Here Are Your Winners

The 2021 Anime Awards hosted by Crunchyroll has officially come to a close. This past Friday night, the winners were all announced! So, did I get any right?

I could not be more excited to write about this years awards. Honestly, I kind of regret not live streaming my reactions to the winners, but I was watching the show live on the road. Stuck in a car with James and Bethany, I snapped on some headphones, put my phone up on the car mount, and periodically screamed at them when something amazing happened. Not sure how they felt about the experience, but I wouldn't trade it for the world based on these results. Intrigued? Then let's get into it!

*WARNING: If you have not read my article detailing the award categories and nominees please stop now and do so here. Spoilers ahead!*

Let's review our categories! The bold ones are what we will be specifically talking about today. At the end I will announce ALL the winners using this list again!

Our categories this year are:

Anime of the Year

Best Animation

Best Opening Sequence

Best Ending Sequence

Best Boy

Best Girl

Best Score

Best Performance by a Voice Actor (Japanese)

Best Performance by a Voice Actor (English)

Best Director

Best Character Design

Best Protagonist

Best Antagonist

Best Fight Scene

Best Couple

Best Drama

Best Fantasy

Best Comedy

Best Opening Sequence

The nominees for Best Opening Sequence are:

"Easy Breezy" by chelmico - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

“KAIKAIKITAN” by EVE - JUJUTSU KAISEN

“Wild Side” by ALI - BEASTARS

“G.P.” by Yutaka Yamada - Great Pretender

“Daddy Daddy Do!” by Masayuki Suzuki - Kaguya-sama: Love is War? (Season 2)

“Phoenix” by Burnout Syndromes - HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP

My love for the Best Opening and Ending Sequence categories are very great! I have said time and time again that music and anime were meant for each other and I mean it. I still find it funny after all these years how integral the opening and ending sequences have become to this culture. But I digress. My prediction for this category was that “Wild Side” by ALI - BEASTARS would win. Was I right? Let's see... the winner for the 2021 Best Opening Sequence is:

A huge congratulations to Beastars on an award well won and definitely deserved! This was a great opening sequence and was wildly unique. I have written an entire article on Beastars if you would want to check them out. Their next season comes out this summer! Congratulations, again!

Best Ending Sequence

The nominees for Best Ending Sequence are:

“LOST IN PARADISE” by ALI feat. AKLO - JUJUTSU KAISEN

“The Great Pretender” by Freddie Mercury - Great Pretender

“Night Running” by Shin Sakura ft AAAMYYY - BNA: Brand New Animal

“(K)NoW_NAME” by 「D.D.D.D」- Dorohedoro

“Welcome My Friend” by OKAMOTO’S - The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED

"Last Dance" by Mamoru Miyano - In/Spectre

I have spoken a lot about how I feel about these opening and ending sequences so let's just jump right into what my prediction was for this category: “LOST IN PARADISE” by ALI feat. AKLO - JUJUTSU KAISEN. I absolutely LOVE this sequence and had high hopes for it. But who won? The winner for the 2021 Best Ending Sequence goes too:

“LOST IN PARADISE” by ALI feat. AKLO - JUJUTSU KAISEN!!! Congratulations! I was so happy about this win; I absolutely adore the song, the animation, the dance, all of it! Not to mention, I'm 2 for 2 at this point, baby! Huge congratulations to Jujutsu Kaisen! We expected great things for you at this awards show and you came out the gates hot with this win. If you are wanting more information on this anime, I also wrote an article on them. Make sure to check them out!

Best Antagonist

The nominees for Best Antagonist are:

En - Dorohedoro

Ryomen Sukuna - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Rachel - Tower of God

Akito Soma - Fruits Basket (Season 2)

Echidna - Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2

Overhaul - My Hero Academia Season 4

This was a different category than what I covered last year, but it was largely due to all the incredible nominees. Two of my favorite series off all time got nominated for this category- Fruits Basket and Tower of God- so it was a rather big deal to me. Regardless of how I felt about those two- and trust me I felt A LOT of ways about it- my prediction was that this category would be swept away once again by Jujutsu Kaisen. So let's find out if my streak continues or ends here. The winner for the 2021 Best Antagonist is:

That's right: Sukuna, you bring Jujutsu Kaisen their second win! This series is killing it this year! Let's see what else their luck will bring them!

Best Fight Scene

The nominees for Best Fight Scene are:

Gojo Satoru vs. Ryomen Sukuna - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Jin Mori vs Jegai Taek - The God of High School

Bercouli vs Emperor Vector - Sword Art Online Alicization: War of the Underworld Part 2

Deku vs Overhaul - My Hero Academia Season 4

Jin Mori vs Han Daewi - The God of High School

Brawler vs Master - Akudama Drive

This was the second category I changed for our coverage on the awards this year. This one felt special because we saw a single anime get TWO of the nominations slots within the same category. This had me extremely excited, especially since it was one of the Webtoon to Crunchyroll Originals: The God of High School. But even with their extra edge on the category, ultimately I predicted that My Hero Academia would take home the gold for this one. Without further adieu, the winner for the 2021 Best Fight Scene is:

My Hero Academia! And as you can see the image spoils another category for you as MHA takes home 2 awards this year: Best Fight Scene along with Best Voice Performance in English. Huge congrats to them, I am so excited for Season 5, which comes out NEXT MONTH! If you are not caught up, now is the time to do so because sh*t is about to get real. Also, not that I'm keeping score or anything, but that brings me to 4-out-of-4 for my predictions...just sayin'.

