A Small Show About Extinct Animals Steals the Room

Kemono Friends should not have worked. It was made on a shoestring budget, its 3D character models were rough by industry standards, and it had zero major franchise backing behind it. And then it became one of the biggest anime phenomena of the year anyway, spreading across Japanese social media through sheer earnestness and an infectious catchphrase that ended up everywhere. By the time award season rolled around, it had already won over an audience nobody expected it to reach, and it walked away with Animation of the Year, Television here to prove it.

On the film side, the tone couldn't have been more different. In This Corner of the World, Sunao Katabuchi's understated drama about a young woman surviving in Hiroshima during World War II, took Animation of the Year, Film. Where Kemono Friends was loud, internet-native, and gleefully weird, In This Corner of the World was patient and devastating, the kind of film that earns its power through restraint rather than spectacle. Having both of these win in the same year is a pretty good snapshot of just how wide anime's range actually is.

Yuri!!! on Ice also picked up the Anime Fan Award for the second year running, an unusual bit of back-to-back staying power. One category worth flagging for the record: Best Art Direction went to Nobutaka Yoda that year according to outside sources, but it isn't part of the results tracked on this page, so you won't find it in the chart above.