Japan Begins to Question the Crunchyroll Anime Awards
The Japanese have begun to question why the Crunchyroll Anime Awards is being held in Japan. If you didn’t know, in recent days the event that crowned My Hero Academia as the best anime of the year was streamed to the entire world, but Japan is now feeling uneasy about the event.
Japan Begins to Question the Crunchyroll Anime Awards
After the release of the 2026 edition numbers, which recorded more than 73 million global votes. Although the event takes place in Tokyo and celebrates Japanese works, the data shows that Japanese audience engagement is practically irrelevant within the global voting.
The awards are organized by the Crunchyroll platform, one of the largest anime streaming services in the world, part of Sony’s ecosystem. The platform distributes anime to more than 200 countries and helps turn the industry into a highly globalized product.
The point that fuels the discussion in Japan is precisely this contradiction: while the event is held in the country and celebrates Japanese productions, the Japanese audience does not participate in a significant way. This is mainly because the service is geographically blocked in Japan, which limits access and drastically reduces local visibility of the awards themselves.
Another factor intensifying the debate is the profile of the most engaged countries in voting. Instead of Japan or traditional industry markets, the highest participation comes from countries such as Brazil, India, and Mexico, as well as the United States and Germany. This reinforces the perception that the Anime Awards no longer reflects only the Japanese view of their own works, but rather a global interpretation of what is popular.
These questions have raised an important issue within the industry: does the Anime Awards represent Japan, or is it mainly driven by international audiences?
The growth of voting — surpassing 73 million votes — also shows how anime has become a global phenomenon, driven by streaming, social media, and simultaneous distribution in multiple languages. However, this expansion comes with a symbolic disconnect from its country of origin.
via WIRED