Hi Everyone. Its awards season again, for some reason. The Oscars are on their way and Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards are back too. I’ve seen a numerous about of posts and videos from a of different members of the anime community explaining what choices they would make and why on the anime words. I’ve also seen a lot of complains about some Oscar snubs. Also, if you would have imagined it, there have been complaints about the Crunchyroll Anime Awards too. Who knew anime fans could be flustered so easily by something small as public and “official” opinions. All I can say about all this is you shouldn’t be annoyed or flustered by the fact that In This Corner of the World or A Silent Voice didn’t get an Oscar nod or even how so many popular anime series got an endless number of nods in different categories of the Anime Awards. Do you really need other people to like some of your favorite shows just as much as you to make you feel good? Don’t worry about that and keep your favorites close.
Looking at the Oscars specifically, I don’t really get the anger over it. Many of western movie fans or those of us who at least have watched some movies over the years know all of this shouldn’t matter in the first place. The Academy behind the Oscars is very detached from society at large. There is a reason why things like “Oscar Bait” movies exist. Movies who soul existence is just get an award and these movies are barely watched by the public at large. People have to go out of their way just to see a large variety of movies that have been nominated for the Oscars. I know that I may be detached from the Oscars themselves, because the last time I watched them was when Return of the King won everything forever, but that’s way it seems to be. Still, knowing all that, why should anyone be bothered that Boss Baby got an Oscar nomination over In This Corner of the World and/or A Silent Voice? I’m just Saiyan. The Academy is so detached from the public that they don’t care about animation general. That’s why it got a side category with different kind of shows jammed into it. Just don’t worry about the Oscar Nominations okay? Don’t let that bother you at all.
Speaking of Opinions, let’s cover the Anime Awards too. I’ve watched a few videos and posts complaining about quite a few shows appearing in a large variety of categories. Well, there might be a reason for that. Judges are people too. Each judge voted for shows that they think fit each category on the Anime Awards and to be honest, I think a lot of their choices make sense. I know that multiple characters appearing in each category from one show, which happened with My Hero Academia a few times, doesn’t make sense. March Comes in like a Lion and My Hero Academia are great shows that, in my opinion, deserve a lot of the spots that they were given. Maybe My Hero Academia will sweep the anime awards this year because of how popular is, but that doesn’t bother me. Not because I love it (because I honestly do), but because I know the shows that I loved from last year and I don’t need popular opinions from some sort of official/not official awards show to validate all of that. You can be like that too. If your favorites don’t win, don’t worry about it. A combination of public votes and judges votes doesn’t invalidate your own opinions.
I guess I don’t know how to end this discussion besides saying like what you like, don’t like what you don’t lie, and don’t force your opinions onto others. You can write your opinions and even share it in public, but don’t be a dick by trying to shove your opinion down other people’s throats. That’s about it really. I know that I have read and watched a few videos of content creators sharing what show they plan on voting for in the anime awards and I do find those interesting. I don’t feel like I am going to write one of those myself, but it’s interesting seeing other people’s points of view about those. (Maybe I will if I run out of blogging ideas). It’s like reading or watching hyper condensed reviews of different aspects of shows and I find that fascinating. Thank you for writing those. Anyway, until next time everybody!
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Mechanical Anime Reviews 
I think one reason people in, say, the anime fandom get so bent out of shape about awards sometimes is that it can be frustrating to have something that you think is absolutely, positively the best thing ever and that you really want to share your enjoyment of with other people, only to find it snubbed or, worse, misrepresented.
Another is predictability. When something that has been heavily hyped for a year or more wins a “Best [x] of [year]” award it’s not interesting or exciting to a lot of people — it’s just yet more hype for something that’s already saturated with it.
This isn’t to say people getting bent out of shape over awards are right to do so, mind you — but so far as I understand, these tend to be some of the main reasons behind it when it happens. I know this because it also happens for video games — only it’s rather more emphasised there, since gaming is a broader medium than anime and thus it’s easier for things to get lost in the rush.
The answer, of course, isn’t to get mad; it’s to highlight the things you, personally, think are worthwhile. People will listen to personal stories, and they can be a lot more convincing and persuasive than heavily “corporate” awards that don’t have much connection to “reality”, as it were. This is part of the reason I run my site and make a specific effort to highlight and celebrate stuff that doesn’t necessarily get much love from the mainstream; I feel strongly about it, and it turns out that 1) some other people do too and 2) some other other people like to discover new stuff that they perhaps wouldn’t have heard of otherwise! 🙂
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You do everyone a great service for sharing what you love.
Thanks for reading and sharing your point of view.
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I really don’t put any stock into major awards especially the Oscars. The Academy is so disconnected from reality and they play it safe with so many movies. I also wholeheartedly agree with the concept of Oscar bait movies. For someone who reviews live action films on a consistent basis besides anime, those movies turn me off. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve reviewed a documentary that won an Oscar last year (The White Helmets) and I have a review coming this month involving a short anime film from an indie animation studio in the late 00s, but I thought those examples were flukes instead of movies trying to win awards. However, I digress.
I feel like some people put way too much stock in getting big awards and even getting high percentages on Rotten Tomatoes. Just because something gets a ton of accolades doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to like it. People need to seriously calm down about these subjects. Are there movies and series that I think deserve big awards? Yes, I’m not going to lie, but at the same time I don’t want those fantasies to drag me down.
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Haha you beat me to it, I am currently working on a reaction piece at this moment to that whole thing. Glad to see someone else feels similarly to me about this issue.
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I had no idea! Looking forward to your post as well!
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I think the Crunchyroll Awards would fare better if they just marketed it as a people’s choice and accepted that it was a popularity vote. The attempt to have judges and the like doesn’t change the fact that it is a popularity vote. Even the explanation of how the nominations were chosen just reinforce that with each judge selecting shows for the category and then the most common choices from the judges becoming the nominated ones. In that case, obviously the bigger and better known titles were always going to get more recognition from more judges.
The actual how they chose the nominees and the fact that it is a popular vote isn’t bothering me half as much as the staggered voting schedule which is what ultimately made me give up on even having a say and just waiting for it to be over the winners announced.
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I agree with everything you said.
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For the Crunchyroll Awards specifically it’s because anime fans have a history of using their fandom (and their money!) to drive their activities – including the polls they participate in and the services they use – to keep their little pocket of happiness going. That, and whatever else I said on my post from the past week.
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I guess that does seem about right.
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Are there anime shows and movies that should be nominated over some of the actually nominated titles? Yes. Is it worth getting mad over? No. We can hope that the politics and favoritism will leave and have a more open, fair nomination process, but I won’t be upset if that never happens.
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Yes, exactly this.
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I wrote a pretty similar post to this last year after the Crunchyroll Awards got announced and everyone got super mad because Yuri!!! On Ice won best animation, and I have to say that my stance hasn;’t really changed.
Yeah, it kinda sucks if your show doesn’t win or whatever, but hey, people should just like what they like and move on.
All awards do is cause toxic arguments between fans and non-fans.
I feel that a lot of people care about these for the sole purpose of having their opinions validated. “If my show wins, then it means I have the objectively best taste”. It’s ludicrous thinking and it makes me sad.
This goes double for game awards, which is a whole other beast entirely when it comes to toxicity.
Meh. Awards. They suck.
Great post. Really can’t disagree here at all.
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I think I remember that post 😀. I’m glad that we agree on this issue and agree that people should cool off from popular choice awards.
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