Solo Leveling & DANDADAN Lead 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards: Full Breakdown, Trends & Controversies

The 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards concluded with unexpected victories, historic milestones, and electrifying performances, attracting a record-breaking 51 million global votes. With Solo Leveling sweeping six categories and DANDADAN emerging as a fan-favorite, this year’s awards marked a generational shift in anime popularity and critical acclaim. In this comprehensive 4500+ word breakdown, we’ll go deep into each winning category, unpack why these choices matter, and explore what this means for anime trends in 2025 and beyond.

🔥 Anime of the Year: Solo Leveling

There were whispers, then predictions—and finally confirmation. Solo Leveling, based on the Korean web novel turned manhwa, shattered expectations by winning Anime of the Year. Not only did it top viewership charts, but it also became a cultural phenomenon.

Why It Won:

• Exceptional animation by A-1 Pictures.
• A breakout global fanbase, especially in Brazil, India, and the US.
• Star performance by Aleks Le as Sung Jinwoo (Best English VA winner).
• An emotionally charged soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano (Best Score winner).

This win signifies the global audience’s increasing embrace of manhwa-based anime adaptations.

🎬 Film of the Year: Look Back

Look Back, adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s poignant one-shot, took home Best Film. With emotionally minimalist storytelling and stunning direction, it outpaced commercial giants like Suzume.

🆕 Best New Series: Solo Leveling

Another win for Solo Leveling, affirming its dominance. Its high production values and world-building drew in millions—even those unfamiliar with the original manhwa.

🔁 Best Continuing Series: Demon Slayer – Hashira Training Arc

Despite some backlash, Demon Slayer continues to hold strong. The Hashira arc may not be the series’ peak, but its animation quality and emotional intensity kept fans engaged.

🧠 Best Original Anime: Ninja Kamui

Crunchyroll’s bet on original storytelling paid off. Ninja Kamui blends cyberpunk, vengeance, and stunning choreography. Expect it to become a cult classic.

🎵 Music Awards Highlights

• Best Opening Sequence: “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts – DANDADAN
• Best Ending Sequence: “request” by krage – Solo Leveling
• Best Score: Solo Leveling – Hiroyuki Sawano
• Best Anime Song: “Otonoke” – DANDADAN

DANDADAN’s music wins showcased its stylistic uniqueness and ability to blend chaos with charm.

🎭 Best Performances & Cast

• Best Main Character: Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)
• Best Supporting Character: Fern (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)
• “Must Protect At All Cost” Character: Anya Forger (SPY × FAMILY S2)

Best Voice Actor Performances:

• 🇯🇵 Japanese: Aoi Yuki as Maomao (The Apothecary Diaries)
• 🇺🇸 English: Aleks Le as Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)
• 🇧🇷 Brazilian Portuguese: Charles Emmanuel as Sung Jinwoo
• 🇫🇷 French: Adrien Antoine as Kafka Hibino (Kaiju No. 8)
• 🇪🇸 Castilian Spanish: Masumi Mutsuda as Sung Jinwoo
• 🇮🇳 Hindi: Lohit Sharma as Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen S2)

💥 Best of Genre Breakdown

• Action: Solo Leveling
• Comedy: MASHLE: Magic & Muscles
• Drama: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
• Romance: Blue Box
• Slice of Life: Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!
• Isekai: Re:ZERO S3

🎨 Visual Excellence

• Best Animation: Demon Slayer – Hashira Arc
• Best Background Art: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
• Best Character Design: DANDADAN
• Best Director: Keiichiro Saito – Frieren

🌍 Global Impact Award: Attack on Titan

This special honor was awarded to Attack on Titan, recognizing a decade of cultural, emotional, and artistic influence. Accepted by Yuichiro Hayashi of MAPPA, it honors the global legacy of Isayama’s dark epic.

“These aren’t just shows—they’re part of our identity.” – Rahul Purini, Crunchyroll President

📈 Trends & Takeaways from Anime Awards 2025

1. Manhwa’s Mainstream Moment

Solo Leveling’s triumph reflects a new wave: Korean IPs making global anime splashes. This could open doors for Omniscient Reader, Tower of God S2, and Doom Breaker adaptations.

2. DANDADAN – The Cult Classic In Waiting

Winning in music and design, DANDADAN may not be mainstream yet—but its unique tone, energy, and artistic courage signal that anime isn’t afraid to get weird.

3. Dramatic Depth Over Shounen Flash

Frieren showed that stillness, reflection, and storytelling maturity can compete with action-heavy hits.

4. Globalization of Voice Acting

The variety of VA awards shows how anime has become a truly multilingual and multicultural medium.

5. Nostalgia vs. Innovation

While Demon Slayer and SPY × FAMILY play it safe with high production and fan-service, Ninja Kamui and Look Back prove there’s still hunger for originality.

🧠 Deep Dive: What Made Each Winner Stand Out

To fully appreciate the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, we need to dig deeper into the storytelling, production, cultural impact, and audience reception of key winners.

🔍 Solo Leveling – Beyond Spectacle

What made Solo Leveling dominate wasn’t just the sleek animation or Sawano’s iconic music. It was its cross-cultural narrative. The lone hunter, rising from nothing to power, is a universally resonant story — one that mirrors real-world ambition, loneliness, and grit.

From its jaw-dropping dungeon fights to tender moments with Jinwoo’s sister, Solo Leveling balanced action with heart. It challenged the boundary between anime and manhwa adaptation — and succeeded where others failed. Many fans see it as the first manhwa that truly “felt like anime,” both in pacing and emotional beats.

🎤 DANDADAN – Controlled Chaos with Heart

Winning Best OP, Best Anime Song, and Best Character Design, DANDADAN isn’t just quirky — it’s revolutionary. It combined horror, comedy, science fiction, and slice-of-life without ever losing emotional core. Characters like Okarun and Momo are absurdly grounded in reality, and that contradiction worked beautifully.

The art direction fused Mob Psycho 100’s elastic style with Chainsaw Man’s madness — but with its own soul. It’s no longer an underdog; it’s the blueprint for future “genre chaos” anime.

🌸 Frieren: Quiet Power in a Loud World

With wins in Best Drama, Best Director, Best Background Art, and Best Supporting Character, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End proves that slow pacing and introspection still move audiences.

Its unique approach: showing the aftermath of a grand fantasy tale. What happens after heroes save the world? Frieren’s journey, processing grief and memory over centuries, struck emotional chords across demographics. The direction by Keiichiro Saito brought melancholic beauty to every frame.

Its dialogue-heavy structure, watercolor-like backgrounds, and mature thematic focus made it the Ghibli-esque surprise of the year.

⚔️ Demon Slayer – Consistency Is a Superpower

Though some fans felt the Hashira Training Arc was a narrative lull, the sheer quality of animation — especially in breathing techniques, emotional close-ups, and training montages — justified its Best Animation win.

Demon Slayer remains a fan magnet. Its visual identity, character appeal, and voice acting create a high standard. Even in a “slower” arc, it pushes anime production values forward.

📊 Global Reach and Fan Voting Dynamics

Voter Breakdown:

Crunchyroll confirmed over 51 million votes from over 10 countries. New top countries included Canada and Chile — a sign of anime’s continuing growth in the Americas.

Key global trends:

• Latin America’s heavy voting for Solo Leveling
• France and Germany rallying behind Frieren
• India showing strong support for Jujutsu Kaisen, despite it not winning big

This year, the fan voice was louder and more global than ever. That shift changed what kinds of shows won.

📣 Final Thoughts + What to Watch Next

2025 was not just a celebration—it was a recalibration of what anime means to the world. With 51 million votes, diverse winners, and the rise of manhwa and alternative storytelling formats, anime in 2025 is more global, bold, and unpredictable than ever.

If you haven’t already, start watching:

• Solo Leveling (Crunchyroll)
• DANDADAN (When released – hype is real)
• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
• Ninja Kamui
• Look Back

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