Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Drama

Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Drama
Awarded for	Best drama anime series of the previous year
Country	United States Japan
First award	A-1 Pictures — Erased (2017)
Currently held by	Madhouse — Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2025)
Most wins	Studio: Wit Studio / MAPPA (2) Anime: Attack on Titan (2)
Most nominations	Studio: MAPPA / TMS Entertainment (4) Anime: Fruits Basket (3)
Website	Crunchyroll Anime Awards

The Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Drama is a genre-specific award given at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards since its inaugural edition in 2017. It is given for the best drama anime series from the previous year. Winners are determined through a combined voting process by judges and public voting. ^[1]

Mystery anime Erased by A-1 Pictures first won the award in 2017. ^[2] In the latest edition in 2025, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Madhouse won the award. ^[3]

Winners and nominees

In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place.

2010s

Year	Anime	Studio(s)
2016 (1st) [4] [2]
	Erased	A-1 Pictures
	Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju	Studio Deen
	Joker Game	Production I.G
	Kiznaiver	Studio Trigger
	Most Popular "Other": Orange	TMS Entertainment
2017 (2nd) [5]
	The Ancient Magus' Bride	Wit Studio
	ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.	Madhouse
	Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (season 2)	Studio Deen
	Made in Abyss	Kinema Citrus
	March Comes in Like a Lion (season 2)	Shaft
	Scum's Wish	Lerche
2019 (4th) [6] [7]
	Vinland Saga	Wit Studio
	Babylon	Revoroot
	Carole & Tuesday	Bones
	Fruits Basket	TMS Entertainment
	Stars Align	Eight Bit
	The Promised Neverland	CloverWorks

2020s

Year	Anime	Studio(s)
2020 (5th) [8]
	Fruits Basket (season 2)	TMS Entertainment
	Beastars	Orange
	Great Pretender	Wit Studio
	Japan Sinks 2020	Science SARU
	Sing "Yesterday" for Me	Doga Kobo
	Somali and the Forest Spirit	Satelight & HORNETS
2021 (6th) [9] [10]
	To Your Eternity	Brain's Base
	86	A-1 Pictures
	Fruits Basket The Final Season (season 3)	TMS Entertainment
	Kageki Shojo!!	Pine Jam
	Odd Taxi	OLM and P.I.C.S.
	Wonder Egg Priority	CloverWorks
2021/2022 (7th) [11] [12]
	Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 (season 4 cour 2)	MAPPA
	86	A-1 Pictures
	Cyberpunk: Edgerunners	Studio Trigger and CD Projekt
	Dance Dance Danseur	MAPPA
	Kotaro Lives Alone	Liden Films
	Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun (season 2)	Kinema Citrus
2022/2023 (8th) [13] [14]
	Attack on Titan: The Final Season The Final Chapters Special 1 (season 4 cour 3)	MAPPA
	Heavenly Delusion	Production I.G
	My Happy Marriage	Kinema Citrus
	Oshi no Ko	Doga Kobo
	To Your Eternity (season 2)	Drive
	Vinland Saga (season 2)	MAPPA
2023/2024 (9th) [15] [3]
	Frieren: Beyond Journey's End	Madhouse
	A Sign of Affection	Ajiado
	Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction	Production +h.
	Oshi no Ko (season 2)	Doga Kobo
	Pluto	Studio M2
	The Apothecary Diaries	Toho Animation Studio and OLM

Records

Anime series

Franchise	Wins	Nominations	Seasons
Attack on Titan	2	2	The Final Season Part 2 , The Final Season The Final Chapters Special 1
Fruits Basket	1	3	Season 1, Season 2, The Final Season
To Your Eternity		2	Season 1 , Season 2
Vinland Saga			Season 1 , Season 2
86	0		Part 1, Part 2
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju			Season 1, Season 2
Made in Abyss			Season 1, The Golden City of the Scorching Sun
Oshi no Ko			Season 1, Season 2

Studios

Wit Studio holds the record for the most wins in an anime studio.

MAPPA also holds the record for the most wins, as well as being the most-nominated studio along with TMS Entertainment.

Doga Kobo and Kinema Citrus holds the record for the most nominations without a win in an anime studio.

Wit Studio and MAPPA were tied for the most wins in an anime studio with 2; the latter along with TMS Entertainment received the most nominations with 4. Attack on Titan became the only anime to win multiple awards. Fruits Basket , which was produced by TMS Entertainment, received the most nominations with 3; it won an award in 2021.

Doga Kobo and Kinema Citrus received the most nominations for an anime studio without a single win with 3. Four anime series ( 86 , Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju , Made in Abyss and Oshi no Ko ) have received two nominations, but they did not win a single award.

Studio	Wins	Nominations	Seasons
MAPPA	2	4	Attack on Titan ( The Final Season Part 2 , The Final Season The Final Chapters Special 1), Dance Dance Danseur , Vinland Saga (Season 2)
Wit Studio		3	The Ancient Magus' Bride , Great Pretender , Vinland Saga ( Season 1 )
TMS Entertainment	1	4	Fruits Basket (Season 1, Season 2, The Final Season), Orange
A-1 Pictures		3	86 (Part 1, Part 2), Erased
Madhouse		2	ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. , Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Doga Kobo	0	3	Oshi no Ko (Season 1, Season 2), Sing "Yesterday" for Me
Kinema Citrus			Made in Abyss (Season 1, The Golden City of the Scorching Sun), My Happy Marriage
CloverWorks		2	The Promised Neverland , Wonder Egg Priority
OLM			The Apothecary Diaries , Odd Taxi
Studio Deen			Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (Season 1, Season 2)
Studio Trigger			Cyberpunk: Edgerunners , Kiznaiver
Production I.G			Heavenly Delusion , Joker Game

References

1. "Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2024: Your Ultimate Guide". December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
2. "Yuri!!! on ICE Wins Anime of the Year in Crunchyroll's First-Ever Anime Awards". GlobeNewswire . January 30, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
3. Grein, Paul (May 25, 2025). "Crunchyroll Reveals 2025 Anime Awards Winners: Full List". Billboard . Tokyo. Archived from the original on May 27, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
4. "Anime of the Year". The Anime Awards (theanimeawards.com). Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
5. Jones, Jordan (February 25, 2018). "Crunchyroll's 2017 Anime Awards Recap and Winners". Geeks of Color. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
6. Orsini, Lauren (January 10, 2020). "Here Are All The Nominees For The 2019 Crunchyroll Anime Awards". Forbes . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
7. Ramée, Jordan (February 15, 2020). "Every Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 Winner, Including Anime Of The Year". GameSpot . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
8. Luster, Joseph (February 19, 2021). "Rewatch the 2021 Anime Awards Here (and Find Out Who Won!)". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
9. Schneider, Michael (January 18, 2022). "Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2022 Nominations Include '86 Eighty-Six,' 'Jujutsu Kaisen,' 'Oddtaxi' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Archived from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
10. Goslin, Austen (February 9, 2022). "Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1 wins top prize at Crunchyroll's Anime Awards". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
11. Eisenbeis, Richard (March 4, 2023). "All the Winners of the 7th Annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards". Anime News Network . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
12. Patches, Matt (March 4, 2023). "Anime Awards 2023 name Cyberpunk: Edgerunners as Anime of the Year". Polygon . Retrieved March 4, 2023.
13. Mateo, Alex (January 17, 2024). "Crunchyroll Anime Awards Reveals 2024 Nominees". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
14. Hazra, Adriana (March 2, 2024). "All the Winners of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2024". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on March 2, 2024. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
15. Pedersen, Erik (April 3, 2025). "Crunchyroll Anime Awards Nominations Revealed". Deadline . Archived from the original on April 3, 2025. Retrieved April 4, 2025.