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Attack on Titan the Final Season Part 1 is Anime of the Year

Disclosure: The writer of this article is also a judge for the Anime Awards.

Attack on Titan the Final Season Part 1 took the biggest win in this year's Anime Awards, claiming the Anime of the Year spot. The highly-popular series pulled ahead of competitors 86 EIGHTY-SIX, JUJUTSU KAISEN, ODDTAXI, Ranking of Kings, and Sonny Boy for the award.

Attack on Titan The Final Season, whose second half is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation, was nominated in nine different categories and ultimately took home four awards. Character Eren Jaeger was voted "Best Antagonist," his voice actor Yuuki Kaji won Best Voice Actor Performance (Japanese), and the series' opening sequence "Boku no Sensō" (My War) by Shinsei Kamattechan won Best Opening Sequence. Yuichiro Hayashi directed and storyboarded the opening.

Demon Slayer won three awards and an additional four voice acting awards for the largest number of overall wins. The blockbuster film Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train won Best Film over both Mamoru Hosoda's BELLE and the Hideaki Anno's grand finale Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time. The television cut of the film also won Best Animation, Best Score, and Best Ending Sequence. Tanjiro voice actors Enzo Ratsito (French), Marcel Navarro (Castilian) and Islam Gandzhaev (Russian) each won in their respective Best Voice Actor Performance categories. Rengoku voice actor Irwin Daayán also won in the Spanish language category.

Anime series ODDTAXI and Wonder Egg Priority lead in total nominations with 11 each, but it didn't guarantee the most wins. Surprisingly, Wonder Egg Priority was shut out completely while ODDTAXI claimed two wins. Relative newcomer Baku Kinoshita won Best Director, beating out Attack on Titan's Yuichiro Hayashi, Jujutsu Kaisen's Sunghoo Park, Megalobox 2: Nomad's Yo Moriyama, Sonny Boy's Shingo Natsume, and WEG's Shin Wakabayashi. The murder mystery drama's stoic walrus Odokawa also won the "Best Protagonist" category.

Action series Jujutsu Kaisen didn't go home empty-handed, winning Best Character Design (Tadashi Hiramatsu), Best Action, Best Fight Scene, and Best Girl for Nobara Kugisaki. Satoru Gojo dub actor René Dawn-Claude (German) and Léo Rabelo (Portuguese) both won in the Best Voice Actor Performance for their respective languages.

The full list of winners are below.

• Anime of the Year – Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1
• Best Animation – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc
• Best Fantasy – That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2
• Best Drama – To Your Eternity
• Best Comedy – Komi Can't Communicate
• Best Action – JUJUTSU KAISEN
• Best Romance – Horimiya
• Best Girl – Nobara Kugisaki (JUJUTSU KAISEN)
• Best Boy – Bojji (Ranking of Kings)
• Best Protagonist – Odokawa (ODDTAXI)
• Best Antagonist – Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1)
• Best Fight Scene – Yuji Itadori & Aoi Todo VS Hanami (JUJUTSU KAISEN)
• Best Score – Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc)
• Best Director – Baku Kinoshita (ODDTAXI)
• Best Character Design – Tadashi Hiramatsu (JUJUTSU KAISEN)
• Best Film – Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
• Best VA Performance (JP) – Yuki Kaji as Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1)
• Best VA Performance (EN) – David Wald as Ainosuke Shindo/"ADAM" (SK8 The Infinity)
• Best VA Performance - (German) - René Dawn-Claude as Satoru Gojo (JUJUTSU KAISEN)
• Best VA Performance - (French) - Enzo Ratsito as Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc)
• Best VA Performance - (Portuguese) - Léo Rabelo as Satoru Gojo (JUJUTSU KAISEN)
• Best VA Performance - (Castilian) - Marcel Navarro as Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train)
• Best VA Performance - (Spanish) - Irwin Daayán as Rengoku (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc)
• Best VA Performance - (Russian) - Islam Gandzhaev (Ислам Ганджаев) as Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train)
• Best Opening Sequence (OP) – Boku no sensou by Shinsei Kamattechan (Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1) Storyboard and Direction: Yuichiro Hayashi
• Best Ending Sequence (ED) – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc