Home Entertainment Jujutsu Kaisen, Beastars, and Dorohedoro headline Crunchyroll’s 2020 Anime Awards nominees

Jujutsu Kaisen, Beastars, and Dorohedoro headline Crunchyroll’s 2020 Anime Awards nominees

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Jujutsu kaisen

Listen here, the annual Emmy and Academy Awards can go suck a lemon. A night of self-congratulations pats on the back with awards that, much like the points in Whose Line Is It Anyway, don’t really matter? I’m not having any of that. I’m more interested in seeing which anime gets top nods. Having just been acquired by Sony and on the verge of doing a fusion dance with Funimation, this may just be the final year that Crunchyroll’s annual anime awards are held.

If this is the final curtain on its branded awards show, it’s going to be a highlight of a thoroughly weird year in the medium but one that still saw plenty of excellent animation on offer. Announced on the weekend, this year’s nominees for best anime include a few obvious heavyweights such as the surprise hit Jujutsu Kaisen, the wonderfully weird Dorohedoro, and furry-magnet Beaststars. Hey I’m not complaining, I want anime to be massive and if that means appealing to people with fursonas, then I’m welcoming them with open arms.

In the all-important category of “Best Girl”, there’s a tight race between the most interesting female protagonists of the year. I have no idea who’ll win, but I’m predicting that in 2022 the prize will go to Mitsuri Kanroji once Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba returns. Did I watch the entire 26-episode first season in a week? Yes. I’m not weird, you’re weird for not gushing with me about how fantastic that anime series is.

Anyway, here’s the list of nominees ahead of the awards show that will announce the winners on February 19.

Dorohedoro

ANIME OF THE YEAR

  • APPARE-RANMAN!
  • BEASTARS
  • Dorohedoro
  • Great Pretender
  • JUJUTSU KAISEN
  • Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

BEST GIRL

  • Abigail Jones – Great Pretender
  • Catarina Claes – My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
  • Chizuru Mizuhara – Rent-a-Girlfriend
  • Kaguya Shinomiya – Kaguya-sama: Love is War?
  • Noi – Dorohedoro
  • Sayaka Kanamori – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

BEST BOY

  • Anos Voldigoad – The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants
  • Caiman – Dorohedoro
  • Khun Aguero Agnes – Tower of God
  • Legoshi – BEASTARS
  • Satoru Gojou – JUJUTSU KAISEN
  • Shoyo Hinata – HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP

BEST PROTAGONIST

  • Anos Voldigoad – The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants
  • Catarina Claes – My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
  • Midori Asakusa – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Natsume – DECA-DENCE
  • Shoyo Hinata – HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP
  • Yuuji Itadori – JUJUTSU KAISEN

BEST ANTAGONIST

  • Akito Soma – Fruits Basket (Season 2)
  • Echidna – Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
  • En – Dorohedoro
  • Overhaul – My Hero Academia Season 4
  • Rachel – Tower of God
  • Ryoumen Sukuna – JUJUTSU KAISEN

BEST ANIMATION

  • BEASTARS
  • Great Pretender
  • JUJUTSU KAISEN
  • Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Princess Connect! Re: Dive
  • The God of High School

BEST FIGHT SCENE

  • Bercouli vs. Dark God Vecta – Sword Art Online Alicization: War of the Underworld Part 2
  • Brawler vs. Master – Akudama Drive
  • Deku vs. Overhaul – My Hero Academia Season 4
  • Jin Mori vs. Han Daewi – The God of High School
  • Jin Mori vs. Jegal Taek – The God of High School
  • Satoru Gojou vs. Ryoumen Sukuna – JUJUTSU KAISEN

BEST SCORE

  • Alisa Okehazama – The God of High School
  • Kensuke Ushio – Japan Sinks: 2020
  • Kevin Penkin – Tower of God
  • OORUTAICHI – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Satoru Kousaki – BEASTARS
  • Yutaka Yamada – Great Pretender

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Hiro Kaburagi – Great Pretender
  • Mamoru Hatakeyama – Kaguya-sama: Love is War?
  • Masaaki Yuasa – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Sunghoo Park – JUJUTSU KAISEN
  • Takashi Sano – Tower of God
  • Yuzuru Tachikawa – DECA-DENCE

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN

  • Genice Chan and Yuusuke Yoshigaki – BNA: Brand New Animal
  • Masashi Kudoh and Miho Tanino, Original story by SIU – Tower of God
  • Mayuka Itou, Original designs by Iro Aida – Toilet-bound Hanako-kun
  • Naoyuki Asano, Original designs by Sumito Oowara – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihito Hishinuma – Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon
  • Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Hirotaka Katou – Great Pretender

BEST COUPLE

  • Catarina Claes & Maria Campbell – My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
  • Chizuru Mizuhara & Kazuya Kinoshita – Rent-a-Girlfriend
  • Kaguya Shinomiya & Miyuki Shirogane – Kaguya-sama: Love is War?
  • Kotoko Iwanaga & Kuro Sakuragawa – In/Spectre
  • Legoshi & Haru – BEASTARS
  • Nasa Yuzaki & Tsukasa Yuzaki – TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You

BEST VA PERFORMANCE (JP)

  • Megumi Ogata as Hanako – Toilet-bound Hanako-kun
  • Mutsumi Tamura as Sayaka Kanamori – Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • Riho Sugiyama as Minare Koda – Wave, Listen to Me!
  • Yuichi Nakamura as Satoru Gojou – JUJUTSU KAISEN
  • Yusuke Kobayashi as Natsuki Subaru – Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
  • Yusuke Onuki as Daisuke Kambe – The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED

BEST VA PERFORMANCE (EN)

  • Aaron Phillips as Laurent Thierry – Great Pretender
  • Anairis Quiñones as Echidna – Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
  • Crispin Freeman as Ziusudra – Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia
  • Johnny Yong Bosch as Bam – Tower of God
  • Jonah Scott as Legoshi – BEASTARS
  • Zeno Robinson as Hawks – My Hero Academia Season 4

BEST OPENING SEQUENCE (OP)

  • BEASTARS – Wild Side (ALI)
  • Great Pretender – G.P. (Yutaka Yamada)
  • HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP – PHOENIX (BURNOUT SYNDROMES)
  • JUJUTSU KAISEN – KAIKAI KITAN (Eve)
  • Kaguya-sama: Love is War? – DADDY! DADDY! DO! feat. Airi Suzuki (Masayuki Suzuki)
  • Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! – Easy Breezy (chelmico)

BEST ENDING SEQUENCE (ED)

  • BNA: Brand New Animal – NIGHT RUNNING (Shin Sakura ft AAAMYYY)
  • Dorohedoro – D.D.D.D ((K)NoW_NAME)
  • Great Pretender – The Great Pretender (Freddie Mercury)
  • In/Spectre – LAST DANCE (Mamoru Miyano)
  • JUJUTSU KAISEN – LOST IN PARADISE (ALI feat. AKLO)
  • The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED – Welcome My Friend (OKAMOTO’S)

BEST FANTASY

  • Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2
  • DECA-DENCE
  • Dorohedoro
  • Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai
  • Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
  • Tower of God

BEST DRAMA

  • BEASTARS
  • Fruits Basket (Season 2)
  • Great Pretender
  • Japan Sinks: 2020
  • SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME
  • Somali and the Forest Spirit

BEST COMEDY

  • Kaguya-sama: Love is War?
  • Kakushigoto
  • Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
  • My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
  • Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
  • The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants

Last Updated: January 18, 2021

3 Comments

  1. Is JUJUTSU KAISEN any good? Anyone watched it?
    Got it on my list to watch and I am getting tired of Black Clover. New season not catching me as much

    Reply

    • The D

      January 19, 2021 at 01:52

      It’s solid stuff! Great animation and action, an alright story so far. I’ve binged Demon Slayer though, and that’s an amazing new anime series to get stuck into.

      Reply

      • Guild

        January 20, 2021 at 02:25

        Demon Slayer is one the best anime I have watched. Just perfect. Cannot wait for Season 2

        Reply

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