Crunchyroll 2021 Awards – List of Nominations

For all the weebs and otakus, anime isn’t just a show. It is a world itself where they have found bliss and entertainment. So just like every industry celebrates and holds events to appreciate the best and most deserving ones, the Anime industry celebrates its troupe too. 

The Crunchyroll Anime Awards is held and distributed by the anime streaming service every year since December 2016. It distributed awards for the first time on January 11, 2017. Since then they are keeping this tradition alive and Crunchyroll has already announced the nominations for this year’s awards. Below is the list of the nominations that were announced by Crunchyroll.

Best Boy

A boy always has to make an impact on the audience to win everyone’s heart. Now, it’s up to them whether to do it by their actions or their smile. Below are the Best Boy nominee for this year:-

• Senku Ishigami – Dr. STONE Season 2
• Manjiro ‘Mikey’ Sano – Tokyo Revengers
• Izumi Miyamura – Horimiya
• Bojji – Ranking of Kings
• Odokawa – ODD TAXI
• Ken ‘Draken’ Ryuguji – Tokyo Revengers

Best Girl

Every successful anime features a girl who wins everyone’s heart. The fans are waging war for their favorite waifu to win the award. Below are the Best Girl nominees:- 

• Vladilena Milizé – 86 EIGHTY-SIX
• Sarasa Watanabe – Kageki Shoujo!!
• Tohru Honda – Fruits Basket The Final Season
• Nobara Kugisaki – JUJUTSU KAISEN 
• Ai Ohto – WONDER EGG PRIORITY
• Shoko Komi – Komi Can’t Communicate

Best Protagonist

The protagonist is the soul of a good story. Every anime needs a good protagonist in order to be successful. Here are the nominees for the Best Protagonist:- 

• Eren Yaeger – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Yuji Itadori – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• Odokawa – ODD TAXI
• Bojji – Ranking of Kings
• Joe – MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD
• Ai Ohto – WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best Antagonist

The Anime industry, which is dominated by the Shounen genre, has a huge diversity of villains but not every villain has what it takes to be epic. Here are the nominees for Best Antagonist:-

• Eren Yaeger – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Tomura Shigaraki – My Hero Academia Season 5
• Ainosuke Shindo / “ADAM” – SK8 the Infinity
• Yano – ODDTAXI
• Echidna – Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2
• Tetta Kisaki – Tokyo Revengers

Best Fight Scene

The best action series has its moments that take the breath away and leave the fans with goosebumps. Here are nominees for this year’s Best Fight Scenes:-

• Warhammer Titan vs Eren Yeager – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Naruto Uzumaki vs. Isshiki Otsutsuki – BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS
• Hanami vs. Yuji Itadori & Aoi Todo – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• Eso & Kechizu vs. Yuji Itadori & Nobara Kugisaki – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• Elma vs. Tohru – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S
• Yugo Kakitani vs. Vivy – Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song

Best Director

Director is the most important person for any series. A good direction is very steps for any show to reach the heights of success. Here are the nominee of the Best directors who helmed some memorable series:-

• Yuichiro Hayashi – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Sunghoo Park – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• Shingo Natsume – Sonny Boy
• Yo Moriyama – MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD
• Baku Kinoshita – ODDTAXI
• Shin Wakabayashi – WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best Animation

Sometimes, a good animation can even compensate for a bad storyline. Fans don’t let a single frame go unnoticed in every anime. Plus, the quality of animation can make any anime even more impactful. So, here are the series with the best animation:-

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc
• JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• WONDER EGG PRIORITY
• Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Cour 1
• Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-

Best Character Design

Walking side by side to the animation, the character design is the reason behind an eye-catching series. Below is the nominee for the Best Character Design:- 

• Tadashi Hiramatsu – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• Baku Kinoshita and Hiromi Nakayama – ODDTAXI
• loundraw (FLAT STUDIO) and Yuichi Takahashi – Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song
• Atsuko Nozaki – Ranking of Kings
• Michinori Chiba – SK8 the Infinity
• Saki Takahashi – WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best Score

What brings the true emotion of the scene in anime is its perfect and epic score. Here are the nominee for Best Scores:-

• Kohta Yamamoto and Hiroyuki Sawano – 86 EIGHTY-SIX
• Yuki Kajiura and ‎Go Shiina – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc
• Mabanua – MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD
• OMSB PUNPEE, and VaVa – ODD TAXI
• Satoru Kosaki – Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-
• DÉ DÉ MOUSE and Mito – WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best VA Performance (Japanese)

Anime characters may not be real, but watchers sometimes forget this because of the amazing voice acting and passion from the actors behind who bring the characters to life. Here are the nominees for Best VA Performance (Japanese):-

• Ayane Sakura – Gabi Braun – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Yuki Kaji – Eren Yeager – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Natsuki Hanae – Odokawa – ODDTAXI
• Kiyoshi Kobayashi  – Daisuke Jigen (Ep. 0) – LUPIN THE 3rd PART 6
• Aoi Yuki – Kumoko – So I’m a Spider, So What?
• Kanata Aikawa – Ai Ohto – WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best VA Performance (English)

