Anime Awards 2026: all the winners and standout anime

My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON won Anime of the Year, while Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle took Film of the Year at the 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The results also recognized new series, continuing shows, craft, characters, music and voice performances across ten languages.

The headline winners

The official list confirms the six central series and film awards below. Crunchyroll does not publish a reason for each result, so the context that follows is editorial interpretation rather than an explanation of the votes.

• Anime of the Year: My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON.
• Film of the Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.
• Best New Series: Gachiakuta.
• Best Continuing Series: ONE PIECE.
• Best Animation: Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-.
• Best Original Anime: Lazarus.

Anime of the Year: My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON

The final season beat five other nominees: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, DAN DA DAN Season 2, Gachiakuta, The Summer Hikaru Died and Takopi’s Original Sin. Its win gives the series’ concluding season the edition’s top title. That is a meaningful result within this award program, but it does not establish that it had the largest audience or was objectively the best anime for every viewer.

Film of the Year: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle

The film’s win came from a six-title field that also included 100 Meters, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II — The Ashes of Rage, The Rose of Versailles and Scarlet. The award recognizes the film under the ceremony’s voting process; no box-office comparison is needed to explain the result.

• Film of the Year nominee list: 100 Meters; Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc; Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle; Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II — The Ashes of Rage; The Rose of Versailles; Scarlet.

All 32 category winners

Here is the complete official category list. “Best Voice Artist Performance” has a separate award for each listed language; those ten results make up ten of the 32 categories.

• Series and films: Anime of the Year — My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON; Film of the Year — Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle; Best Continuing Series — ONE PIECE; Best New Series — Gachiakuta; Best Original Anime — Lazarus.
• Genres: Best Romance Anime — The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity; Best Comedy Anime — DAN DA DAN Season 2; Best Action Anime — Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-; Best Isekai Anime — Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3; Best Drama Anime — The Apothecary Diaries Season 2; Best Slice of Life Anime — SPY x FAMILY Season 3.
• Craft and characters: Best Animation — Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-; Best Character Design — Gachiakuta; Best Director — Akinori Fudesaka and Norihiro Naganuma (The Apothecary Diaries Season 2); Best Background Art — Gachiakuta; Best Main Character — Maomao (The Apothecary Diaries Season 2); Best Supporting Character — Katsuki Bakugo (My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON); “Must Protect At All Costs” Character — Anya Forger (SPY x FAMILY Season 3).
• Music: Best Anime Song — “IRIS OUT,” Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc); Best Score — Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina); Best Opening Sequence — “On The Way,” AiNA THE END (DAN DA DAN Season 2); Best Ending Sequence — “I,” BUMP OF CHICKEN (My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON).
• Voice performances: Japanese — Aoi Yuki as Maomao (The Apothecary Diaries Season 2); English — Lucien Dodge as Akaza (Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle); Arabic — Tariq Obaid as Taro Sakamoto (SAKAMOTO DAYS); Brazilian Portuguese — Charles Emmanuel as Akaza (Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle); Castilian Spanish — Carles Teruel as Akaza (Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle); French — Bastien Bourlé as Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON); German — Gerrit Schmidt-Foß as Akaza (Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle); Hindi — Abhishek Sharma as Jinshi (The Apothecary Diaries Season 2); Italian — Mosè Singh as Denji (Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc); Latin American Spanish — José Antonio Toledano as Akaza (Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle).

Which works collected the most awards?

Counting the 32 official category winners and attributing each win to the named series, season or film gives this result: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle — 7; The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 — 5; My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON — 4; Gachiakuta — 3. Four works received two each: DAN DA DAN Season 2, Solo Leveling Season 2, SPY x FAMILY Season 3 and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. ONE PIECE, Lazarus, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, Re:ZERO Season 3 and SAKAMOTO DAYS received one each. The separate Global Impact Award is not included.

This is a count of award categories, including voice-performance awards credited to a work. It is not a measure of views, revenue or overall quality. A title’s total can also reflect the award categories available in that edition.

Four editorial takeaways

• A closing chapter took the top prize. My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON won Anime of the Year and also received awards for ending sequence, supporting character and French voice performance.
• The film prize and score went to one film. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle also appeared in several language voice categories; the count reflects those separate awards.
• Gachiakuta made a mark in craft as well as debut recognition. It won Best New Series, Best Character Design and Best Background Art.
• The categories spread recognition across different work. Series, a film, music, character design, directing and voice acting all appear in the results; the format does not produce one universal ranking of anime.

How were winners selected?

Crunchyroll describes a two-round process: a panel of judges selects six nominees for each category in round one; in round two, judges and fans vote together to determine the winners. The guide does not provide a vote-weight formula, so none is inferred here. The 10th edition had 32 competitive categories. The separate 2026 Global Impact Award went to director Tatsuya Nagamine and is not counted as a 33rd category.

Crunchyroll’s official winners list and 2026 guide document the results and voting process.

For another season-focused guide, see the fall 2026 anime release guide. It covers a later season, not the 2025 eligibility period recognized by these awards.

Best New Series and Best Continuing Series are separate lanes, so Gachiakuta and ONE PIECE were not direct competitors for Anime of the Year. Lazarus winning Best Original Anime is also a category result, not a claim that the other nominees were adaptations.

Craft awards separate aspects that viewers experience together. Solo Leveling won both Action and Animation, but these are distinct categories, not a combined technical score. Character and voice awards are separate from the series award as well.

The ten voice categories name a performer, role and language version. Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish are distinct awards. Winning in one dub does not determine the result in another language or compare the Japanese cast with dubbed performances.

The award totals are calculated from the 32 categories above: 7 + 5 + 4 + 3 + (4 × 2) + (5 × 1) = 32. Voice awards count for the work named in the official result; Global Impact is excluded. The totals are not an audience or quality ranking.

Where to watch a winning title depends on country, rights window, season and service. Check legal local catalogues for the exact film or season; this article does not promise worldwide availability on one platform.

Frequently asked questions

• Who won Anime of the Year? My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON.
• Which film won? Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.
• When and where was the ceremony? May 23, 2026, at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo.
• Why are some winners from anime released before 2026? The ceremony year and eligibility year differ: this edition considered eligible works released during 2025.

The 2026 results combine a headline series and film win with recognition across genres, technical craft, music, characters and ten voice-performance languages. They are an official award outcome, not a substitute for choosing what you enjoy watching.