Anime of the Year

The nominees for Anime of the Year are:

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

JUJUTSU KAISEN

Dorohedoro

Great Pretender

Appare-Ranman!

BEASTARS

Now, the category we all are here for: Anime of the Year. All our nominees were incredible, definitely an amazing line up this year and I could not have asked for better. I enjoyed watching and reviewing all these gems, but who came out on top. My final prediction for our chosen categories this year was that Jujutsu Kaisen would come and sweep this award right out from the others feet. But did this rookie anime do it? Let's find out, the winner of the 2021 Anime of the Year award is:

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They did it! A clean sweep, walking away with three incredibly well earned awards! The entire team involved in the creation of Jujutsu Kaisen should be incredibly proud, especially since the show's first season ISN'T EVEN OVER YET! They won this prestigious award without even having a complete season to their name. Kudos to them on a race well run! Once again, make sure to check them out and see what all the hype is about!

Before I announce the rest of the category winners, can I show you something special to me?

I have no affiliation with the team that created either of these shows. I'm just an over-zealous nerd who happens to have an overwhelming love for these series. When Tower of God won, I squeaked and clapped and was so incredibly proud. It renewed my hope of the series being greenlit for a Season 2. This series comes from one of my favorite webcomics of all time and getting to see it come to life and be acknowledged in such a way filled me with pride. But my heart has always belonged in a fruit basket...Fruits Basket went to the awards last year with nominees as well and walked away empty handed. This year they walked in and came out winners. When they were reviewing the nominees before announcing the winner, and the music was playing, I remembered everything that manga series meant to me growing up. I remembered all the wishing to see it brought to life and the long waiting for the remake after the first adaptation was a botch. This adaptation was one of the final pushes I needed to start this blog, and I couldn't be more proud of it. Right before they announced the winner for the 2021 Best Drama, I was filled with peace and tears actually began to stream down my face because I knew, I KNEW, they had done it. Their name was called and I absolutely choked. I am so happy for them! Look forward to Season 3, which is coming this April. The show will be coming to a close, the adventure over, but the lessons that Kyoko taught Tohru, and in turn teaches us, will be slung across my back like the most perfect pickled plum for the rest of my life. (Inside joke, for those who enjoy Fruits Basket). Be sure to check the winners of Best Score and Best Drama, these were the two most important wins for me Friday and I hope you'll get to carry them in your hearts too.

Alright, I'll quit the gooshy stuff and get to our overall list of winners. I present to you the 2021 Anime Award Winners!

Our category winners this year are:

Best Character Design- Mayuka Itou, Original Designs by Aidairo - Toilet-bound Hanako-kun

Best Animation- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (Yay my babes!)

Best Fight Scene- Deku vs Overhaul - My Hero Academia Season 4

Best Couple- Nasa Yuzaki and Tsukasa Yuzaki - TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You

Best Performance by a Voice Actor (Japanese)- Yusuke Kobayashi as Natsuki Subaru - Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World Season 2

Best Performance by a Voice Actor (English)- Zeno Robinson as Hawks - My Hero Academia Season 4

Best Boy- Shoyo Hinata - HAIKYU!! TO THE TOP (He is a good boy)

Best Girl- Kaguya Shinomiya - KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR? Season 2

Best Director- Masaaki Yuasa - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (Deserved beyond measure!)

Best Score- Kevin Penkin - Tower of God (His acceptance speech gave me hope!)

Best Opening Sequence- “Wild Side” by ALI - BEASTARS

Best Ending Sequence- “LOST IN PARADISE” by ALI feat. AKLO - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Best Fantasy- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World Season 2

Best Comedy- KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR? Season 2

Best Drama- Fruits Basket Season 2 (My heart...)

Best Protagonist- Catarina Claes - My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Best Antagonist- Ryomen Sukuna - JUJUTSU KAISEN

Anime of the Year- JUJUTSU KAISEN

Congratulations to all the winners this year. I was so happy to see so many great shows walk away will these awards. It was an overall very satisfying year for me. Especially when I didn't agree with certain winners last year. I am genuinely happy with most of this and all it does is get me fired up for the year ahead! I can't wait to start seeing who will make it onto these lists come next year! So, go out and watch a new anime today. You never know, it might be a winner!

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Thank you for joining me for this lengthy installment of Nerdom. If you want to see the awards show for yourself, it is available on Crunchyroll, YouTube, and Twitch. I hope your week is going well, finish strong, and I will see you back on Sunday! As always, in the meantime, stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay messy otaku!!