DanDaDan Season 2 leads all series in nominations at the 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, earning entries across more than a dozen categories including Anime of the Year.
DanDaDan Season 2 has earned the most nominations of any series at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, with entries spanning more than a dozen categories. The Science SARU-animated adaptation of Yukinobu Tatsu's Shonen Jump Plus manga earned recognition in Anime of the Year, Best Animation, Best Action Anime, Best Comedy Anime, Best Romance Anime, Best Character Design, Best Director, Best Background Art, and several more, including dual nominations in the Main Character category for both protagonists Momo and Okarun.
Six series are competing for the ceremony's top prize: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, DanDaDan Season 2, Gachiakuta, My Hero Academia Final Season, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Takopi's Original Sin. The field spans romance, action, shonen, horror, and psychological drama, reflecting a year in which no single genre dominated the conversation.
Gachiakuta, the dark action series that broke out in its debut season, follows DanDaDan with entries across 10 categories including Anime of the Year and Best New Series. My Hero Academia's final season and The Apothecary Diaries' second season round out the most-nominated titles.
The awards ceremony takes place on May 23 at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo, marking the 10th anniversary of the event. Sally Amaki and Jon Kabira will host. Fan voting is open through April 15 on the Anime Awards website, Crunchyroll, and, for the first time, MyAnimeList.
The presenter lineup includes Indian film star Rashmika Mandanna, making this one of the most visible connections between the Indian entertainment industry and the global anime community at an official industry event. Other presenters include Kasumi Arimura, Enako, Winston Duke, and RZA. Musical performances come from Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Porno Graffitti, Yoko Takahashi, and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
DanDaDan's dominance at the nominations stage caps a remarkable stretch for the franchise. The manga continues its run in Shonen Jump Plus, and DanDaDan Season 3 was confirmed in December 2025 for a 2027 premiere, with Science SARU returning to handle production. The series has built a fanbase that spans action, comedy, romance, and supernatural horror audiences, a breadth reflected in the range of categories where it earned nominations.
Fans can vote daily through April 15. The ceremony streams live on May 23.
The breadth of DanDaDan's nominations reflects what makes the series unusual in the current anime landscape. Most shows excel in one or two areas animation quality, character writing, action choreography and earn recognition accordingly. DanDaDan's presence across action, comedy, romance, character design, directing, and music categories suggests a show that operates at a high level across nearly every dimension of anime production.
Science SARU, the studio founded by Masaaki Yuasa and now led by Eunyoung Choi, has built a reputation for visually adventurous animation, and DanDaDan has become the studio's most commercially and critically successful project to date. The series' strong showing at the Crunchyroll Awards positions it as the frontrunner heading into the May 23 ceremony, though the strength of the Anime of the Year field means the final result is far from certain.
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