Anime Awards 2026 Winners: Anime of the Year, Film of the Year, and Every Major Category

The biggest event on the global anime calendar wrapped on May 23, 2026, in Tokyo. The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026 set a new record with around 73 million votes cast worldwide, and the winners list is essentially a curated guide to the best anime of the year. If you are looking for what to watch next, this is the easiest starting point you will get.

Here is the full breakdown of the major winners, what each one is, and where to stream them.

Anime of the Year: My Hero Academia Final Season

The top award of the night went to My Hero Academia: Final Season. The shonen series, adapted from Kohei Horikoshi's manga, has run since 2016 across multiple seasons, building one of the most devoted global anime fanbases of the last decade. Its final season closing out the years long story of Izuku Midoriya and the next generation of heroes was the popular and emotional choice for the audience.

The Weeknd presented the Anime of the Year award, which gives you a sense of the scale the ceremony has grown to. A pop star presenting the top prize at an anime awards show is not the norm for the medium, and it is a clear sign of how mainstream this corner of entertainment has become.

Film of the Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

The biggest anime film of the year, by both box office and acclaim, took the Film of the Year award. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is the latest theatrical entry in the Demon Slayer franchise, picking up the saga of Tanjiro Kamado as the conflict with the demon king Muzan reaches its climax. The film has been one of the biggest theatrical anime hits of all time, and the award confirms what the box office already made clear.

The full major category winners

Beyond the two top prizes, the night recognized a wide range of work. The notable category winners include:

• Best Original Anime: Lazarus.
• Best Continuing Series: One Piece.
• Best New Series: Gachiakuta.
• Best Action: Solo Leveling Season 2.
• Best Animation: Solo Leveling Season 2.
• Best Drama: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2.

That spread tells you a lot about the state of the medium. Long running juggernauts like One Piece are still dominant, while newer shows like Gachiakuta and Solo Leveling have broken through to the top of the heap in a matter of a couple of seasons. The Apothecary Diaries winning Best Drama also signals the continued strength of more grounded, character first series alongside the high spectacle action shows.

Why 73 million votes is a big deal

The Anime Awards' voting total has grown almost every year since the ceremony launched, and 73 million is a record. To put that in perspective, it is larger than the population of most countries. It tells you two things. First, the anime audience is now genuinely global rather than concentrated in Japan and a few Western pockets. Second, anime fans are organised in a way that very few other fandoms can match when it comes to actually voting in genre awards.

That engagement is exactly why streaming services have invested so heavily in anime over the last few years, and why simulcast windows now match Japanese releases instead of waiting months for dubs.

Where to watch the winners

The simplest answer for most of the list is Crunchyroll, which has become the central global home for licensed anime streaming. My Hero Academia, One Piece, Solo Leveling, The Apothecary Diaries, Gachiakuta, and Lazarus all stream there, with subbed releases generally available shortly after Japanese broadcast and dubs following.

Demon Slayer's situation is split. The series streams on Crunchyroll, while the Infinity Castle film, like the franchise's previous theatrical entries, follows its own theatrical and home release pattern. Check your region for current availability.

If you are not on Crunchyroll, several titles also appear on other services. Netflix has carried select anime, including Solo Leveling in some markets, and individual films often appear on rental platforms.

If you are new to anime, where to start

Pick one of the major category winners that matches your taste:

• For grand shonen adventure: My Hero Academia or One Piece.
• For a tightly paced power fantasy: Solo Leveling.
• For a slow burn court drama with mystery: The Apothecary Diaries.
• For brand new world building: Gachiakuta or Lazarus.

Pick one. Watch the first three episodes. If you are still watching by the fourth, you are in. That is the simplest entry rule for a medium that has never been bigger.

Why the Anime Awards have grown this fast

The Crunchyroll Anime Awards launched in 2017 with a modest ceremony and an audience largely concentrated in dedicated anime communities. Less than a decade later, it is one of the largest fan voted awards in any medium, and the 73 million vote total this year would be impressive for an awards show in any cultural sector.

Two forces have driven the growth. The first is the streaming era. Anime used to be a genre that audiences had to actively seek out, often through fan distribution or specialty channels. Streaming has put almost every major show one click away on services people already pay for, and the result is a global audience that no longer needs a guide to find what to watch. The second is the work itself. The medium has had a decade of extraordinarily strong output, and many of the most acclaimed series of the era, from Attack on Titan through Demon Slayer to Solo Leveling, have crossed over to viewers who do not consider themselves anime fans. The awards are the visible result of an audience that has simply outgrown its old definition.

A closer look at the major winners

The five most relevant winners for a newcomer:

• My Hero Academia: Final Season closes out one of the defining shonen series of the last decade. Start at the beginning if you have not watched, the journey is the point.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is the latest theatrical chapter of a franchise that has redefined what anime can do at the box office. Begin with the original series, then progress to the films.
• Solo Leveling Season 2 picks up the adaptation of Chugong's web novel, a power fantasy executed with an unusual level of visual confidence.
• The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 continues a slow burn drama set in a fictional imperial Chinese court, the rarest of category winners in an action heavy field.
• Gachiakuta is the breakout new series, an angry, visually rich show about discarded people fighting back in a world that has thrown them away.

What the winners say about the medium

Read the list as a whole and a clear picture emerges. The audience is rewarding both spectacle and quiet character work. They are honouring long running franchises that have stayed strong and brand new series that have arrived loud. They are voting in numbers no other animation awards even approach. The medium is in one of the healthiest creative and commercial periods in its history, and the 2026 ceremony was a snapshot of that strength.

Frequently asked questions about the Anime Awards 2026

When did the Anime Awards 2026 take place?

The ceremony was held on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo.

What won Anime of the Year?

My Hero Academia: Final Season won Anime of the Year, with The Weeknd presenting the award.

Where can I watch the winning shows?

Most winners stream on Crunchyroll, which is the dominant global anime streaming service. Select titles are also available on Netflix and other platforms by region.

How many votes were cast?

A record 73 million votes were cast worldwide, making the 2026 awards the largest in the ceremony's history.

For more on what to stream, browse our streaming guides, or use The Movies Finder to find your next watch.