Crunchyroll Anime Awards' Opening Sizzler Honors A Year Of Excellent Series And Movies

The opening for this year's Crunchyroll Anime Awards includes scenes from several notable series and movies from 2018, including Violet Evergarden, Aggretsuko, Planet With, Devilman Crybaby, Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Mirai, and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku. All of these anime are nominated for at least one award this year. But they're not the only ones. The most popular nominee is Megalobox, which is up for eight of the 15 award categories. Other popular 2018 series, such as A Place Further Than the Universe, Zombie Land Saga, and My Hero Academia, have been nominated as well.

This year, voice actress Cristina Vee was the host of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. She's most well-known for her portrayal of The Familiar of Zero's Louise, Sailor Moon's Rei Hino, Devilman Crybaby's Miki Makimura, and Konosuba's Darkness. Industry professionals and well-known anime fans, such as Made in Abyss composer Kevin Penkin, Roosterteeth director and writer Miles Luna, and IGN senior editor Miranda Sanchez, announced the winner for each category.

The nominees for category are outlined. As one of this year's judges, I had a hand in determining the list of nominees. The winners--which were decided by a fan vote--can be viewed here.

Crunchyroll Anime Awards Category Nominees

Anime of the Year

• A Place Further Than the Universe
• Devilman Crybaby
• Megalobox
• Violet Evergarden
• Hinamatsuri
• Zombie Land Saga

Best Animation

• Violet Evergarden
• Devilman Crybaby
• Megalobox
• A Place Further Than the Universe
• Bloom into You
• My Hero Academia Season 3

Best Opening Sequence

• Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
• Darling in the Franxx
• Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler
• Pop Team Epic
• Aggretsuko
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Best Ending Sequence

• Megalobox
• Attack on Titan Season 3
• After the Rain
• FLCL Alternative
• Revue Starlight
• FLCL Progressive

Best Film

• Night is Short, Walk On Girl
• My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
• Mirai of the Future
• Liz and the Blue Bird
• Mazinger Z: Infinity
• Fireworks

Best Character Design

• Violet Evergarden
• Devilman Crybaby
• Zombie Land Saga
• Megalobox
• Aggretsuko
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Best Boy

• Kotaro Tatsumi
• Honda-san
• Izuku Midoriya
• Sakuta Azusagawa
• Haida
• Joe

Best Girl

• Anzu
• Hinata Miyake
• Lily Hoshikawa
• Asirpa
• Nadeshiko Kagamihara
• Mai Sakurajima

Best VA Performance (JP)

• Mamoru Miyano
• Soma Saito
• Megumi Han
• Nao Toyama
• Rareko
• Reina Ueda

Best VA Performance (EN)

• Kari Wahlgren
• Christopher Sabat
• Erica Mendez
• David Wald
• Tia Ballard
• Erika Harlacher

Best Director

• Masaaki Yuasa
• Atsuko Ishizuka
• You Moriyama
• Yohei Suzuki
• Taichi Ishidate
• Hiroko Utsumi

Best Protagonist

• Retsuko
• Yumeko Jabami
• Joe
• Violet Evergarden
• Rimuru Tempest
• Sakuta Azusagawa

Best Antagonist

• Ryo Asuka
• Akane Shinjo
• All For One
• Yuri
• Tokushiro Tsurumi
• Momonga

Best Fight Scene Presented by Capcom

• Hina vs Anzu
• All for One vs All Might
• Naruto & Sasuke vs Momoshiki
• Jiren vs Goku
• Yami vs Licht
• Satan vs Devilman

Best Continuing Series Presented by VRV

• The Ancient Magus' Bride
• Dragon Ball Super
• Black Clover
• March comes in like a lion
• One Piece
• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations