2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards – Predictions

Full transcript of 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards – Predictions.

0:00KT: It's another week in the For Your Reference household, and it is another award prediction, Oti.

0:07Oti: Woo.

0:08KT: Are you subtitled and well lubricated?

0:11Oti: Always.

0:12KT: Friends and lovers, we're very excited. Go and grab a snack. If you enjoyed our Oscars, we were pretty onto it.

0:19Oti: Mm.

0:19KT: We were pretty onto the Oscars this year.

0:22Oti: We were.

0:24KT: Well, I feel like we may be just as learned, if not more attuned to the voting audience—I don't know if they call themselves an academy—and friends and lovers, we are very excited. And you know, over the past year we've been doing a lot of anime Ref Maxes, so I personally am very excited to vote today. So let's just get straight into it. Ohayo, friends and lovers, welcome back to the For Your Reference podcast. You got your host, KT.

1:04Oti: And Oti.

1:05KT: Where did you isekai from, Oti?

1:07Oti: From Takopi's Happy Land.

1:10KT: Oh, I don't know if that's good or bad.

1:13Oti: Yeah.

1:14KT: I guess that's the morality that we are living in, friends and lovers. It is available for you to go and vote, so please tap in, friends and lovers, up until the 16th of April, and then the ceremony will be on Saturday, May 23. We're very excited. Tap in, I will live-tweet in some format, in every subtitle. Friends and lovers, let's get straight into it. We're starting off with the biggest award—unlike the Oscar predictions, we're starting off with the biggest one for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards: Anime of the Year. Oti, the Demon Slayer—I guess the things to note here, the big ones, Demon Slayer and JJK, are not here because their seasons weren't dropped during the time. Although if you ask Oti, even with the cinematic most recent season finale, Sendai Colony extravaganza, maybe he wouldn't even put 'em there, and that's a controversial—come on now, come on now. Okay.

2:24Oti: Okay.

2:26KT: Well, let's get into Anime of the Year: Dan Da Dan Season 2, Gachiakuta, My Hero Academia Final Season for you, Oti, Takopi's Original Sin, The Apothecary Diaries, and The Summer Hikaru Died. We've watched all of them.

2:41Oti: We have.

2:43KT: It's your anime podcast of the year, friends and lovers.

2:46Oti: To be fair, though, I dropped off My Hero Academia until the final season just to see how everything wrapped up, and I felt like I hadn't missed anything.

2:56KT: Okay, alright. Are you saying you didn't watch it all and then you just caught the final season? Is that what you're saying?

3:03Oti: Yeah, I watched the first two seasons, dipped out, came in the last season.

3:11KT: Lingerers.

3:12Oti: Mm-hmm. What are you thinking?

3:17KT: Okay, are we doing like the Oscars? 'Cause you told me you were just gonna do one and then you ended up copying me. Are you doing what you want to win and what you think's gonna win? I think maybe in a snooty way, I don't think we're that embedded in anime spaces, so I don't really know what the word on the street is, and we can do what we think and what we want. So what do we think is going to win, and are you factoring in the fact that it's a final season for My Hero?

3:50Oti: Oh, I feel like the fact that it's the final season doesn't mean anything just because—

3:59KT: For awards?

4:00Oti: Yeah, like My Hero—

4:01KT: For fans?

4:02Oti: Especially for My Hero Academia, I don't think it's been in the zeitgeist like that.

4:09KT: Maybe you're on the other side, who knows?

4:11Oti: Maybe. So

4:13KT: Okay, so who do you want and who do you think's gonna win?

4:18Oti: Oh, this is tough. I want—

4:22KT: Think, this is the crème de la crème, so you need to think—not broad appeal, like The Summer Hikaru Died, even Takopi, I enjoyed them, and they're very niche.

4:36Oti: People love The Summer Hikaru Died.

4:39KT: To the level that it's Anime of the Year? Yeah.

4:43Oti: And you know, as much as I love Gachiakuta, I don't think it'll—

4:46KT: Ha, ha, ha! Excuse me? I know you are those accounts talking nonsense about Gachiakuta on Twitter.

4:56Oti: I'll go with—

4:57KT: Gachiakuta, we up!

5:00Oti: Alright, what I want to win is Takopi's Original Sin.

5:05KT: Oh, go away! Whoa, so you would've voted for Train Dreams to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Go away, go away. Fine, if that's what you want to win, cool.

5:17Oti: And I think Dan Da Dan Season 2 will win.

5:20KT: I love Dan Da Dan, and in this selection here, it's kind of—not the king, like you would think Dan Da Dan is like an underdog anime, and looking at this selection here. You know what? I'm gonna do the same thing I did with Sinners. I don't give a fuck. I want Gachiakuta to win, and I predict Gachiakuta to win Anime of the Year, baby.

5:48Oti: I hear you.

5:48KT: Corvus lovers, we up!

5:51Oti: Mm-hmm.

5:51KT: Enjin bystanders, we up or sitting down!

5:56Oti: Enjin is just Kakashi, man. Jeez.

5:58KT: You better stop that! He gets the same amount of screen time as Gojo, you better put some respect on Enjin's name, Oti.

6:08Oti: Gojo is powerful and Gojo defeats people without—

6:11KT: You don't know! You didn't see when he was getting defeated and he was floating on his little umbrella? You don't know. Okay. Film of the Year. I've watched three out of six of these, Oti, so I don't know if your thoughts will qualify as much as mine, thank you very much.

6:31Oti: Mm.

6:31KT: 100 Meters, I've seen. Thank you to Sugoi Co in Sydney, Australia for the screening. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, you've watched that.

6:40Oti: Mm-hmm.

6:41KT: I tried, dipped out. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, whoop! Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage. Scarlet, I've watched.

6:54Oti: Mm-hmm.

6:55KT: It's a play on Hamlet. It's very much Kingdom Season 1 animation, and when you ignore the Hamlet shit, when you ignore the animation style—which I guess you can say is everything—no, when they made it like a cutie romance, it worked.

7:16Oti: Ignore the story, ignore the animation, and it's alright.

7:21KT: Yeah, it's a great personality. Yeah, based off of this, it's gotta be Demon Slayer, and it also deserves to be Demon Slayer.

7:28Oti: There's only one winner in this category, Demon Slayer. I don't even think any movie has done to that level—

7:35KT: In IMAX! Yeah, we saw that shit in IMAX.

7:39Oti: Yeah.

7:39KT: And I 4DX'd that shit and I survived. Pling, pling, that's me playing the little biwa. Film of the Year, yeah, it's looking great, we up.

7:55Oti: Alright.

7:56KT: Best Original Anime: Apocalypse Hotel, Digimon Beatbreak—what have we watched here? Digimon Beatbreak, Lazarus—is that Lazarus, the vaccine? Okay, alright, so we've watched that. Mobile Suit Gundam—oh, I didn't have a chance to watch that screening—Moonrise, and Zenshu. Well, we've only watched Lazarus.

8:17Oti: No, we've watched Apocalypse Hotel, where they're taking care of the hotel after people disappeared.

8:23KT: Oh, with the tanuki?

8:25Oti: Yeah.

8:26KT: That's a very slice-of-life, ain't it?

8:28Oti: It is slice-of-life.

8:29KT: Maybe we'll see it in a later category.

8:31Oti: Actually, I prefer that to Lazarus, to be fair.

8:33KT: I can't even remember why we stopped watching it. Was it up its own ass?

8:38Oti: Yeah, up its own ass and very annoying, and they made it so hard to get the Japanese dub 'cause HBO would only do it in English dub.

8:48KT: Because we're talking Crunchyroll right now. Apocalypse Hotel, fine, fine, fine, I'm cool with that.

8:55Oti: Yeah.

8:55KT: Best Continuing Series: Dan Da Dan Season 2, Kaiju No. 8, My Hero Academia, One Piece—I think that's the anime. Oh, the anime's finished?

9:10Oti: No.

9:12KT: I do go outside, friends and lovers, that's why I don't know if the anime is still continuing. Solo Leveling Season 2—bro, what's the range of this eligibility? Because I feel like Season 2 came out ages ago. Spy x Family Season 3. So I would like to see Kaiju No. 8 win, and I believe Dan Da Dan's gonna win. Solo Leveling has no business, no business. Everyone's out of business, there's no business. Solo Leveling, Jinwoo's so strong, every sister is horny over him, there's no business. What's your business?

9:52Oti: I just hate the fact that everyone wants to bash Solo Leveling. Isn't that interesting, fam?

10:01KT: What?

10:03Oti: Bro, the way Season 2 won—Season 2—

10:07KT: Go away! Friends and lovers, ask him his thoughts on the most recent JJK Culling Game, and then you'll know not to listen to this man. Continue.

10:18Oti: I'm just saying Solo Leveling gets a lot of hate because it's popular to hate on it.

10:24KT: No, it's because Jinwoo doesn't get challenged by the world, that's why.

10:28Oti: Just because he's too good.

10:30KT: Based off what?

10:32Oti: He is too good, he is leveling up. Tell the other motherfuckers to level up. Anyway, I'm just saying it's my underdog for this category.

10:41KT: It's not an underdog, go away!

10:44Oti: Alright, alright.

10:46KT: They have LiSA, one of the most talented singers, on their intro/outro soundtrack, and they have Felix, the one with the very low voice from Stray Kids. Darling, you can't tell me this is an underdog.

11:03Oti: It's an indie darling.

11:07KT: So what do you want and what do you think's gonna win?

11:09Oti: I'm like you, I want Kaiju No. 8 to get a bit more love.

11:17KT: So lovely, so sweet.

11:18Oti: And I think Dan Da Dan will win.

11:22KT: Yeah, same, same, same. Best New Series: oh, friends and lovers, I hope Oti's answered your emails 'cause he is gonna be too horny to answer it now. Clevatess! You are not allowed to vote on anything else, I've mentioned you and Clevatess many times. Friends and lovers, it would behoove you to check out our podcast.

11:46Oti: Outside of the horniness, it's quite an alright anime.

11:51KT: With the milkmaids, alright. Best New Series: Clevatess, Gachiakuta, Sakamoto Days—and I'm assuming that's the first season, 'cause the second season has already come out with Sakamoto Days—

12:03Oti: Mm-hmm.

12:04KT: Takopi's Original Sin, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, and The Summer Hikaru Died. So what do you think and what do you want?

12:12Oti: Oh, this is where I want Gachiakuta to win Best New Series, and I think—

12:19KT: Oh, I see what you're doing. You're doing the BAFTA Rising Star where it doesn't get the leading role. I see, I see.

12:28Oti: And I think The Summer Hikaru Died will just pip Sakamoto Days.

12:35KT: What? Okay, alright. I predict Gachiakuta is gonna win and I want Gachiakuta to win. You keep touting shit as the underdog and it's not, and I keep voting for things I want, so we're both not great players to choose from, friends and lovers.

12:55Oti: Yes, because Sakamoto Days Season 2 came out and finished just a few months ago, so I guess they're counting Season 1.

13:04KT: It's gotta be Season 1 'cause it says New Series.

13:06Oti: Weird. Yeah, far out, just based off the joys, man, Sakamoto Days has been really, really fun.

13:15KT: Do you not like Gachiakuta?

13:16Oti: I do, I said I want Gachiakuta to win! I just said I don't think it'll win based off the other two that are there.

13:24KT: Alright. Best Opening Sequence: "HUGs", Gachiakuta; Creepy Nuts, Call of the Night Season 2;

13:34Oti: "On the Way"—

13:37KT: Which one's that? See, I don't even know what it is. Which one's that?

13:41Oti: Yeah, Call of the Night, it's a HIDIVE anime.

13:45KT: Oh, so it's in Oti's horny folder. Then Dan Da Dan Season 2; "ReawakeR", I literally just mentioned it for Solo Leveling; "THE REVO", My Hero Academia; and Witch Watch, "Watch Me!" Witch Watch. Jesus.

14:08Oti: Oh, what are you thinking here?

14:11KT: The Dan Da Dan opening sequence isn't as good the second time.

14:14Oti: Yeah.

14:16KT: The Solo Leveling one I don't care for, I liked the original one. I'm just saying Gachiakuta.

14:26Oti: Me too, Gachiakuta.

14:28KT: Best Ending Sequence: Spy x Family; Kaiju No. 8—this isn't the "Nobody" one, this is the second one, which is still good; Dan Da Dan Season 2; My Hero Academia; My Dress-Up Darling; and Solo Leveling Season 2. What you got?

14:48Oti: Oh, I am thinking Kaiju No. 8.

14:51KT: Yeah.

14:53Oti: Yeah.

14:53KT: Best Action: Dan Da Dan, Gachiakuta, Kaiju No. 8, My Hero Academia, One Piece, Solo Leveling. Is all we watch action?

15:04Oti: It seems like it. It feels like they're setting up Dan Da Dan to do some massive clean sweep.

15:11KT: Do some sweeps, yeah.

15:12Oti: I'm gonna say I want Kaiju to win this, because we got some emotional storytelling.

15:19KT: There were some good action scenes, yeah.

15:21Oti: Our homely—

15:24KT: Kafka!

15:24Oti: Yeah.

15:25KT: Hibino.

15:26Oti: Kafka Hibino, mm-hmm.

15:27KT: I want Kaiju to win, I would also like Gachiakuta to win. If we're saying ones we don't wanna win, I don't want Solo Leveling to win—oh, Action is fine. Action's fine.

15:40Oti: You were so horny for Season 2 Jinwoo!

15:44KT: No, you were horny! It's very clear that you are the horny one when it comes to all these anime.

15:49Oti: Wow.

15:52KT: No, because I was waiting for Daddy Baek to come along—

15:56Oti: Just because Daddy Baek was—

15:57KT: And then he just rolled over and I was like, okay. I didn't care about him and the jackhammer or the pickaxe or whatever that was.

16:07Oti: Just because he's weak doesn't mean Jinwoo didn't step up. I really love Solo Leveling, man.

16:16KT: Yeah, I can tell.

16:17Oti: My simpleton

16:20KT: Yeah. Best Comedy: CITY THE ANIMATION, Dan Da Dan—Dan Da Dan's going in every category, it seems—My Dress-Up Darling, Ranma 1/2, Spy x Family, and Witch Watch. Comedy, it's gotta be Dan Da Dan. Spy x Family's not that funny, it's more cute than it is funny.

16:39Oti: It is more cute than funny, and I don't think—do you laugh with Dan Da Dan?

16:45KT: Yes, I do! You don't think running around and collecting his balls—you don't remember the—

16:52Oti: Okarun.

16:54KT: Yeah, and do you not remember the mannequins when they were chasing each other and they were soulmates? That was funny!

17:03Oti: Mm, yeah. I feel so bad choosing Dan Da Dan so much.

17:11KT: Why? We're going based off the selection.

17:13Oti: Yeah, I know. It is what it is.

17:15KT: Spreading the lottery numbers.

17:21Oti: Yeah, it will win.

17:24KT: Best Drama: Anne Shirley, Blue Box, Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, Takopi's Original Sin, The Apothecary Diaries—I'm so sad about The Apothecary Diaries—and The Summer Hikaru Died.

17:37Oti: Takopi's Original Sin—

17:39KT: To win this? Yes, absolutely. I want Takopi to win, and I would also be cool if Hikaru won.

17:48Oti: Yeah. Season 2 of The Apothecary Diaries, there's only so much—what's the word?

17:59KT: It's like Castle, it's like Bones: whenever you set up a show where it's like "will they, won't they," it's like, okay, we're bored, hurry up or get lost.

18:09Oti: Mm. "Oh, I've touched your frog, now we've gotta spend five episodes—"

18:13KT: And also, she grew up around courtesans, so she knows, you know what I mean? So are you innocent, are you not innocent? I don't know.

18:22Oti: She is innocent to a point where she knows all these other things—

18:28KT: And it's a very fine line because they draw her as a little girl, and she's not a little girl, and I'm like—

18:33Oti: Ah, yeah.

18:34KT: It's a fine line, and I'm just like, come on, guys.

18:37Oti: Yeah.

18:37KT: Best Animation: Dan Da Dan, Gachiakuta, My Hero, One Piece, Solo Leveling, Takopi. Takopi makes me itchy and shivery and scared and sad. Is that Best Animation?

18:50Oti: Is there a reason Infinity Castle isn't on there?

18:55KT: Because it's a movie! These are series, these are shows, darling.

18:59Oti: Okay.

19:00KT: That's what I prefaced at the start! Were you busy munching on your horny anime? I was saying that was the biggest comment people were making, Demon Slayer as well as JJK.

19:14Oti: Fair enough. Best Animation I think has to go to—fucking hell, I would say I want Gachiakuta to win Best Animation.

19:30KT: Oh, I might faint. My petticoat might need to be aired out after that.

19:37Oti: I want Gachiakuta to win, and I think Dan Da Dan will also win this.

19:41KT: Gachiakuta, even just the aesthetics—

19:46Oti: Yeah.

19:46KT: Just top tier. Best Background Art—and we're saying this category specifically for me—CITY THE ANIMATION. Well, this is my horny one, Oti, and it's not even that horny, it's just feelings, and that's what makes it horny: CITY THE ANIMATION, Dan Da Dan, Gachiakuta, Kowloon Generic Romance, The Apothecary Diaries, and The Summer Hikaru Died. Do you have a dog in this fight, big dog?

20:20Oti: What did you say? Kowloon?

20:23KT: I watched the Japanese dub and they kept saying Kūron, or Kowloon is the way it's supposed to be pronounced, apparently.

20:35Oti: It was quite interesting, its aesthetic, and when I'm stuck in the world and what just stuck with me watching all of those, I think Gachiakuta—it's the one thing that really sticks with me outside of everything I've watched where I'm like, "Oh, that is Gachiakuta." I remember all the gritty sort of little details here and there, while everything else looks premium and proper, which is good.

21:10KT: I don't like that you're treating Solo Leveling as your wife and Gachiakuta as your mistress, because I see the categories you're giving Gachiakuta, and you weren't giving the higher categories for Gachiakuta, that's all I'm saying. I am going to vote for Kowloon Generic Romance. Best Character Design, and I guess we can put forward our strongest compelling, or the most interesting character or ensemble, you can say it however you like. Best Character Design: Dan Da Dan, Gachiakuta, My Dress-Up Darling, One Piece, Takopi, and The Apothecary Diaries.

21:53Oti: This is easily Gachiakuta.

21:55KT: Yeah! Zanka, Corvus, Enjin, Jabber—

22:01Oti: They dare to do different.

22:02KT: Zanka.

22:03Oti: Mm.

22:03KT: Rudo.

22:04Oti: Mm.

22:05KT: Everyone except for the cockroach man, because why are you fighting with a 15-year-old kid?

22:14Oti: Mm.

22:15KT: Just great design, loved it. You wanna put any others there or you're cool with—

22:24Oti: Everything else was just standard, isn't it?

22:30KT: Yeah. Well, not standard, if you're talking about design-design—

22:34Oti: Like, you've seen it already. It's not breaking your imagination—

22:41KT: You have to get into the story to get into the story. If we're talking about character design without even knowing anything, it pulls you in.

22:50Oti: Yeah. I'm surprised they didn't try and recognize Best Presentation. You need to have a Best Presentation category where they have Blue Lock as the power of PowerPoint.

23:06KT: Oh, see, I don't watch Blue Lock, I've seen the memes. Best Main Character, friends and lovers:

23:13Oti: Izuku Midoriya—

23:15KT: My Hero Academia. We have Maomao, The Apothecary Diaries; Okarun, Dan Da Dan—Okarun, you are my Okarun, by the way, we love a nerd, yes?

23:30Oti: Mm-hmm.

23:30KT: Rudo, Gachiakuta; and Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling, obviously. Who you got, and what are we doing? Are we going based off of their core storyline?

23:45Oti: You have to.

23:45KT: 'Cause we're not talking about their character design, I'm assuming.

23:47Oti: No, yeah.

23:48KT: So we're talking about their emotional arc.

23:50Oti: Yeah.

23:50KT: Okay. Well, Jinwoo's out. No, really, nothing happens to him! He's even more untouched than Ichigo, because Ichigo was a very cool guy and he wasn't the downtrodden loser guy like—not that Jinwoo was, maybe for half a blink of a second, and then he turned into Big Muscle Man. So you have to walk me through your process.

24:24Oti: To me, it has to be around the story and the growth we see in each character and the growth potential, and it has to be Rudo, because—

24:37KT: Yep.

24:38Oti: As much as I love Okarun, it's still sort of tied to the silliness of what Dan Da Dan is.

24:44KT: Well, it's not even silliness, he's not the main, really.

24:46Oti: Yeah, it's like, "Oh, you know, me and Momo" and all that, I get it, and there's so much more Rudo can achieve and get to, and the exposition would be so wild as well.

25:04KT: Yeah.

25:04Oti: Yeah, has to be.

25:06KT: Alright. Your favorite category, Oti, Best Supporting Character: Enjin, Gachiakuta—he's like a good bra, Oti, you can say many things, he's very supportive, he's that thick-strap bra, you know, he's very supportive—Jiji from Dan Da Dan, Jinshi from The Apothecary Diaries, Katsuki from My Hero Academia, Lakan from The Apothecary Diaries, and Turbo Granny, Dan Da Dan. Nah, they created this just for Enjin to win, and you go—

25:46Oti: No, I think the only clear winner here is Jiji.

25:50KT: Jiji! Okay, you know what—

25:52Oti: Don't you remember the—

25:53KT: Evil Eye? I was associating the movie because I watched the movie before the show, so I had seen Jiji in his purple-rainbow-earring extravaganza, I saw him in the movie. So are we counting that, or are we also counting 'cause it was in Season 2?

26:13Oti: Yeah, he was in Season 2.

26:15KT: Yeah, I know that, I'm saying we first saw it in the movie. Okay, well, Jiji's in the running then, so you go.

26:21Oti: To me, it's only one clear winner in this category. I want Jiji to win and Jiji will win. This is the most serious category I've said that I know who the winner would be.

26:35KT: I want Enjin to win. He doesn't deserve to win based off of—if we're saying Main Character is the story arc, Enjin's story arc ain't there. He's kind of like Gojo, he's just picking up these orphan children. So yeah, I don't think Enjin deserves to win just yet based off the story; however, I would like him to win, and I do believe Jiji—I really enjoyed Jiji, I'm pretty sure we did a Ref Max and I talked about how much I really enjoyed Jiji's character. Yeah. Best Supporting Character, great. "Must Protect At All Costs": ugh, you know who you would have on here. Alright, we have Anya—obviously, I don't think anyone would ever hurt Anya, no one would dare—Spy x Family; Izuku, My Hero Academia; Kaoruko from The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity; Maomao, The Apothecary Diaries; Suika, Dr. Stone; and Takopi.

27:38Oti: I think this is where I'll give it to Anya. Yeah.

27:42KT: Takopi was pissing me off at times.

27:46Oti: Midoriya can protect himself, I don't think anyone needs to intervene, and Anya, come on now.

27:54KT: Alright. Ooh, we're up to—at least as much as we're gonna cover today, friends and lovers—we're up to the last one, Best Anime Song: The Apothecary Diaries; Chainsaw Man, baby, "JANE DOE"—a The Pitt reference, friends and lovers, we're gonna cover The Pitt eventually—Chainsaw Man; Dan Da Dan Season 2; Gachiakuta; Solo Leveling; and "Watch Me!", Witch Watch.

28:19Oti: Let's give "JANE DOE" some love, I'll go with Chainsaw Man.

28:24KT: That was the one thing that I liked about that Reze Arc—I think it's the "IRIS OUT" one?

28:30Oti: Yeah.

28:30KT: Boom, dun-dun, boom.

28:34Oti: Yep.

28:38KT: How'd you go, friends and lovers? Feel free to let us know if you are voting for any of the voice actors as well. General thoughts: the way we wrapped up our Oscars was like, what are you hoping to see, what do you absolutely want to happen, what do you absolutely not want to happen?

29:00Oti: In as much as I love Dan Da Dan, I don't want it to do a clean sweep of most of the categories it's been nominated in.

29:08KT: It's so interesting because especially how fluid the tone is in Dan Da Dan, it doesn't feel like it would be the standout in a traditional shonen lineup, does that make sense? So it's kind of interesting and cool that it is, to me, the frontrunner in a lot of these categories. I think it still deserves to be.

