Latest news with #SoloLeveling
The Star
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
'Solo Leveling' emerges as biggest winner at anime awards
Solo Leveling (pic), a fantasy anime that tells the story of Sung Jin-woo living in an alternate reality threatened by supernatural events and monsters, is the biggest winner of the ninth Crunchyroll Anime Awards with nine plums, including Anime of the Year. Other anime recognised at the ceremony were Dan Da Dan, Demon Slayer , and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End , as well as Attack On Titan which received the award for Global Impact. Hosted by Sally Amaki and Jon Kabira, the Anime Awards held on Sunday, May 25 in Tokyo, featured a stacked lineup of celebrity anime fans, including Rina Sawayama, RuPaul's Drag Race alum Plastique Tiara, Kacey Musgraves and d4vd, to name a few.
India Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
Global anime wave is real and India is racing on
Remember Pokemon, Shin Chan and Doraemon? What was once a post-school indulgence, anime in India is no longer just a nostalgic throwback. It's a full-blown cultural movement. From Delhi University campuses and Mumbai's comic-cons to Instagram Stories of A-list celebrities, India's anime awakening is both emotional and the numbers are backing it up. 'India is the biggest market outside Japan and China,' said Gita Rebbapragada, Chief Operating Officer at Crunchyroll, one of the world's largest anime streaming platforms. 'If our aspiration is to super-serve anime fans, we have to be where the fans are. And India is brimming with them - whether it's Naruto nostalgia or Solo Leveling obsession.' In fact, Crunchyroll Anime Awards saw one of the biggest voting numbers coming from India this year, alongside Mexico, USA, Italy among others. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ShowMo (@showmo_india)advertisementCrunchyroll has made a strategic push into the Indian market with Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs - and it's paying off. Shows like Solo Leveling, Demon Slayer, and Frieren regularly rank among the top-viewed series. 'We're seeing near-primetime viewing spikes,' she said and added, 'People are watching anime like appointment television.' India Today was in Tokyo for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2024, where anime's emotional pull was echoed by stars across the globe - and many had India on their home, Indian celebrities are wearing their anime love with pride. Tiger Shroff channels his inner Goku on and off-screen. Rashmika Mandanna has a soft spot for Naruto. And Disha Patani, once Crunchyroll's brand ambassador, often recommends Death Note on social media.'These celebrities don't just endorse anime - they live it,' stated Rebbapragada. "They talk about their favourite arcs, their emotional connections to the characters. That kind of authenticity resonates with fans. It's what creates real cultural momentum," she remarked. advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Crunchyroll India (@crunchyroll_in)And that momentum is also reflected KIM: ANIME GOT ME THROUGH TOUGH TIMESAmerican Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, who was present at the Anime Awards, told India Today that anime helped shape her identity. 'Growing up in America, there weren't many characters who looked like me or shared my emotional journey. Anime gave me that space,' she said. She mentioned that her favourites include the likes of Demon Slayer, Wind Breaker, and Hunter x Hunter. 'Killua is my favourite. And yes, I haven't finished Pokmon, but I started Journeys because I saw Ash finally became Champion. That storyline? It just brings everything back.' She added, 'Anime brought me joy in tough times. Being in a room full of people who get that? That's special.'DAMIANO DAVID: I WOULD LOVE TO SCORE FOR ANIMEMneskin frontman Damiano David, who presented an award in Tokyo, has long spoken about his obsession with Attack on Titan. 'It's surreal - going from watching at home to announcing a winner onstage,' he said, adding, 'It's not even about the spotlight. It's about being part of something meaningful.'advertisementHe confessed he's behind on new hits like Solo Leveling, but remains a fan of anime's escapist storytelling: 'It's real enough to relate to, but exaggerated enough to escape into. That kind of storytelling is powerful.' Does their storytelling style influence his music? 'In a subconscious way, maybe. Artists absorb things constantly,' he said. 'Anime music is incredible but very different from what I do. That said, if I ever got the chance to score an anime like Nana, I'd say yes in a heartbeat,' he band's song, The Loneliest, was recently featured on an anime soundtrack. He chuckled, 'It was the one about the samurai - I can't remember the name!'Could a Damiano-led anime theme happen in the future? 'Why not? If someone asked me, I'd do it.'SAMMY AMAKI: ANIME IS COOL NOW. I GOT BULLIED FOR IT AS A TEENAGERHowever, for Sally Amaki - an idol, voice actor, and podcast host from Japan, voicing her fondness for anime was a recent trend. Back in 2016, she hid her love for anime while living in the US. 'I'd got bullied for it,' she recalled. But when she returned to LA recently, she was stunned. 'Anime merch was in mainstream stores. I was like - wait, it's cool now?!,' she anime went mainstream, so did Sally's career. Today, she's a go-to name in bilingual voice acting. 'They don't want the cutesy voice anymore. They want someone strong, confident, intelligent.' she explained. Her personal favourite is Gintama. She explained that anime sometimes disguises social messaging in humour, which was one of the things that got her through. during difficult times. 'It looks like a comedy, but it's so deep. It got me through tough teenage years,' she stated. She's even considered getting an anime tattoo - specifically, a quote from Haikyuu!!: 'There's no time to feel down when you're so average. The only thing you can do is keep going.' With her signature blend of dry humour and earnest reflection, Amaki is part of the generation helping redefine anime's voice - literally. And when told about anime's rising popularity in India, she perked up, saying, 'Would I go to India? Do people there know me? Really? Well then, I would love to.'advertisementWHY INDIA'S ANIME CHAPTER IS JUST THE BEGINNINGWhat makes India's anime fandom unique is its emotional intensity and dual devotion - a reverence for classics like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z, mixed with an insatiable appetite for newer hits like Jujutsu Kaisen, Blue Lock, and Frieren. It's a fandom that's deeply community-driven - spanning oversized One Piece tees, jam-packed convention halls, cosplay meetups, and even anime-inspired tattoos. It transcends age, gender, and Rebbapragada said, 'India remains one of our major focuses for anime market globally.'Or, as Chloe Kim puts it best: 'Anime isn't just a genre anymore. It's a feeling. And once you connect to it - there's no going back.'Must Watch
Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
All the winners of the 2025 Anime Awards
Despite a very impressive gathering of Asian animation talent, one series dominated the 2025 Anime Awards. Here are all the winners announced during the 25 May ceremony in Tokyo. Between enchanting fantasy, high school romance, and supernatural thrillers, the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards looked set to be a showdown between heavyweights of the animation industry in Asia. This year, series like Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, The Apothecary Diaries, Dan Da Dan, and Delicious in Dungeon all went head-to-head, but out of nowhere, it was Solo Leveling that dominated the awards show, which was hosted in Tokyo on 25 May. Winning nine of the 13 awards it was nominated for, Solo Leveling took home all the glory when it clinched the coveted Anime of the Year prize. It's worth noting that this year's Crunchyroll Anime Awards covered all anime released from October 2023 through to December 2024, meaning that only the first season of Solo Leveling was eligible. The show, which is based on the South Korean web novel of the same name and its webtoon adaptation, has been a massive hit since it first debuted in January 2024. A power fantasy about a monster-hunter named Sung Jin-woo, who rises in status from weakling to an absurdly powerful necromancer, Solo Leveling has been a critical and commercial smash hit so far. The series is available with a Crunchyroll subscription. While Solo Leveling was a lock to win awards like 'Best Action,' there has been spirited debate online over the other awards it bagged. With anime like Frieren – about an elven mage who outlives her adventuring companions – and Dan Da Dan – where high schoolers battle both aliens and the supernatural – also nominated for 'Best New Anime Series,' fans of those shows (both on Netflix) felt that Solo Leveling's win was underserved compared to how those series feature more nuanced and layered storytelling in comparison. Other notable 2025 winners included Anime Film of the Year Look Back, from Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, about two young girls who bond over drawing manga (and which is on Prime Video); ever-popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Best Continuing Series and Best Animation); and Blue Box (Best Romance), where teens deal with complicated feelings as they train for basketball Nationals. Both Demon Slayer and Blue Box are in the South African Netflix library. For the record, voting for the Anime Awards is weighted 70/30 between a panel of anime industry judges and public opinion. The accolades have been dished out since 2017, when groundbreaking figure skating drama Yuri on Ice became the first Anime of the Year winner. The 2025 Awards Ceremony was an emotional night for the people who worked on the iconic Attack on Titan anime, as well as it was awarded Crunchyroll's first-ever Global Impact Award to honour the mark it had made on pop culture worldwide since debuting back in 2013. Looking ahead, this year will see several highly anticipated anime films and TV series released. A trilogy of Demon Slayer films will wrap up the anime, and the next arc of Chainsaw Man will also be on the silver screen. Meanwhile, on TV, while anime series like Dragon Ball Daima, Sakamoto Days, and Lazarus are earning rave reviews from critics and fans alike, new seasons of megapopular properties like Spy x Family, One-Punch Man, and My Hero Academia are lined up for home viewing later in 2025. DM This story was first published on PFangirl. Below you'll find all of this year's winners, while a full list, including nominees, can also be found here. 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Winners Anime of the Year Solo Leveling Film of the Year Look Back Best Original Anime Ninja Kamui Best Continuing Series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc Best New Series Solo Leveling Best Opening Sequence 'Otonoke' – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan) Best Ending Sequence 'request' – krage (Solo Leveling) Best Action Solo Leveling Best Comedy Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc Best Drama Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Best Isekai Anime Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World – Season 3 Best Romance Blue Box Best Slice of Life Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Best Animation Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc Best Background Art Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Best Character Design Dan Da Dan Best Director Keiichiro Saito (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) Best Main Character Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling) Best Supporting Character Fern (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) 'Must Protect At All Costs' Character Anya Forger (Spy × Family, Season 2) Best Anime Song 'Otonoke' – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan) Best Score Solo Leveling – Hiroyuki Sawano Voice Performance Awards Japanese Aoi Yuki (Maomao – The Apothecary Diaries) English Aleks Le (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) Arabic Hiba Snobar (Anya Forger – SPY × FAMILY Season 2) Brazilian Portuguese Charles Emmanuel (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) Castilian Spanish Masumi Mutsuda (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling) French Adrien Antoine (Kafka Hibino – Kaiju No. 8) German Daniel Schlauch (Monkey D. Luffy – One Piece) Hindi Lohit Sharma (Satoru Gojo – Jujutsu Kaisen, Season 2) Italian Ilaria Pellicone (Kyomoto – Look Back) Latin Spanish
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Hacks' EP and star Paul W. Downs on Deborah's shocking choice: ‘It is the most pivotal episode of the series so far'
Hacks, "A Slippery Slope." Not to be hyperbolic, but Thursday's episode of Hacks might be its most important one yet. "It is the most pivotal episode of the series so far," co-creator, co-showrunner, director, and star Paul W. Downs says on the latest episode of Awards Magnet. More from GoldDerby 'Solo Leveling' takes top prize at 2025 Anime Awards Cannes 2025: Why Oscars could be next for Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi's 'It Was Just an Accident' 'Lilo & Stitch': Director Chris Sanders reveals the iconic blue alien's surprising original design (exclusive art) In "A Slippery Slope," written by Downs and fellow creators and showrunners Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, the repercussions of network head Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) doing Deborah (Jean Smart) a "favor" the previous episode by firing Winnie (Helen Hunt) start to build when Bob asks Deborah to have scandal-ridden movie star Ethan Sommers (Eric Balfour) on her show. After Deborah acquiesces when she's asked to cut her joke about his secret Snapchat, a peeved Ava (Hannah Einbinder) spills all to her old On the Contrary boss Lewis (Aristotle Athari), who decides to do an exposé on the coverup and refuses to kill it despite Ava's pleas. Bob tells Deborah to fire Ava because he needs give a head on a platter to the board. Just when it seems like Deborah will do just that and let Ava down again — she sends Ava on a fake assignment at the Oscars, Ava's badge is deactivated when she returns to the studio — she instead pulls a first: by putting someone else first for once. During her monologue on her post-Oscars show, Deborah announces that she won't fire her head writer and "creative partner" and "someone I love" as asked, and that this will be her final Late Night show, because she won't cave to corporate pressure. It is a slippery slope, and she says she's drawing the line — a nod to the title of the pilot, "There Is No Line." "It's really the first time Deborah chooses a relationship over her career, chooses it puts Ava first," Downs says. "And also it allowed us in this episode to really address a lot of the stuff that we meditate on in the season, around the changes in the television industry." SEE Hacks stars and EPs break down Deborah's promise: 'That's the thing that Ava is constantly dealing with' One of the themes of Season 4 has been art versus commerce. By dropping Deborah and Ava, independent creatives, into the corporate world, they not only have a boss to answer to now, but shareholders, advertisers, and disruptive tech that constantly shift the goalposts. "This is a business, and I get that," Deborah says in her monologue. "And there are good people on the business side who are trying to navigate the difficult intersection of art and commerce. But thanks to Wall Street and big tech disrupting our industry, it's gone too far. It's not enough to be No. 1 anymore or to make a profit or to even make you laugh. I might be a capitalist pig myself, but first and foremost, I'm a comedian. And I care more about making this show the right way than I do about making shareholders happy." "As she says at the end of the day, 'I'm a comedian and I'm here to make people laugh,' and that is the thing that she loves to do and wants to do," Down says. "She says the dream changed because as much as this has been the dream, to do the dream today when our industry has been so disrupted by tech and just being a part of publicly traded conglomerates that have shareholders to answer to. ... This industry has been a profitable industry for a century. This was not a broken industry because people want entertainment, they want stories. Since the dawn of language, we've wanted stories, and for it to be disrupted in the way that it's been disrupted is really a shame because it's not just enough to make a profit." And it's "impossible" to make a profit, Downs continues, "if you don't push down on all of the people, all the crews, all of the creatives, all the people that make those stories." While Hacks and Deborah's speech is about the entertainment industry, Downs believes it's a mutual feeling across any industry "where corporate greed has impacted the way in which people make things." Downs, Aniello, and Statsky spent a great deal of time on the monologue as they also wanted to explore what it means to get your dream in 70s and the glass cliff, the phenomenon whereby underrepresented groups are put in leadership positions during crises. "What it's like to finally give a woman an opportunity to do something at a time when things have really changed or it's higher risk because the the potential for failure is even greater?" he says. "We were able to, I think, put in Deborah's mouth a lot of the stuff that we think about in this industry, that it's not just enough sometimes to make people laugh." Jake Giles Netter/Max The episode is also a big one for Jimmy (Downs), as the pressures of his new job — starting his own company with Kayla (Megan Stalter), who's being poached by her dad — begin compounding. "We really think of Jimmy and Kayla as sort of this bizarro version of Deborah and Ava. They are their own duo, but we always try and dovetail their stories and have them reflect the larger themes that we're dealing with in the season," Downs says. "And so this season, it's one thing if you work at a management company and have deal with the culture there or deal with the downward pressure if it is again a publicly traded company, but now they're starting their own. So there's all the pressures of being a startup, being a sort of this fledgling management company, but also he's dealing with the stress of Deborah and Ava having the grist they have in the beginning of the season." Like Deborah and Ava, Jimmy and Kayla also have completely different management styles. "She goes guerrilla mode, he leads with love, but this was such a fun episode because Jimmy was on a real emotional roller coaster." Jimmy and Kayla frantically search for Dance Mom (Julianne Nicholson), whom they find passed out from a bender on the streets of Wisteria Lane. Dance Mom insists on doing cocaine to straighten out before her Late Night performance and demands that Jimmy "boof it." A hilarious tug-of-war ensues over Dance Mom's eight ball-loaded purse. "We do a lot of alts, so there's not a lot of time to sit and rehearse, but that was