My Hero Academia Just Won Anime of the Year and the 2026 Crunchyroll Awards Got Everything Right
The 10th edition of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards happened in Tokyo on May 23, 2026, and 73 million anime fans around the world made their voices heard. My Hero Academia Final Season walked away with Anime of the Year — beating a field that included Solo Leveling Season 2, The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, and SPY x FAMILY Season 3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle took Film of the Year on the back of a $781 million worldwide box office run. And the night was hosted by Lauren Moore and Tim Lyu alongside Gigguk, with The Weeknd stepping on stage to personally hand the Anime of the Year trophy to the My Hero Academia team. If you needed more proof that anime has crossed into mainstream global culture, 73 million votes and a Grammy winning musician presenting the top award should settle the debate.
My Hero Academia did not just win Anime of the Year. The final season took home Best Ending Sequence for BUMP OF CHICKEN’s “I,” and Katsuki Bakugo won Best Supporting Character — a moment that felt like a long overdue tribute to one of the most complex character arcs in shonen history. In total, the show won four awards across the night. The fact that the finale of one of the most beloved series of the past decade ended its run with the top prize is deeply satisfying for anyone who has been watching since the beginning.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle dominated the Film of the Year and Best Score categories, with composer Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina taking the music prize. The film also swept the international voice performance categories — winning in English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, French, German, and Latin Spanish — a clean sweep that reflects just how broadly this film landed globally. It is the biggest anime film ever made in terms of box office, and it now has the awards to match.
The surprise story of the night was Gachiakuta, the gritty dystopian manga adaptation from Bones Film. It took home Best New Series, Best Background Art, and Best Character Design — three major categories that signal this show is being taken seriously as one of the best produced titles of the year. A second season is already in production. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 also had a strong night with four wins including Best Drama and Best Main Character for Maomao. Dan Da Dan Season 2 won Best Comedy and Best Opening Sequence. And Lazarus, the Shinichiro Watanabe original, won Best Original Anime.
This was the most globally attended Crunchyroll Awards in the event’s history and it felt like it. Celebrities in attendance included RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Winston Duke from Black Panther, Grammy nominated artist Young Miko, K-pop artists BamBam and TEN, and Indian actress Rashmika Mandanna. Anime is not a niche anymore. It has not been for a while. But a night like this makes that undeniable.
My take: My Hero Academia winning Anime of the Year for its final season is exactly the kind of ending a show of this magnitude deserves. It is not just a popularity vote — the final season genuinely delivered. And Gachiakuta winning three awards as a new series is the story I am most excited about. If you have not watched it yet, the Anime Awards just gave you every reason to start.
