Anime fans worldwide were eagerly waiting for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards to roll out. The voting line was stopped on January 27, 2024. There were several big names, including Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, One Piece, Oshi no Ko, etc. After the award ceremony went live, fans saw Jujutsu Kaisen sweep away almost all the awards with eleven wins.
Every alternate category had Jujutsu Kaisen as its winner. Even though the awards are given based on a voting system, there were a few results that the fans were not expecting. Few expected Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village arc to win the Best Animation Award. Several other candidates were favorites to win. Demon Slayer came out to be a shocker for them.
Demon Slayer Winning the Best Animation Award Came As a Shock
Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village arc was one of the most anticipated seasons of 2023. Due to its immense popularity, it earned several nominations at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. It was one of the favorites to win the Anime of the Year Award. There were several other categories where it had dominated, but the Best Animation category was not the one they were expecting. Anime like One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen redefined peak fiction with their animation.
Elevating the art of animation to breathtaking heights, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc is honored with the Best Animation! #AnimeAwards
— The Anime Awards (@TheAnimeAwards) March 2, 2024
✨ More: https://t.co/UWLN84bvZ6 pic.twitter.com/f560w3jtdU
The raid on Onigashima saw Roronoa Zoro’s King of Hell transformation against King and Monkey D. Luffy’s much-awaited Gear 7 transformation against Kaido. The entire animation was done beautifully with no margin for error. On the other hand, Jujutsu Kaisen featured the Shibuya Incident arc, which saw Sukuna taking on Mahoraga, Jogo vs. Sukuna, Toji vs. Gojo, etc. These two anime made the fans fall in love with its animation.
Toei Animation and MAPPA did an amazing job, even after there were problems with the latter. On the other hand, Demon Slayer’s animation studio, Ufotable, has always maintained a standard. It won the Best Animation Award for the past couple of years, and in 2024, it made a hat trick. Fans believe 2024 to be a fluke and robbery by rival anime fans since Toei Animation and MAPPA had better animation throughout the year.
Fans React to Demon Slayer Winning the Best Animation Award
Anime fans have branded Demon Slayer’s win as a fluke. No doubt Koyoharu Gotouge’s magnum opus is great, but there were better anime in that category. Believing it to be a fluke, the fans quickly addressed their disappointment on social media. One of the X (formerly Twitter) users said Ufotable is a great animation studio, but out of the three wins, this year’s animation was the worst.
Ufotable is incredible in animating.. but this season was the worst of the three.. lets be real, we know JJK deserved, MAPPA ATE
— Momo Yaoyørozu 🍉 (@MomoYaoyorozuz) March 2, 2024
Another one posted a video of Sukuna vs. Mahoraga and wrote they were robbed after dropping this masterpiece.
Jujutsu Kaisen ROBBED how do you lose after dropping this masterpiece?? pic.twitter.com/CNYoFpL5LB
— ©️ (@V1N1JR) March 2, 2024
People claimed Demon Slayer season 3 did not have any moment coming close to Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece.
Demon Slayer S3 didn’t have a single moment that comes close to these 2 minutes of One Piece pic.twitter.com/QXudyQvWf8
— Guru (@AnimeGuru100) March 2, 2024
Many have claimed it to be awarded to Demon Slayer out of pity.
Jujitsu Kaisen robbed but we are winning everything so I get why they gave demon slayer a pity award😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YRJEUQAp1c
— 47 (@FodenRoIe47) March 2, 2024
The entire Jujutsu Kaisen fandom claimed that they should have won twelve awards.
Come on now… Jujutsu kaisen should've won.
— FL∆CKØ (@Asapteejo) March 2, 2024
Apart from the Best Animation Award, Demon Slayer won the Best Art Direction Award and the Best Fantasy Award. It was a great run for them. Currently, the Hashira Training arc movie is being shown at theatres worldwide, with season four set to return later in 2024. Even though fans were disappointed with the win, they are hopeful the anime will bring out the best animation in the upcoming season and win the Best Animation Award without a tinge of doubt.
