Crunchyroll Anime Awards is one of the biggest events of the anime year, celebrating the biggest anime releases of the decade. The award ceremony has evolved since its inception, with more categories being added since 2017. This is arguably the second-biggest anime category after Anime of the Year; Best Anime Film of the Year has faced.
In the 10 years of the ceremony, this category has only been featured seven times, with the past five years consistently including it. This suggests that it will become the norm for the ceremony going forward. But for now, here are all seven winners of the category that Crunchyroll has awarded.
Though the Crunchyroll Awards ceremony started in 2017, honoring winners from 2016, the first anime movie to win an award was released in the U.S. in 2017 and won the Best Film award in 2018. Honestly, there could not have been a better pick to introduce this category at Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards ceremony. Your Name is one of the best Makoto Shinkai films ever released.
Even a decade later, it remains one of the best anime films out there and will likely continue to be for a long time. It is a perfect rom-com with a much bigger twist, ultimately delivering a fated love that transcends scientific and human understanding while telling a compelling story. It is truly an anime film that anyone can watch and love.
My Hero Academia is one of the best shonen series ever released, yet it took the anime’s final season for it to finally be recognized as Anime of the Year. However, one of its anime films, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, released in 2018, won the Best Film title, giving the series recognition much earlier. What makes this anime movie stand out even more is its plot, which culminates in an incredible final action sequence.
Seeing Deku and All Might fight together has been one of the biggest fantasies of fans, and this is exactly what the film’s final fight delivers. The tension is also perfectly created with All Might in a difficult situation against the final villain, before Deku makes a heroic entrance to save his mentor. With such a compelling climax, the movie solidified its position as Best Film of the Year, especially since it faced little competition.
Demon Slayer has emerged as one of the anime franchises now known for its movie installments more than any other series. While its newest film has emerged as the best of the franchise, Demon Slayer already laid the foundation with the 2020 film, Mugen Train. This movie was the first installment to adapt a canon event from the franchise, and it performed exceptionally well.
Arguably, Mugen Train still works better as a film than Infinity Castle, as it perfectly adapted one storyline and ended on a satisfying note. Carrying the franchise’s signature animation style with breathtaking visuals, Mugen Train remains the perfect film from the Demon Slayer franchise.
Jujutsu Kaisen shook the fandom with its first season, emerging as one of the best modern shonen anime. However, the series had already told a different story with a different protagonist, which was later released as the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 volume once the series began serialization. MAPPA saw the opportunity to turn it into an anime film, and it was the best decision ever.
It perfectly showcases many of the series’ characters, especially Yuta, one of its coolest characters, with some fans even preferring him as the protagonist. The movie also explores the curse bestowed upon Yuta, offering the first real look at how curses work. It serves as the perfect entry point to the series, and its success surely brought many new fans to Jujutsu Kaisen.
Makoto Shinkai’s films are always compelling entries in the anime film landscape whenever they are released, and when Suzume finally arrived worldwide in 2023, the anime film instantly delivered the classic Makoto Shinkai elements that fans love. It matched the intrigue that Your Name provides.
From great animation to an amazing OST, Suzume was a perfect new watch that kept viewers intrigued with its mysteries and the dynamic between the two leads as they explored the strange phenomenon. Suzume faced little competition, and winning Best Anime Film of 2024 was almost a given.
Look Back comes from the brilliant work of one of the most renowned mangaka of all time, Tatsuki Fujimoto, who is best known for the creation of Chainsaw Man. Look Back stems from the one-shot manga that the author created, which Studio Dorian adapted into an incredible film, expanding on the manga’s foundation while delivering a faithful anime adaptation.
But what makes this anime film truly stand out is its premise, which follows two girls and their shared passion for drawing. The anime film is only an hour long, yet it perfectly captures every nuance of their characters and their love for drawing and manga, creating an inspiring experience that is ultimately what makes the film so great.
Since Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners are determined by fan voting, it was a given that Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, released in 2025, would be the winner by far, as it became a global phenomenon. Even though 2025 was packed with other great movies, including the amazing Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, which arguably should have won, Demon Slayer still took the award.
Demon Slayer‘s trend of releasing movies will continue, and it seems that it will shape the 2027 anime movie landscape as well. That said, Ufotable has done a tremendous job with its anime film adaptations of Demon Slayer, and the franchise will continue to make history, not just as an Anime Film of the Year winner at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, but also by breaking records in other ways and pushing the anime industry even further.
