--- title: "All the winners of the 2025 Anime Awards" description: "Despite a very impressive gathering of Asian animation talent, one series dominated the 2025 Anime Awards. Here are all the winners announced during the 25 May ceremony in Tokyo." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WHAT WE'RE WATCHING" author: "Darryn Bonthuys" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/darryn-bonthuys/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-28-all-the-winners-of-the-2025-anime-awards/" published: "2025-05-28T13:00:14" updated: "2025-05-28T08:37:45" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 871 --- # All the winners of the 2025 Anime Awards > Despite a very impressive gathering of Asian animation talent, one series dominated the 2025 Anime Awards. Here are all the winners announced during the 25 May ceremony in Tokyo. By Darryn Bonthuys · Published 28 May 2025, 15:00 SAST · Updated 28 May 2025, 10:37 SAST ## Content Between enchanting fantasy, high school romance, and supernatural thrillers, the [2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards](https://www.crunchyroll.com/animeawards/) looked set to be a showdown between heavyweights of the animation industry in Asia. This year, series like [Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22248376/), [The Apothecary Diaries](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26743760/), [Dan Da Dan](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30217403/), and [Delicious in Dungeon](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21621494/) all went head-to-head, but out of nowhere, it was [Solo Leveling](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21209876/) that dominated the awards show, which was hosted in Tokyo on 25 May. Winning nine of the 13 awards it was nominated for, Solo Leveling took home all the glory when it clinched the coveted Anime of the Year prize. It’s worth noting that this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards covered all anime released from October 2023 through to December 2024, meaning that only the first season of Solo Leveling was eligible. The show, which is based on the South Korean web novel of the same name and its webtoon adaptation, has been a massive hit since it first debuted in January 2024. A power fantasy about a monster-hunter named Sung Jin-woo, who rises in status from weakling to an absurdly powerful necromancer, Solo Leveling has been a critical and commercial smash hit so far. The series is available with a Crunchyroll subscription. While Solo Leveling was a lock to win awards like “Best Action,” there has been spirited debate online over the *other*awards it bagged. With anime like Frieren – about an elven mage who outlives her adventuring companions – and Dan Da Dan – where high schoolers battle both aliens and the supernatural – also nominated for “Best New Anime Series,” fans of those shows (both on Netflix) felt that Solo Leveling’s win was underserved compared to how those series feature more nuanced and layered storytelling in comparison. **Read more:**[Quality over quantity: Thunderbolts kicks some serious ass-terisk!](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-23-quality-over-quantity-thunderbolts-kicks-some-serious-ass-terisk/) Other notable 2025 winners included Anime Film of the Year Look Back, from [Chainsaw Man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13616990/) creator [Tatsuki Fujimoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsuki_Fujimoto), about two young girls who bond over drawing manga (and which is on Prime Video); ever-popular[Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9335498/) (Best Continuing Series and Best Animation); and [Blue Box](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32639706/) (Best Romance), where teens deal with complicated feelings as they train for basketball Nationals. Both Demon Slayer and Blue Box are in the South African Netflix library. For the record, voting for the Anime Awards is weighted 70/30 between a panel of anime industry judges and public opinion. The accolades have been dished out since 2017, when groundbreaking figure skating drama [Yuri on Ice](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6112556/) became the first Anime of the Year winner. The 2025 Awards Ceremony was an emotional night for the people who worked on the iconic [Attack on Titan](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2560140/) anime, as well as it was awarded Crunchyroll’s first-ever Global Impact Award to honour the mark it had made on pop culture worldwide since debuting back in 2013. Looking ahead, this year will see several highly anticipated anime films and TV series released. A trilogy of Demon Slayer films will wrap up the anime, and the next arc of Chainsaw Man will also be on the silver screen. Meanwhile, on TV, while anime series like [Dragon Ball Daima](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29485149/), Sakamoto Days, and Lazarus are earning rave reviews from critics and fans alike, new seasons of megapopular properties like Spy x Family, [One-Punch Man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4508902/), and [My Hero Academia](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5626028/) are lined up for home viewing later in 2025. **DM** *This story was first published on [PFangirl](https://www.pfangirl.com/entertainment/all-the-winners-of-the-2025-anime-awards/).* Below you’ll find all of this year’s winners, while a full list, including nominees, [can also be found here](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2025/5/24/anime-awards-2025-winners-list). #### **2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Winners** **Anime of the Year** Solo Leveling **Film of the Year** Look Back **Best Original Anime** Ninja Kamui **Best Continuing Series** Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc **Best New Series** Solo Leveling **Best Opening Sequence** “Otonoke” – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan) **Best Ending Sequence** “request” – krage (Solo Leveling) **Best Action** Solo Leveling **Best Comedy** Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc **Best Drama** Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End **Best Isekai Anime** Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World – Season 3 **Best Romance** Blue Box **Best Slice of Life** Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! **Best Animation** Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc **Best Background Art** Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End **Best Character Design** Dan Da Dan **Best Director** Keiichiro Saito (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) **Best Main Character** Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling) **Best Supporting Character** Fern (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) **“Must Protect At All Costs” Character** Anya Forger (Spy × Family, Season 2) **Best Anime Song** “Otonoke” – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan) **Best Score** Solo Leveling – Hiroyuki Sawano **Voice Performance Awards** **Japanese** Aoi Yuki (Maomao – The Apothecary Diaries) **English** Aleks Le (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) **Arabic** Hiba Snobar (Anya Forger – SPY × FAMILY Season 2) **Brazilian Portuguese** Charles Emmanuel (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) **Castilian Spanish** Masumi Mutsuda (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) **French** Adrien Antoine (Kafka Hibino – Kaiju No. 8) **German** Daniel Schlauch (Monkey D. Luffy – One Piece) **Hindi** Lohit Sharma (Satoru Gojo – Jujutsu Kaisen, Season 2) **Italian** Ilaria Pellicone (Kyomoto – Look Back) **Latin Spanish** Miguel Ángel Leal (Eren Jaeger – Attack on Titan Final Season: The Final Chapters – Special 2)