After 73 Million Votes, It's Time To Welcome Crunchyroll's Official Anime Of The Year 2026

Crunchyroll has become the biggest anime streaming service in the world outside of Japan. With such huge influence over the industry, it is no surprise to know that the company holds one of the most anticipated anime awards every year, known as the Crunchyroll Awards.

Today, on May 23, 2026, this year’s Crunchyroll Awards 2026 were finally held, and with it, the winners of the most anticipated award have been crowned. After Solo Leveling’s crushing victory last year, especially its major win in the category of Anime of the Year 2025, the torch has now been passed over to My Hero Academia. Produced by Studio Bones, My Hero Academia has officially been crowned the Crunchyroll Anime of the Year 2026.

Crunchyroll’s 2026 Awards Unveil My Hero Academia As Grand Winner After A Stellar Final Season To Wrap Up The Story

The Crunchyroll Awards were initially introduced in 2017, with the first ceremony taking place on January 11, 2017. Since then, it has been 9 years, and with each passing year, the awards are gaining more traction all over the world, growing in prestige at the same time. This year, the 2026 Crunchyroll Awards nominees were revealed on April 2, 2026, for each award category. The voting opened on the same day, on April 2, and closed on April 15, 2026.

Since then, we have all been waiting for the announcement of the winners, especially the award for the title of Anime of the Year, which is decided by the fans and jury votes. This year, the grand winner is none other than My Hero Academia Season 8. MHA’s final season wrapped up the masterpiece that is Kohei Horikoshi’s story in an incredible manner in 2025, with Season 8 having aired from October 4, 2025, to December 15, 2025.

To win this title, MHA had to defeat other big names in the industry. Notably, the other nominees that lost out on this title are Dandadan Season 2, Gachiakuta, Takopi's Original Sin, The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, and The Summer Hikaru Died. All were solid series with their own fanbases and high ratings, but MHA still came out on top, thanks to its amazing story by Kohei Horikoshi, as well as the fantastic job done by Studio Bones. This marks the first and last time MHA will ever win this title due to the series having concluded with Season 8, and it’s a perfect farewell for Deku’s story.

Sung Jinwoo Passes The Torch to Deku At Crunchyroll Anime Awards

The Crunchyroll Awards of 2026 were exciting, but compared to the awards that unfolded last year in 2025, the results were rather predictable. In 2025, a clear dominant series had an absolute monopoly, and that was Solo Leveling. Following the story of Sung Jinwoo, Solo Leveling sees the protagonist go from being a weak Hunter to the world’s strongest, thanks to the power of the System. This series definitely resonated with many, especially as it swept Crunchyroll’s Awards. Not only did Solo Leveling win a majority of the awards, but it was also voted the Anime of the Year.

This year, My Hero Academia showed its brilliance and proved to be more than worthy of being a proper successor to Solo Leveling. My Hero Academia Season 8 highlighted the climax of the ultimate war in the series of Heroes vs Villains. With Deku clashing against Shigaraki Tomura and All For One's plotline successfully wrapping up after 10 years, for the series to win big at the Crunchyroll Awards 2026 was a given. Moreover, Studio Bones went Plus Ultra with the adaptation of Season 8, delivering an unforgettable experience to all the fans.

Other Awards That My Hero Academia Won At Crunchyroll’s 2026 Awards

My Hero Academia made waves at the 2026 Crunchyroll Awards by winning the most anticipated awards of all. The final season was such a hit that its fans supported it heavily during this event, aside from the best anime award. For one, its most popular character and deuteragonist, Katsuki Bakugo, came out on top as Crunchyroll’s Best Supporting Character. He beat out the likes of Jinshi from the Apothecary Diaries and Enjin from Gachiakuta, among others.

This aside, Horikoshi’s story also managed to win Best Ending Sequence for the song “I” by Bump of Chicken. The animation and sequence were also incredible under the direction of Hanako Ueda. All things considered, tonight belongs to My Hero Academia for its iconic ending, and it surely deserved this brilliant sendoff more than any other series.

Source: Crunchyroll Awards 2026