Fans like their anime in their own way. Keeping up with subtitles and the video at the same time can be difficult for some viewers. But, the voice artists from the universal language make things easier for many fans around the world. Here are the nominee for Best VA Performance (English):- 

• Brittany Cox – Fena – Fena: Pirate Princess
• Laura Bailey –  Tohru Honda  – Fruits Basket The Final Season
• Anairis Quiñones – Rika Kawai –  WONDER EGG PRIORITY
• Adam McArthur  – Yuji Itadori  – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• David Wald – Ainosuke Shindo / “ADAM” – SK8 the Infinity
• Matt Shipman – Reki Kyan – SK8 the Infinity

Best Opening Sequence

First impressions always count. Fans enjoy their favorite anime not just by watching it but by listening to it too. The openings create hype for an anime, it excites the fan with its every passing beat. Below are nominees for the Best Opening Sequence:- 

• Boku no sensou – Shinsei Kamattechan – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Kaibutsu – YOASOBI – BEASTARS
• ODDTAXI – Skirt and PUNPEE – ODD TAXI
• VIVID VICE – Who-ya Extended – JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2) 
• Ai no Supreme! – Fhána – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S
• Cry Baby – Official HIGE DANdism – Tokyo Revengers

Best Ending Sequence

When something starts with something good, it should end with something good as well. Here are the nominees for the Best Ending Sequence:-

• Shogeki – Yuko Ando – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Yasashii Suisei – YOASOBI – BEASTARS
• Infinity – YUURI – SK8 the Infinity
• Shirogane – LiSA – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc
• Nai Nai – ReoNA – SHADOWS HOUSE
• Ganbare! Kumoko-san no Theme – “Watashi” (VA: Aoi Yuki)  – So I’m a Spider, So What?

All of these prior categories were the ingredients for a good anime. Now, we move on to the second part which features the nominations for the Best Series In different categories. Below are the category wise nominations of Crunchyroll 2021 Anime Awards

Best Action

The most loved and famous trope for any entertainment fan around the world is none other than action. Here are the nominations for the Best Action Anime:- 

• Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc
• Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- ( 6 )
• JUJUTSU KAISEN (cour 2)
• SSSS.DYNAZENON
• WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best Comedy

Humans are simple creatures who yearn for good entertainment. Anime comedy troupes are simply a treasure for them. The series with the Best Comedy which made fans happy are:- 

• DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO
• Heaven’s Design Team
• Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S
• Komi Can’t Communicate
• Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
• ODD TAXI

Best Drama

A good drama series always pierce through the viewers’ hearts. A lot of emotions are involved in the drama series which has the power to make fans go crazy for it. Here are the nominations for Best Drama which trenches the hearts of the fans are:-

• 86 EIGHTY-SIX
• Fruits Basket The Final Season
• To Your Eternity
• Kageki Shoujo!!
• ODD TAXI
• WONDER EGG PRIORITY

Best Romance

What’s better than a good love story with cute and beautiful characters? Nothing, right! So, here are the nominations of the  Best Romance anime of 2021:-

• BEASTARS
• Fruits Basket The Final Season
• Komi Can’t Communicate
• DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO
• Horimiya
• The Duke of Death and His Maid

Best Fantasy

Fantasy is one of the most popular genres of the anime industry. A good fantasy series always manages to perform well. Below is the nomination for Best Fantasy anime:- 

• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Cour 1)
• Ranking of Kings
• To Your Eternity
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Season 2)
• The Case Study of Vanitas
• WONDER EGG PRIORITY ( 11 )

Best Film

The bigger the screen the better is the chance for a series to sway the hearts of the fans all over the world. Below are some of the best anime films of 2021:-

• BELLE
• Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
• Shirobako the Movie
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
• Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish
• Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop

Anime of the Year

Here comes the VIP category of this award. This award is given to the best anime series of a respective year. The nominations of the Best Anime for the Crunchyroll 2021 Anime Awards are:- 

• 86 EIGHTY-SIX
• Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1 ( 10 )
• Ranking of Kings
• JUJUTSU KAISEN ( 10 )
• ODD TAXI ( 11 )
• Sonny Boy

These were the nominations for the upcoming Crunchyroll awards. The Votings are open till 25th January 2022, and the winners will be announced on February 9th, 2022. 

Quick Trivia of Crunchyroll 2021 Awards

The Top Anime series which has gotten the most nominations are:

1. Jujutsu Kaisen – 16 nominations
2. Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 1 – 11 nominations
3. ODD TAXI – 11 nominations
4. Wonder Egg Priority – 6 nominations
5. Ranking of Kings – 6 nominations
6. Tokyo Revengers – 6 nominations
7. Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song – 6 nominations

• Eren Yeager is the only character in the anime award history who has appeared in both the protagonist and antagonist nominations.

• This year, the category and nomination of the Best couple were not announced. The previous year the award for the best couple was won by Nasa Yuzaki and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa.