Summary
- Solo Leveling dominated the Crunchyroll Awards, sparking divided opinions among fans.
- Critics blame its success on recency bias, while others question the fairness of awards.
- Solo Leveling's win highlights issues with publicly weighted voting in anime awards.
In the wake of the first season of Solo Leveling sweeping the Crunchyroll anime awards by winning nine out of its thirteen nominations, fans are divided on the show's rapidly rising popularity. While Solo Leveling fans are overjoyed to have the love for their favorite series validated for millions to see, other anime fans have ignited a wave of criticism against the state of such award shows and how many series don’t get the attention they deserve.
Some anime watchers accuse the high performance of Solo Leveling of being due to a recency bias and the fact that Season 2 of the show had just finished airing by the time the awards came around. Fans criticizing the series’ top-level showing feel that it once again underscores the unfairness of the awards. In its wake, the Crunchyroll awards have spawned a rising tide of detractors who are unhappy with this year's results.
Solo Leveling Season 3 Will Reveal Sung Il-Hwan's True Power
Sung Jinwoo's father will get the chance to display his strength.
Solo Leveling’s Decisive Win Stirred Discussions
Hate and Praise Abound
Solo Leveling Season 1 managed to earn many awards this year, among these being: anime of the year, best main character, best new series, best action, best score, best ending, and multiple awards for best voice artist. While there was definitive excitement about the series’ win among many anime fans, it seems like an overwhelming chorus of negativity dominated discussions online.
“Every year, it gets worse. You shouldn't be able to vote on a category unless you've watched like 3 out of 6 nominees at least or something, give them a test, a CAPTCHA, please. Too many average Joe voting, and the actual anime fans don't give a [crap] about these rewards, I feel bad for the Japanese anime staff.” -Reddit user Nulazanal expressing disappointment with the award results.
“This year awards has gotta be the worst I've ever seen in my life.” -Reddit user One_Loquat_7950 feeling dismayed with this year’s anime awards.
Some anime watchers felt that voters criminally underlooked fan favorites like Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Apothecary Diaries because they are harder to get invested in compared to the engaging action premise of Sung Jinwoo and his quest to continue leveling up. Solo Leveling managed to break several watch and engagement milestones during its Season 2 run, surpassed anime titan One Piece to become the most-rated anime on Crunchyroll, and crashed streaming servers multiple times during anticipated episode drops. It’s clear that the show’s base of support has quickly swelled, which leads to many anime fans feeling like the award shows, perhaps more than ever, are nothing more than a popularity contest.
“Popularity Poll Awards 2025” -Reddit user Nerellos, crystallizing a sentiment felt by many anime fans.
After Solo Leveling, This Popular Action Webtoon Is Reportedly Getting An Anime Adaptation
According to a rumor, the popular manhwa series Eleceed is getting an anime adaptation. The news has sparked excitement among anime and manhwa fans.
Many Feel Solo Leveling Season 1 Was Undeserving
Blaming Solo Leveling’s Victory on External Factors
One common sticking point among detractors was that people voting on the different anime categories weren’t given clear enough instructions on what they were actually voting for.
“Wooooo 2nd year in a row an anime wins because Crunchyroll straight up refuse to say it’s only season 1 of the series”- Reddit user 96Mute96 reacting to the news that Solo Leveling has won anime of the year.
Critics of the awards believe that Season 1's win was unfairly influenced by the hype built up by Season 2, which led to the results being skewed. While a panel of judges makes a selection of final nominees for each category, the winners at the Crunchyroll anime awards are largely determined by fan votes. Compare this to the Game Awards, where judges account for 90% of the vote in the final results, and public voting accounts for only 10%. Potential problems can arise from this approach. The average anime viewer and potential voter is likely not watching every or even most popular shows all the way through every season, making it hard to judge ones they haven’t seen properly.
In this environment, it leads to a common scenario where one show, the most popular and the one with the largest number of viewers, runs away with the awards simply due to sheer vote volume. This is further supported by the fact that Crunchyroll saw an earth-shattering almost 50% increase in votes from the previous year, managing to set a new record at 51 million votes for their 2025 Anime Awards.
While some anime fans may feel that Solo Leveling is undeserving of so many accolades, it’s clear that it managed to win spectacularly in a record-breaking year, so at the very least, it should be respected as a top contender next year, and when we eventually get a Season 3.
Solo Leveling can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Amazon.
Solo Leveling
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong's popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
- Cast
- Taito Ban, Genta Nakamura, Haruna Mikawa, Reina Ueda, Daisuke Hirakawa, Hiroki Touchi, Banjo Ginga, Makoto Furukawa, Akio Otsuka, Akira Ishida, Yasuhiro Mamiya, Junichi Suwabe, Miyu Tomita
- Directors
- Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki
- Writers
- Shigeru Murakoshi, Shingo Irie, Fuka Ishii
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- A-1 Pictures
- Based On
- Manhwa
- Creator
- Chugong
- Number of Episodes
- 25
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.28 (Season 1); 8.86 (Season 2)
- Creator(s)
- Chugong
- Where To Watch
- Crunchyroll
