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Crunchyroll Announces Nominees for 5th Annual Anime Awards

Disclosure: The writer of this article is also a judge for the Anime Awards.

Crunchyroll announced the nominees and opened voting for its fifth annual Anime Awards on Friday. Several series are looking to dominate the program, including BEASTARS, Great Pretender, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! all pulled at least nine nominations each. The Great Pretender is represented in 12 categories, followed by Eizouken with 11, Jujutsu Kaisen with 10, and BEASTARS with nine. Overall, 35 different series are nominated across 18 categories.

Voting is open until January 22 and participants can vote each day for their favorite choices.

The nominees are:

Anime of the Year

• APPARE-RANMAN!
• BEASTARS
• Dorohedoro
• Great Pretender
• JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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!

Best Boy

• Anos Voldigoad - The Misfit of Demon King Academy
• Caiman - Dorohedoro
• Khun Aguero Agnes - Tower of God
• Legoshi - BEASTARS
• Satoru Gojou - JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Shoyo Hinata - HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP

Best Protagonist

• Anos Voldigoad - The Misfit of Demon King Academy
• Catarina Claes - My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
• Midori Asakusa - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
• Natsume - DECA-DENCE
• Shoyo Hinata - HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP
• Yuuji Itadori - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Best Antagonist

• Akito Soma - Fruits Basket (Season 2)
• Echidna - Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
• En - Dorohedoro
• Overhaul - My Hero Academia Season 4
• Rachel - Tower of God
• Ryoumen Sukuna - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Best Animation

• BEASTARS
• Great Pretender
• JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
• Princess Connect! Re:Dive
• The God of High School

Best Fight Scene

• Bercouli vs. Dark God Vecta - Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of 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 Gojou vs. Ryoumen Sukuna - JUJUTSU KAISEN

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
• Yutaka Yamada - Great Pretender

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

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 Katō - Great Pretender

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

Best VA Performance (JP)

• Megumi Ogata as Hanako - Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
• Mutsumi Tamura as Sayaka Kanamori - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
• Riho Sugiyama as Minare Koda - Wave, Listen to Me!
• Yūichi Nakamura as Satoru Gojou - JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Yūsuke Kobayashi as Natsuki Subaru - Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
• Yūsuke Ōnuki as Daisuke Kambe - The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED

Best VA Performance (EN)

• Aaron Phillips as Laurent Thierry - Great Pretender
• Anairis Quiñones as Echidna - Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Season 2)
• Crispin Freeman as Ziusudra - Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia
• Johnny Yong Bosch as Bam - Tower of God
• Jonah Scott as Legoshi - BEASTARS
• Zeno Robinson as Hawks - My Hero Academia Season 4

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)

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)

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

Best Drama

• BEASTARS
• Fruits Basket (Season 2)
• Great Pretender
• Japan Sinks: 2020
• SING "YESTERDAY" FOR ME
• Somali and the Forest Spirit

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

The nominees were chosen by Crunchyroll's panel of judges before voting opened on January 15. The Anime Awards 2020 will be announced on February 19.

Source: Press release