10 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Presented by The Weeknd: Vote and Watch!
One pretty good reason to watch an anime awards is to find out your new anime obsession. Purely based on popular vote, awards shows are a great method of discovering anime. Some titles may be familiar, others may be new. Or another pretty good reason to watch an anime awards show is that The Weeknd will be a special presenter.
The Weeknd: a multi-platinum, 7x Diamond-certified artist with 115 million monthly listeners and the most songs surpassing a billion streams on Spotify.
The Weeknd, mamed the “Most Popular Artist in the World” by Guinness World Records. Plus his album After Hours is the most streamed R&B album ever.
Ready for a nostalgic ear worm flash back? “Blinding Lights” is one of the top Billboard Hot 100 song of all time.
The Weeknd: A fellow devoted anime fan:
““When I was first introduced to anime, I was a child. Sailor Moon was one of my first crushes, Goku my first imaginary sparring partner, and “One More Time” by Daft Punk was a song and music video I couldn’t get out of my head.
But it wasn’t until my teenage years that one specific anime changed me forever and became part of the fabric of my early career: Samurai Champloo by Shinichiro Watanabe. It was the first time I experienced two of my favorite mediums—anime and hip hop—blending so seamlessly that it completely reshaped the way I watched film and listened to music.
The fusion of a samurai story told with auteur precision, paired with the sounds of Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Force of Nature was nothing short of transformative.
That influence stayed with me all the way through the creation of House of Balloons, where I wrote “The Morning,” “Glass Table Girls,” and “Loft Music” over Nujabes’ instrumentals. Without Watanabe and Nujabes, House of Balloons simply wouldn’t exist.
Samurai Champloo opened my eyes to a more mature world of anime and helped shape my visual DNA. The works of Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, and Katsuhiro Otomo became foundational to the look and feel of The Weeknd.
So it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be here without anime. It’s an honor to celebrate the artists behind it and a medium that continues to inspire the world.””
If you are already familiar with the anime on the nominee list see your favorite, then vote now and vote every day until April 15.
Then see if your favorite wins on May 23,
To vote and for more information go to: https://www.crunchyroll.com/animeawards/
2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Nominees for Anime of the Year:
DAN DA DAN Season 2
Gachiakuta
My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON
Takopi's Original Sin
The Apothecary Diaries (season 2)
The Summer Hikaru Died
