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You may have already heard the news thatSolo Levelingjust won Anime of the Year at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. With the amount of coverage the series gets as it is, some of the other award-winning titles may not have been so readily publicized. With 32 different award categories at this iteration of the event, most people were looking out for which anime title would win the most coveted award of the entire affair, but there were several other titles taking home well-deserved accolades, including many people’s expected AOTY winner,Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Here is the full breakdown of every single category winner at the 2025 Crunchyroll Awards, which were held on Sunday, May 25.
Who’s Who in the Zoo?
About the People Involved in the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards
This year’s iteration of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards was hosted at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo, Japan, with the pre-show co-hosted by Crunchyroll hosts Lauren Moore and Tim Lyu alongside American Drag Queen Plastique Tiara; English professional boxer Ben Whittaker; American recording artist d4vd; American-Chilean singer Paloma Mami; Demon Queen VTuber Ironmouse; and Pioneering YouTube content creator Gigguk. English/Japanese voice actor Sally Amaki (Carol,Tomo-chan is a Girl!English and Japanese versions) served as host of the main show alongside popular entertainer Jon Kabira for the third time in a row.
A number of major celebrities and fan-presenters revealed this year’s plethora of anime award winners, including GRAMMYⓇ award-winning singer Kacey Musgraves; Canadian director, musician, and actor Finn Wolfhard; American actor Gaten Matarazzo, both from the hit seriesStranger Things; global superstar and anime collaborator J Balvin (who voiced Kargalgan in the 6th episode ofSolo Leveling Season 2 – Arise from the Shadows); Italian singer-songwriter Damiano David; Musician and actor Rina Sawayama; award-winning Brazilian pop icon Pabllo Vittar; American snowboarder Chloe Kim; screenwriter Zak Penn; the comedy duo made up of Shohei Osada and Shun Matsuo, Chocolate Planet; Japanese actor, musician and talent Dean Fujioka; the Japanese actor Kanata Hongo; Japanese Academy Award winner Mayu Matsuoka; and Japanese model and talent Saya Ichikawa.
Electrifying Performances at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards
Best OP Winner Creepy Nuts Lit Up the Stage
The event was also galvanized by electric performances from musical artists like Creepy Nuts, who performed “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born”, the opening theme fromMashle: Magic and Muscles; legendary rock band FLOW performed “DAYS” to commemorate the 20th anniversary ofEureka Seven; and LiSA, Spotify’s most streamed Japanese artist overseas in 2020, performed three songs: “crossing field", “Datte Atashino Hero”, and “gurenge,” the smash hit fromDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Fans can also catch a special Video on Demand performance from Creepy Nuts of the viral hit song “Otonoke,” the opening theme for Anime of the Year nomineeDANDADAN,which went on to becrowned Best Opening Sequenceat the event.
Fans form deep emotional connections to anime. These are not just series, films or songs, but rather works of art that help define the identity of anime fans. With an incredible 51 million votes this year, the 2025 Anime Awards are celebrating the creators in Japan who have captured the hearts of fans and are powering anime’s prominence in global pop culture.”
Breaking Down Every Category at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards
Solo Leveling Raked in a Whopping 6 of 32 Potential Wins
The ninth iteration of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards had a record-breaking 51 million votes cast from anime fans across the globe, with the most engaged countries, in alphabetical order, being: Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with both Canada and Chile being first time additions into the top 10. The award ceremony is set to be made available to stream on Crunchyroll’s YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as on the SONY PICTURES CORE and the Sony Group Corp Japan and Global YouTube Channels. The execution of the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards was facilitated by Sony Music Solutions Inc., part of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and Dempsey Productions.
The 32 award categories at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, as well as their winners, were:
Visuals and Animation
Best Characters
Best Voice-Acting Performances
A brand-new award, the Global Impact Award, was presented toAttack on Titan, and is granted in recognition of visionary creators and groundbreaking works that have left an indelible mark on culture, history, and the hearts of audiences around the world. The award was accepted by Yuichiro Hayashi from MAPPA on behalf of all those who worked on the series over the course of its 10-year run.
Solo Leveling won Anime of the Year at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
Source: press release
