Japan’s anime industry gathered in Tokyo over the weekend for the seventh annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which select leading achievements in Japanese animation across a broad range of categories and pick the winners via a global popular vote. 

Netflix’s standalone series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners took the event’s top anime of the year award, while Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc, which made its international debut on Crunchyroll, cleaned up across many of the other main categories, including best action, best animation, best director (Haruo Sotozaki) and best fantasy. Other big winners included blockbuster Jujutsu Kaisen 0, produced by Japan’s MAPPA, which won best film, and Crunchyroll’s Spy X Family with best comedy and best new series. (The full list of winners is below). 

Crunchyroll says 18 million votes were cast for this year’s winners by fans from 200 countries, with high levels of participation spanning Asia, Europe and Latin America. 

The 2023 Crunchyroll Anime Awards also featured considerably more star power than in years past. The anime specialty streamer, which is a subsidiary of Japan’s Sony Corp., recruited a broad array of celebrity figures who are known to be hardcore anime fans and flew them into Tokyo to participate in the awards show as presenters. Among those on-hand at the event on Saturday night in Tokyo were: Hollywood directors Justin Lin (Fast and the Furious films) and Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn); actors Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria and the upcoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and Jacob Bertrand (Cobra Kai); and sports stars like Super Bowl winner Juju Smith-Schuster of the Kansas City Chiefs, Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions and WWE wrestler and personality Zelina Vega.

The awards show was live-streamed on YouTube, Twitch and other services. Crunchyroll also enlisted a few streaming stars to help boost the show’s reach, such as Valkyrae (13 million followers) and Sykkuno (9.8 million followers). The awards show was hosted by Japanese voice actress Sally Amaki and local entertainer Jon Kabira, with other Japanese stars — Haruka Kaki (singer and actress), Kendo Kobayashi (comedian), Roland (host, entrepreneur and TV personality) and Sawa Suzuki (actress) — appearing throughout the program. 

A complete list of 2023 Cruncyroll Anime Award winners follows: 

Anime of the Year – Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Best Action – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

Best Animation – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

Best Anime Song – “The Rumbling,” SiM, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best Character Design – Akira Matsushima, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc 

Best Comedy – Spy x Family

Best Continuing Series – One Piece

Best Director – Haruo Sotozaki, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

Best Drama – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best Ending Sequence – “Comedy,” Gen Hoshino, Spy x Family

Best Fantasy – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

Best Film – Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Best Main Character – Eren Jaeger, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best New Series – Spy x Family

Best Opening Sequence – “The Rumbling,” SiM, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best Original Anime – Lycoris Recoil

Best Romance – Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Ultra Romantic-

Best Score – Kohta Yamamoto and Hiroyuki Sawano, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best Supporting Character – Anya Forger, Spy x Family

Best Voice Artist Performance (English) – Zach Aguilar, David Martinez, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Best Voice Artist Performance (Japanese) – Yuki Kaji, Eren Jaeger, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2

Best Voice Artist Performance (Arabic) – Amal Hawija, Gon Freecss, Hunter x Hunter

Best Voice Artist Performance (Castilian) – Jaime Pérez de Sevilla, Yuta Okkotsu, Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Best Voice Artist Performance (French) – Brigitte Lecordier, Bojji, Ranking of Kings 

Best Voice Artist Performance (German) – Nicolás Artajo, Yuta Okkotsu, Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Best Voice Artist Performance (Italian) – Elisa Giorgio, Maki Zen’in, Jujutsu Kaisen (Cour 1)

Best Voice Artist Performance (Portuguese) – Nina Carvalho, Anya Forger, Spy x Family

Best Voice Artist Performance (Spanish) – Alejandro Orozco, Gyutaro, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

“Must Protect At All Costs” Character – Anya Forger, Spy x Family