one scene that, because there was so much physical comedy in it, it was so choreographed between, like, running to the door, cutting the coke, getting her out of the ice bucket," Downs says. "And obviously resets are so tricky with cocaine and ice water and all that stuff that we did rehearse that scene the night before. And so there was not really a lot of room for improvisation because it was very, very choreographed. "People had to knock on the door at the right time. We had to get her into the couch at the right time. She had to knock into a cart." One thing Downs did improvise was Jimmy angrily putting the purse on his shoulder as he walked out the room. "You know, I had to take the purse and then why not wear it out?" he says. "There was a little bit of discovery on the day, and that was one of those moments." SEE 'No one ever asks me to do comedy': Julianne Nicholson explains how she became Dance Mom on Hacks After Dance Mom manages to perform, Jimmy reaches his breaking point, and just like Ava in the sixth episode, he drives off the studio lot (in a golf cart). But the nice guy that he is, he doesn't break the studio gate. After the ultimatum from Bob, Deborah goes to Jimmy's house to apologize for not showing enough appreciation for all he does, and to clue him in something. Before Deborah goes on for her monologue, she has a brief chat with Jimmy, and it's still murky what her big plan is. "It was really tricky because you don't want to tip it one way or the other. You don't wanna like overly be mustache-twirly and make it seem like she's definitely done something sinister and you don't want it to seem like, 'OK, we're about to blow up the show, we're in cahoots in some way.' So it was very, very tricky cause we didn't want to push the misdirect. We wanted to make it a little bit neutral, and so there were a bunch of different versions of it," Downs says. "We did try a bunch because I was very aware. I think the way that I played it when I was thinking about it was I was playing it as if [Ava] was fired because I, knowing the truth of the scenario and what she was about to do, it was very hard not to be like, 'Poof, OK, you're about to go on television [and quit].'" At the end of the episode, Bob tells Deborah that she can't do anything because that the network has an 18-month non-compete on her. The reveal after that doozy of an episode could've served as the season finale — and it nearly was. "It was the finale initially," Downs shares. "We considered it going out on the static [when the feed is cut] that it's like, 'Well, what happened there?' We also considered going out on, 'We own you, we have a non-compete.' ... But then we thought, why are we delaying that?" "That" being what transpires in the season finale. The Season 4 finale of Hacks premieres Thursday, May 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Max. Email your questions to slugfests@ Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Tracy Ifeachor thinks about Collins and Robby's backstory 'all the time': 'It just didn't work out because it's not the right time' How Eddie Redmayne crafted his 'deeply unflappable' assassin on 'The Day of the Jackal' TV composers roundtable: 'Adolescence,' 'Day of the Jackal,' 'Interview With the Vampire,' 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Click here to read the full article.
Newsweek
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Every Winner at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors The 2025 edition of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards took place on Sunday, with dozens of awards given away to some of the best anime series and movies of yesteryear. The stream was an exciting affair, filled with celebrity appearances, performances from artists like Creepy Nuts – best known for its theme song Otonoke from Dan Da Dan – and much more. We've got the full list of Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025 winners below, along with a quick summary of the biggest winners of the night. Solo Leveling director Shunsuke Nakashige accepts the Anime of the Year award on stage at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025 in Tokyo. Solo Leveling director Shunsuke Nakashige accepts the Anime of the Year award on stage at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025 in Tokyo. Crunchyroll Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025: All Awards Winners The big winner of the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards was Solo Leveling, which took home a staggering 9 awards at the show, including the coveted Anime of the Year awards. That was a little bit surprising to many, who expected Dan Da Dan would clean up at the awards — it took home three awards when all was said and done, just a little behind Frieren's four. Here's the full list:
