One piece officially beats solo leveling in the Crunchyroll 2026 awards

before today, On May 23, 2026, the Crunchyroll Awards ceremony was held in Tokyo, Japan for the 10th consecutive year.. As every year, the awards include several categories with different winners chosen with both fan and jury votes. This year's Crunchyroll Awards Racked up over 73 million votes from around the worldSet a new record in the process. The voting period for each category ran from April 3, 2026 to April 16, 2026, with the results announced today only.

last year, Single leveling It won most of the awards and completely dominated almost every category, but this year was very different. Solo Leveling competed in various categories, but the biggest award it was nominated for was Best Continuing Series. In this category, Solo Leveling went up against anime and a legend that has been going strong for nearly 30 years, and that is Eiichiro Oda's. a pieceAnimated by none other than Toei Animation and distributed by Fuji TV. Thanks to both fan votes and jury votes, One Piece was officially selected as the Best Continuing Anime for 2026 in Solo Leveling..

One Piece has officially been selected as Crunchyroll's Best Continuing Anime Series of 2026 on May 23rd.

Image via Toei Animation.

The a piece The anime delivered quite an iconic year last year with the continuation of its stellar Egghead arc. This arc started in the anime in January 2024 and lasted for almost two years. December 2025 marked the conclusion of the Egghead arc in the anime, which successfully drew a very powerful conclusion with Jewel Bonnie's backstory handling both the climax and peak of the arc.

Thanks for the very powerful performance, a piece It was chosen as the best ongoing anime series by fans around the world, with strong support from the judges. Given the quality that Eiichiro Oda's masterpiece has delivered on a consistent basis over the years and the huge fanbase it has amassed through consistent quality output, it's no surprise to us that the series' win.

What stood out last year to me, and many other One Piece fans, was Toei Animation's production upgrade. Its production helped it triumph with completely incredible directors, such as Nozomu Shishido, Yasunori Koyama, and some other veterans who served to handle the direction at various points in the story, such as Katsumi Ishizuka. In terms of animation, this series may not be as consistent as the likes of Solo Leveling, but for me, when a series delivers a high-level story and does just fine in the animation department, it's a clear favorite, and it seems to be the case for many voters. In all fairness, One Piece was a worthy winner of this year's Crunchyroll Anime Awards as Best Continuing Anime Series.

Alone Leveling failed to claim the award after a strong Season 2 last year

While One Piece certainly delivered a very strong year, so did Solo leveling up after a phenomenal Season 1, helping it sweep the polls at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025. I and many other fans expected the series to make a strong impact at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026 as well. The fact that the series was not nominated for the Anime of the Year award surprised millions of people around the world, but it was a consolation when it was competing for Best Continuing Anime Series.

if anything, Single leveling With the release of its final season in 2025, it also ramped up its production and storytelling. Solo Leveling Season 2 officially started streaming on January 4, 2025 on Crunchyroll and ended on March 29, 2025. The 13 episodes it delivered were absolutely fantastic from start to finish, and served up all sorts of Jesuspress Island archetypes, as did everyone else. the world In terms of action, solo leveling was easily one of the best of the year, but where it lacked was in the storytelling department, which could be its undoing, especially when going up against a behemoth like a piece.

Despite not winning the award for Best Continuing Anime, Single leveling Voted the best animated series of 2026 by fans and, at the same time, the best action of 2026, still took home two very big wins. This, in itself, is a huge win for solo leveling and well deserved. After watching a plethora of anime series in 2026, I was amazed at the sheer level of quality displayed in Solo Leveling Season 2. In fact, Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12, where Sung Jinwoo officially took on the Ant King in the best climax of the Jeju Island arc and the best worth arc was the same.

Why One Piece Solo Leveling deserves the Best Continuing Anime award

Image via Toei Animation.

Coming off a big win for One Piece at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2026 on May 23rd, the series certainly deserved its victory, mainly because of the impeccable story narrated by Ichiro Oda. One Piece is a great story that still comes to manga after 29 years, and it definitely carries a lot of weight. Added to this is the fact that Eiichiro Oda is a master at incredible story craft, character writing, and world building. In these aspects, One Piece is practically unbeatable and Toei Animation brought the best of the series to life last year, earning it a big win at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

The likes of Midori Matsuda's new art direction and character designs, and Keisuke Mori's touch ups helped make the series more beautiful than ever, and the incredible staff at Toei Animation took some of the most important parts of the Egghead arc to a whole new level with unprecedented transformations like Episodes 19,14114, 19114. little It is incredibly difficult to deliver consistent quality even when produced annually, and the efforts of the Toei Animation staff deserve recognition for this. likewise, a piece Claiming victory over Solo Leveling for the title of Best Continuing Series at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards makes a lot of sense, and it's rightfully deserved for me and millions of people around the world.

Source: Crunchyroll Anime Awards Results 2026