Buddy Daddies, which was a personal favorite from 2023.

Voting has ended for the 2024 awards, so now all that remains is to pray that your fave won and watch the ceremony to find out.

Where are the awards, and can you get tickets?

The 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards will take place in Tokyo, Japan at a venue not yet specified. 2023 was the first time Crunchyroll held the ceremony in Tokyo, where they streamed live from the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa. Crunchyroll teased in a press release for the 2024 awards that the ceremony would have a pre-show and be held “with an elevated format.”

So the fact that the awards will take place in Tokyo is probably the first hitch in your plan to attend them. The second is that, much like The Game Awards or The Oscars or The Emmys, tickets are not available to the public. It’s an invite-only affair. Sorry, folks!

Who’s hosting and presenting?

Voice actress Sally Amaki and entertainer Jon Kabira will return from the 2023 ceremony to host the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, live from Tokyo.

But Amaki and Kabira are far from the only presenters Crunchyroll has recruited for the event. Last year, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard came onstage with his brother and awkwardly-but-charmingly talked about how much they both love anime. This year, the game’s been upped a bit. Megan Thee Stallion is presenting an award. Yes, that Megan Thee Stallion.

Another major headlining presenter is LiSA, the singer-songwriter behind Demon Slayer‘s now-iconic OP “Gurenge” (among plenty of other hits). Iman Vellani, who plays Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel and The Marvels, will also come to Tokyo and present.

More presenters will be announced soon, but the ones we know now are: Aquaria (from RuPaul’s Dragon Race season 10), Che Linger (rapper and artist), Lena Lemon (content creator), Yaeji (artist, producer, vocalist, DJ), and Ylona Garcia (singer).

When and how can you watch?

The 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards will stream live on March 2, 2024. However, because the ceremony will take place in Tokyo, it’s worth noting that the time at which they will be streamed will likely be quite different from other award shows.

Looking back at how the 2023 ceremony worked can help us break down what this means. The 2023 awards were held Saturday night in Tokyo, which translated to a shockingly early Saturday morning award show for fans back in the states. It will take place before stateside clocks “spring forward,” which means 8 PM on Saturday in Tokyo is 6 AM Saturday in the Eastern time zone, 3 AM Pacific.

What I’m saying is, be prepared to wake up nice and early if you want to watch this one live.

Last year, the awards were live-streamed on Crunchyroll’s Twitch and YouTube accounts. More details will come from Crunchyroll’s dedicated Anime Awards hub, so be on the outlook there for more information.

(featured image: Crunchyroll)