When it comes to anime awards, the one that comes to mind for most fans, at least for international anime fans, is the Crunchyroll Awards. The Crunchyroll Awards have been around for years now, and what sets them apart from the rest is the variety of categories and the potential for fan input through voting. However, the Crunchyroll Awards are not without problems. Coincidentally, a new awards show is on the rise, and it's about to rival Crunchyroll in Japan.
Witt Studios president, George Wada, has revealed that they are working on a brand new awards show that focuses on Japan in the picture, something that Crunchyroll has failed to accomplish. This new award show is called “Tokyo Anime Next” and it's starting in October.
WIT Studio reveals “Tokyo Anime Next” as the biggest upcoming anime awards show in Japan
The anime industry is only growing in Japan, and its popularity has become global. With each passing year, anime is becoming more mainstream, and its reach is only growing. The anime medium has gathered fans from all over the world. That being said, the focus for anime is, first and foremost, Japanese consumers. To that end, a new anime awards show is currently in the works, and it's expected to be the biggest ever in Japan.
This new award show was revealed on July 4, 2026 during Anime Expo 2026, specifically, during the IG x Wit Studio Industry Panel. To be precise, this new anime award show is by WIT Studio, a famous Japanese anime studio founded on June 1, 2012 by George Wada and Tetsuya Nakatake. The studio has been at the forefront of anime's rise in popularity over the past decade, and they are particularly known for hit series such as Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, Spy x Family, Ranking of Kings, and most recently, The One Piece remake.
This new announcement is exciting, and comes directly from George Wada, who currently serves as the studio's president. According to George Wada, this new award show, known as Tokyo Anime Next, is set to make its grand debut on October 30, 2026, and will run until November 2, making it a very exciting event for all of us to enjoy.
More details of this award show are yet to come. Things like how the voting works, the jury, and the basis for choosing the nominees remain unclear, but for now, we know the gist, and the goal of this new awards show is to allow Japanese people to be at the forefront of the anime discussion. George Wada made the following comments about his goals and why the new awards program is important:
“We want anime in Japan to be judged, recognized and rewarded by the Japanese people.” – George Wada
Of course, many fans took this comment negatively, as it seemed to focus exclusively on Japanese fans, completely excluding international audiences from the conversation. However, this new project doesn't really come as a surprise. Anyway, George Wada first floated the idea of a new awards show a while ago, on April 14th. He said that Japan needs its own award show by Japanese anime professionals for Japanese audiences.
WIT Studio's new awards shows will compete with the Crunchyroll Awards
WIT Studio's Tokyo Anime Next is certainly not the first Japanese-focused anime awards show. Apart from this, there are some other big ones which have been held annually for some time now. There are Anime Grand Prix, Tokyo Anime Awards, Japan Academy Film Prize, Animation Kobe, and many more. Some of these also take audience votes into account, which means that Tokyo Anime Next isn't doing anything new in that regard.
What Tokyo Anime is aiming for next, however, is global attention with their awards show, which others outside of Japan lack. In that sense, Tokyo Anime Next is going to catch up with the Crunchyroll Awards to become the most coveted anime award show, and is going to be loved by fans from overseas as well. WIT Studio is at the forefront of this project, but it is not the only animation studio involved. The project is made in a coalition of studios, meaning that there is a huge push from several Japan-based companies behind the whole project.
The Crunchyroll Awards 2026 received a total of 73 million votes, a number never achieved by a Japanese awards show before. With so much support behind it, we could see Tokyo Anime Next get similar numbers next year if the show takes off.
Why fans are unhappy with the Crunchyroll Awards
Crunchyroll's award show first debuted on January 11, 2017, which is 9 years ago. The Crunchyroll Awards are very popular outside of Japan and are the biggest anime awards in the world. However, in Japan, the Crunchyroll Awards are basically unheard of, and for several reasons. For one, Crunchyroll is not available as a streaming service in Japan, as they have their own local streaming services.
Furthermore, the Crunchyroll Awards as a whole are not available or advertised to Japanese fans, and they are unable to vote on them. This may come as a shock to some, as Crunchyroll holds its award ceremonies in Tokyo, and yet almost no Japanese fans have heard of them. This is a big issue that Tokyo Anime Next wants to address, with George Wada believing that Japan should be involved in this type of event. Ideally, a good balance should be struck with Japanese and international fans being able to attend the same anime awards.
There are other issues with the Crunchyroll Awards that make many fans feel disappointed with them. For example, some fans dislike Crunchyroll's nomination process. Crunchyroll Award nominees are chosen by a panel of anonymous judges, whose credentials are unknown to fans. This leads to dissatisfaction with multiple nomenclatures, some of which are considered to be composed of repeating series. On other occasions, some candidates are unqualified but popular. As such, some of the best series can get snubbed at the Crunchyroll Awards.
With Tokyo Anime Next, we're likely to see the involvement of big industry names, including anime directors and animators, storyboard artists, and others at the forefront of the industry, and who certainly deserve a say in what gets nominated and what wins. This is a major failing of Crunchyroll that WIT Studio can fix. We can't wait to hear more about the new awards show, and we're definitely looking forward to comparing it to the Crunchyroll Awards when it's finally revealed.
