The awards season has come to an end and discussions in forums are hotter than ever. This weekend, the tenth edition of the anticipated Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026 took place, a ceremony that celebrated a decade of recognizing the best of Japanese animation worldwide. After weeks of intense fan voting, the spectacular final season of My Hero Academia managed to triumph over industry giants, taking home the coveted trophy for Anime of the Year and giving the franchise the perfect closing it deserved.

A night full of surprises and tributes

The event, broadcast globally and hosted by figures like Sally Amaki and Jon Kabira, shone not only for its luxury guests and musical performances by legends such as Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Yoko Takahashi, but also for its most emotional moments. To celebrate this tenth anniversary, the organization awarded special edition trophies and granted the Global Impact Award to the late director Tatsuya Nagamine, recognizing his invaluable footprint in the medium. On the big screen, the immense popularity of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was once again proven after its movie Infinity Castle was crowned Best Film of the Year, leaving behind competitors like Chainsaw Man and Mononoke. To top it off, the invincible giant of One Piece maintained its unshakeable reign by taking home the award for Best Ongoing Series.

Public favorites dominate the categories

The awards also made room for the most recent television stories. Gachiakuta proved it was here to stay by winning Best New Series, as well as dominating the categories of character design and backgrounds. For its part, the second season of The Apothecary Diaries swept the technical and narrative aspects, taking home the awards for Best Drama, Best Direction, and crowning Maomao and Jinshi in the main character categories. The thrilling action of the sequel to Solo Leveling secured the trophies for Best Animation and Best Action Sequence, while the hilarious continuation of Dan Da Dan deservedly earned the title of Best Comedy and Best Opening.

Seeing the conclusion of My Hero Academia at the absolute top of the industry is a reminder of the enormous impact this story of heroes had throughout a whole decade. Knowing that the results of this ceremony always manage to divide public opinion, do you feel that this year’s awards were completely fair to your favorite series, or do you think another anime deserved to lift the most important trophy of the night?