29:37Oti: It deserves to be, Season 2 went up a level as well.

29:42KT: Why can't we sweep then, my love?

29:44Oti: I don't know, just because in other categories we've seen so many good things come out from Gachiakuta, Takopi. I want Takopi to at least have one award for the night, it deserves that just because it was so—

29:58KT: Well, call it on your jelly phone then.

30:03Oti: Some of the things that dropped off for me, like The Apothecary Diaries, you know, Season 1 we loved it so much—

30:14KT: Yeah.

30:15Oti: It wasn't to the level of, what's the one with the kids—

30:20KT: The Promised Neverland.

30:21Oti: The Promised Neverland, the drop-off wasn't that steep—

30:23KT: Many people in the redacted files in there.

30:29Oti: And it still just felt like a shadow of what Season 1 was, and it started getting annoying.

30:35KT: If we're basing it off of the season, then yeah. You know what's also—I wouldn't say sad—we try and stay on top of anime as much as possible, and I don't think there are any surprises here. I don't think there are any like, "Oh my God, I haven't heard of this anime, I want to go and check it out," right?

30:56Oti: Yeah.

30:56KT: Because I wouldn't necessarily say we're on the pulse of what's popular, especially when we're looking at the world of film, there's a lot of shit that we don't touch, or there are things that we cover that maybe the general sort of audiences aren't watching. So it is interesting to be in this anime world and nothing be like—we've heard of all of them. Yeah. So is there anything that you're hoping to not happen?

31:23Oti: No, like I just said—

31:25KT: Because you put bad karma, imagine if Gachiakuta wins none because you didn't want to give it its big titles!

31:32Oti: No, I think there's definitely room for Gachiakuta to win things.

31:36KT: I want two sweeps: I want a Dan Da Dan sweep and I want a Gachiakuta sweep. We got two brooms, bitch! And I want Kaiju to win some as well.

31:52Oti: Mm.

31:52KT: I asked for a Sinners sweep, now I'm asking for a Dan Da Dan and Gachiakuta sweep.

32:02Oti: And I can't wait for Demon Slayer to win Film of the Year as well, well deserved.

32:07KT: I don't see a world where it doesn't, unless you have really annoying weebs that—what's the reverse of review-bombing? Like they don't want Demon Slayer to win, so they're going to go and vote for all the other ones. That's annoying.

32:23Oti: Mm. Was it nominated for the Oscar as well, it just didn't win?

32:28KT: No, it was longlisted, and it didn't make it to the shortlisting nomination phase. Yeah, it's been a fun year for anime, friends and lovers. It's the first time—well, from last year I started reading manga, which was very exciting, all for JJK. So you know, friends and lovers, this was Oti's horny year of anime; hey, it's my year next year!

32:58Oti: I just realized Kingdom didn't make any nomination.

33:03KT: Yes!

33:04Oti: What do you mean, "Yes"?

33:07KT: You don't even talk about Kingdom after you watch it!

33:10Oti: Because you don't like Kingdom, so why would I be talking to you about Kingdom when you don't like it?

33:13KT: You told me about your Clevatess every time!

33:20Oti: I'm even surprised Clevatess made the nomination, I don't think it's—

33:25KT: They said, "This was for you. We got you, Oti, we got you. Keep watching, our number one dedicated viewer." Thank you, friends and lovers, for joining us another week in the For Your Reference podcast. If you're enjoying these award predictions, let us know, and we are very excited. If you enjoy anime, if you have any thoughts, specifically for Anime of the Year and I guess as well as Film of the Year, friends and lovers, please tap in, would love to hear all your thoughts. On Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky as well as Threads, we're @ForYourRefPod.

34:10Oti: Write us an email at hello@fyrpodcast.com.

34:15KT: We're also on Sub and Dub, However You Wanna Tug Podcasts if you'd like to leave—

34:22Oti: See you in the Clevatess folks over there.

34:25KT: No, I'm not Clevatess 'cause I'm of age.

34:29Oti: Fuck you, man.

34:31KT: And we'll see you guys on the next one.

34:35Oti: See ya.