I know the winners of Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 were out a long time ago, and you must have already checked it then; why I’m talking about it? The answer is simple, just like you, I’m also an otaku, not weeb.
That’s a personal issue. Let’s move on; the nominees are great, but why the winner did differently? That’s what I’m going to discuss today.
It was also hard for me to decide but remember, people like to discuss the winner of Crunchyroll Awards 2021, as it’s also a great way to set apart from your usual genre and go to some good anime. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading this as it’ll be of great help to you.
Since it Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, there are some points that you might know or not but let’s recall it once again.
Not all anime is available on Crunchyroll, so there might be a chance some good anime isn’t on the list, also; not all anime is available for your region.
Even if you have the subscription, that is govt policy, so blame the govt, not our precious Crunchy-chan. It’s an anime award, so movies, OVA’s, and ONA’s are excluded.
Now that our homework is done let’s jump into the discussion.
Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 Categories
Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 have come up with the following categories this year:-
- Anime of the Year
- Best Protagonist
- Best Antagonist
- Best Girl
- Best Boy
- Best Director
- Best Animation
- Best Character Design
- Best Score
- Best Fight Scene
- Best Couple
- Best VA Performance (JP)
- Best VA Performance (EN)
- Best Opening Sequence
- Best Ending Sequence
- Best Fantasy
- Best Drama
- Best Comedy
1. Crunchyroll Anime of the Year
Nominees are:-
- Keep your hands off Eizouken WATCH
- Jujutsu Kaisen WATCH
- Great Pretender WATCH
- Dorohedoro WATCH
- Appare-Ranman WATCH
- Beastars WATCH
Keep your hands off Eizouken
As we all can see, each one is unique in its way; that’s why they made it to the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021. Keep your hands off; Eizouken will give you a feeling of intellectual minds creating great ideas just like our childhood shows, whether it’s Bob the Builder or Phineas and Ferb.
The high schooler girl loves making anime and draws the concepts only. The story is amazing. The three main characters are funny, and you can connect to them since many of us feel like an animator.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisen nothing much to say about it as you already know bout it. The feel of old shounen relives in modern anime through Jujutsu Kaisen.
If you want a detailed review, then you can read it here. If you’re looking for some more news on Jujutsu Kaisen, then head to our Jujutsu Kaisen Latest News Section.
Great Pretender
Great Pretender gives you the feel of the early 19th century with a mafia, casino, detective altogether. It’s a great anime if you want to escape the modern world.
Dorohedoro
Dorohedoro has an isekai world setting but not an isekai. To be precise, it’s fantasy and adventure.
The protagonist is a human who had amnesia and now with a reptile head. The protagonist has a second soul inside him, just like Venom.
Appare-Ranman
Appare-Ranman is another anime with an unknown composition of polar opposite genres. The two protagonists are Apare, is a genius and socially weak engineer, while the other one, Kosame, is a coward and shrewd samurai.
That’s not all. It has modern mechanics in a historical world, guns, and swords. That’s Appare-Ranman for you.
Beastars
Beastars is the one that puts me in confusion. Why it’s here? It’s a series of 2019 that started on Oct 10 and ended on Dec 26, maybe a Christmas gift for us.
It’s a cherry for animal lovers, and it’s not a furry anime; please stop calling it that. It’s about our current society, which judges a person by his looks.
The protagonist is a wolf and is feared for his looks, but he is good at heart—a very well portrayed story that made it to the nominations in Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021.
Winner: Jujutsu Kaisen
*drumrolls* And the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Anime goes to Jujutsu Kaisen.
I don’t think you are disappointed by this result. From cool-looking fight scenes to the unique, flashy moves, the concept is all great.
Also, it gives the old shounen vibes like Naruto, Bleach, and Hunter X Hunter. Jujutsu Kaisen not only has some great protagonists but an op antagonist, and the constant debate between who will win has made the hype. So I think Jujutsu Kaisen deserves Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Anime.
2. Best Protagonist
Nominees are:-
- Natsume (Deca-Dence)
- Catarina Claes (My Next Life as a Villainess)
- Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
- Anos Voldigoad (The Misfit of Demon King Academy)
- Midori Asakusa (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken)
- Shoyo Hinata (Haikyu!! To The Top)
Every protagonist here is awesome; this is why it was difficult for me to vote in Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021. Let’s start with Natsume; Deca-Dance is a mix of Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia concept.
Natsume (Deca-Dence)
Humanity was driven to the edge of extinction, and the last survivors now live in a 3000-meter-high mobile fortress called Deca-Dance. The people are divided into Gear (who can fight) and Tanks (who can’t resist).
You can predict where I’m going, right? Natsume is a tank that wishes to be a Gear. If you enjoyed the character of Midoriya Izuku, then I’m sure you’ll love the character of Natsume too.
Catarina Claes (My Next Life as a Villainess)
It’s sporadic when you become the character you hate most, but since you’re a good person, you decide to play the protagonist’s role.
That’s the situation of Catarina, who becomes the villainess of her favorite game in her past life; yes, it’s an isekai, another plus point, right? Now being a villainess, she decides to change the outcome of the story.
Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Yuji Itadori follows the usual shounen character plot, his only family, his grandfather, passed away, and he decides that people should deserve the exemplary death. For that dream, he decides to live to the fullest. Yuji has a superhuman physical ability despite being a high schooler.
Anos Voldigoad (The Misfit of Demon King Academy)
Anos is the Demon Lord who is reincarnated after 2000 years and joins the Demon Academy to become the Demon Lord; he is like your favorite Gatcha game’s broken character.
Though this anime’s storyline is a little strange and will make you question why Anos is the main focus here?
Midori Asakusa (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken)
Midori from Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is most realistic and relatable character.
According to Midori, a young girl aspires to be an anime designer and only focuses on the concept since it is the basics of everything.
I think a slice of life anime like Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken with a comedy character has the deepest design and background.
Shoyo Hinata (Haikyu!! To The Top)
Shoyo is from Haikyu, your favorite sports anime. There isn’t much to say about Shoyo if you’ve been keeping up with Haikyu; he is a short guy who wants to be an ace of volleyball after watching a match of ‘The Little Giant’ who is also short and the ace of his team.
During his journey, he learns that being an ace isn’t easy. Volleyball isn’t just jumping and smashing the ball. There are many things he needs to learn; he loses, stands up, and fights again. That’s our Hinata.
Winner: Catarina Claes (My Next Life as a Villainess)
Surprised? But I can tell you why she took away the best protagonist, Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021. Let’s consider the audience’s perspective on My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. For boys, she is waifu, and for girls, she is admiration.
Midori is a loli, so no waifu unless u want to go jail; for Natsume, the girls can’t relate as not many are into shounen.
Except for this fact, the character of Catarina is unique. A villain who tries to be a protagonist is something that we have seen earlier are antagonist, a rival, or completely villain. This is the first time. So that’s why she won the Crunchyroll Anime Awards for best protagonist.
3. Best Antagonist
Nominees:-
- En (Dorohedoro)
- Ryomen Sukuna (Jujutsu Kaisen)
- Rachel (Tower of God)
- Akito Soma (Fruits Basket Season 2)
- Echidna (Re:Zero Season 2)
- Overhaul (My Hero Academia Season 4)
What are the traits of an ideal antagonist? Done counting? Let’s start checking with the above ones
En (Dorohedoro)
En is the boss of En family and has high magical powers and amongst top magical user.
He has mushroom power, not like Mario. Sorry folks, I can’t give more details on the mushroom as it will become a spoiler; along with this, he controls most of the business in the magical world—no doubt why he’s on the nominee list of Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Antagonist.
Now time for antagonist checklist
- Scary looks (Check)
- Powerful (Check)
- Influence (Check)
Ryomen Sukuna (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Ryomen Sukuna is the most potent curse of history, also called as ‘King of Curses.’ He was so strong that he alone killed many sorcerers.
After his mysterious death, Sukuna’s body wasn’t destroyed, and he traveled to the human world in the form of fingers.
These fingers can attract other curses to the place where it’s kept, also. In Jujutsu Kaisen, the power level is calculated in terms of Sukuna’s finger so you can understand how crazy he is.
Sukuna has a sadistic personality. He doesn’t even care about the Yuji whose body he resides in such other humans are like nothing to him. It was quite predictable that he would make it to Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Antagonist nominees.
Antagonist checklist time
- OP (Check)
- Scary title (Check)
- Mass killer (Check)
- Countless Feats (Check)
- Twisted nature (Check)
- Influence (Check)
- Cruel (Check)
- Immortal (Check)
- Lives inside protagonist (Check) [Like in Bleach and Black Clover]
Rachel (Tower of God)
Rachel is the girl who led to whole anime community went on fire because how she betrayed our sweet guy Bam after all he did. It even led to memes about top anime betrayals of all time and many amv.
Except that Rachel has no exceptional powers like most of our antagonists, she can do better than anyone else because she is the mastermind and unpredictable in the manga.
She has been given crazy background work and story, which explains why she is like this, and she shows up, which is unacceptable for many readers.
Since the anime of Tower of God has just covered only 10% of the webtoon, you can imagine how much is still left. But still, she made it to the list of Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Antagonist.
Antagonist checklist
- Mastermind (Check)
- Betrayal (Check)
- Influence (Check)
- Social media engagement (Check) [Like Goku vs. Jiren and Tanjiro vs. Lower moon]
- Manipulation (Check)
Akito Soma (Fruits Basket Season 2)
Akito Soma, I’m surprised why he is here. It’s quite rare to see a romance anime antagonist here, but he is the evil one.
He hates almost everyone in the Soma family; he is currently the head of the Soma family and has a weak body.
Despite having a weak body, he is mean and has hurt many physically, and emotionally many family members and no one dares to oppose him. He holds absolute authority which led him to Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021.
Antagonist checklist
- Mean (Check)
- Authority (Check)
- Hatred (Check)
Echidna (Re: Zero Season 2)
Echidna is the real snow-white; yes, sorry to Disney fans, but accept the truth. She has pale white skin, white hair even white eyebrows. She then wears a black dress to make herself look more evil.
She is also one of the waifus. Oops, let’s get back to the antagonist part, Echidna. She is one of the Witches of Sin and Witch of Greed.
Since she is greedy, she wants knowledge, and for that, she can go to any extremities. She is also black-hearted and can’t empathize with anyone. All she cares about is knowledge.
Antagonist checklist
- Waifu (Check)
- Greedy (Check)
- Seven Deadly Sin (Check)
- Black Hearted (Check)
Overhaul (My Hero Academia Season 4)
Kai Chisaki, also known by the villain name Overhaul, is the main antagonist of Shie Hassaikai Arc of My Hero Academia.
He has a very powerful quirk known as Overhaul, which can disassemble a person killing them instantly, and reassemble, which can heal the wounds.
He can also merge his body with someone else and allows them to use their quirks. He is a sociopath who wants to return the world to its previous form before quirks even existed.
He is also an egoistic person who thinks that he should be the underworld leader after the fall of All For One.
Antagonist checklist
- Powerful (Check)
- Twisted Nature (Check)
- Egoistic (Check)
- Motive (Check)
So, the winner for Best Antagonist Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 is…..
Ryomen Sukuna
As expected, since he got the most checks from our checklist, it’s not always mandatory that only good-looking or overpowered villains will win. Sometimes the antagonist shows an exceptional trait that can make him unique, he can also be the best antagonist.
Like in 2020, Isabella from The Promised Neverland won the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 for the best antagonist. Looking at the character, she doesn’t have the craziest traits like Muzen from Demon Slayer, but because she has some unique traits, which made her win the award.
Other Awards:
Now it’s time for some other Crunchyroll Anime Awards; I’ll keep it short because I don’t want you to get bored after surviving the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 Antagonist category discussion. Now let’s dig in more and see if your favorite characters won any awards or not.
4. Best Boy
Nominees are:-
- 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 Gojo — JUJUTSU KAISEN
- Shoyo Hinata — HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP
Winner: Shoyo Hinata
The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 for Best Boy goes to Shoyo Hinata from Haikyu! To The Top, our best boy, as expected, fits the physique of a boy and his characteristics also, just like a boy who looks up to become like his idol, Shoyo wants to be the next ‘The Little Giant.’
5. 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!
Winner: Kaguya Shinomiya
The best girl Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 winner is Kaguya Shinomiya from Kaguya-Sama: Love is War? Suddenly coming and taking the prize is a feat in itself, making her the best girl.
The reason is that she is waifu for many guys, and every girl has that kind of nature. No girl wants to bow down in front of a guy. The criterion for the best girl is the complete opposite of the best boy this time.
6. 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)
Winner: Beastars
The best opening, Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, goes to Wild Side ALI from Beastars, somewhat unexpected.
Since I was personally hoping for Top opening of the tower of god, but it didn’t even show up in nominees, but I can guess why it’s here.
Wild Side has a metal genre with hip hop beats which gives a mix of live concerts, the early ’20s, and funk.
7. 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)
Winner: Jujutsu Kaisen
The ending Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 goes to Lost in Paradise by ALI feat AKLO from Jujutsu Kaisen. This was expected the ending with great beats and visuals that are eye candy, to be honest. Lost in Paradise has a rhythm that will make you dance with a saxophone solo.
8. 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
Winner: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken
The best director Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, belongs to Masaaki Yuasa for Keep your hands off Eizouken, well it’s a great anime, and with a lot of deep background and character buildup, it’s not a surprise. Bringing the most out of a slice of life is something complicated.
9. Best Animation
This is the category that deserves the most attention in the Crunchyroll anime awards. After all, it’s something fundamental to all the anime there.
- BEASTARS
- Great Pretender
- JUJUTSU KAISEN
- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
- Princess Connect! Re: Dive
- The God of High School
Winner: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Best animation Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 goes to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken from Studio: Science SARU again; if you’ve watched the anime, you might know the hard work put in it. It’s not like your everyday anime with proper filled color.
The animation is like a basic pencil sketch with watercolor. It’s so pleasing that you will feel like you’re actually reading a color manga rather than watching an anime.
10. 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 Gojo vs. Ryomen Sukuna — JUJUTSU KAISEN
Winner: Deku vs. Overhaul — My Hero Academia Season 4
The best fight scene Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, goes to Deku vs. Overhaul from MHA. It’s not the first time that it has given us a great fight, unlike other fight scenes in nominees.
This fight has a reason for both sides to push and cross the limits, something to lose something to gain; what makes a fight scene great isn’t the choreography but the ideology clashing while trading blows.
11. 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
Winner: Mayuka Itou, Original designs by Iro Aida — Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun
The best character design, Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, goes to Mayuka Ito for Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun this is like an underrated anime. The details put into the design is great. Every tiny portion is greatly drawn, and even the working on the environment is good.
12. Best Drama
- BEASTARS
- Fruits Basket (Season 2)
- Great Pretender
- Japan Sinks: 2020
- SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME
- Somali and the Forest Spirit
Winner: Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket Season 2 holds the trophy of best drama Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, just like season 1. It holds the essence of daily life, love life, and the problems they face, sometimes from the outside, sometimes from the family.
But I think Great Pretender or Beastars is better. Not many can watch and relate to Sing Yesterday to me, but it’s a hell of a depressing drama as well.
13. 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
Winner: Kaguya-Sama: Love is War
Best comedy Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 goes to Kaguya-Sama: Love is War What’s better than watching a guy fighting with a girl because of silly that he shouldn’t bow down and same with the girl with that silly reason the anime doesn’t leave a chance not to give us laughter.
14. 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
Winner: Tower of God
The Best score Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 goes to Kevin Penkin for Tower of God its not an easy task to turn a webtoon to anime that too, the first one being an ice breaker for one of its type. Along with that, the Tower of god managed to join one of the memes of the time. That’s why I think it deserves to be here.
15. 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
Winner: TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You
The best couple for Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021, is a bit awkward for me since Nasa and Tsukasa from Tonikawa: Over the moon, for you took the prize, I think there were better couples than them. *sighs*
16. 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
Winner: Re: Zero
The best fantasy Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021 goes to Re: Zero Season 2. Tower of God isn’t here because many details are missing in season 2. Re: Zero managed to fill up many plot holes in anime.
So folks that’s it for Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021. See you again next year!
Don’t forget to comment down to let me know whether your favorite anime or character got any Crunchyroll Anime Awards or not! And your thoughts on Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021.
FAQs on Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021
Who won anime of the year 2019?
The maestro of dark comedy mixed with realism Masaaki Yuasa came out on top with his Science SARU-produced series named- Devilman Crybaby.
Where can I watch the Crunchyroll anime awards?
Winners get announced every year at Crunchyroll live event, but this year a virtual event was hosted by Tim Lyu and Crunchyroll’s beloved princess, Crunchyroll-Hime! The show will also be available to watch on Crunchyroll on-demand.
Who owns Crunchyroll?
Sony Corp. owns Crunchyroll.
When will the Tokyo anime award be held?
Tokyo Anime Award Festival “TAAF2021” will be held from 12th to 15th, March 2021 in Ikebukuro TOKYO, Japan.
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