The One Anime Everyone Thought Would Win in 2025 Anime Awards

Meta Description (SEO): Anime fans throughout the United States have been left gobsmacked after a surprise 2025 Anime Awards affair. Who was the obvious winner that got left behind and what were the reasons?

An Award Night That Took a Sharp Turn

There were more than a million of United States’ anime fans who were happy and cheering Solo Leveling with all their hearts that stormed the 2025 Anime Awards. On the other hand, the name of a different anime was being mentioned in the hushed tones of replies across forums, TikTok, and Reddit: By the way, why did not Jujutsu Kaisen take over the show?

Yes, the very Jujutsu Kaisen that made the theaters overcrowded, shattered the streaming record, and caused a semi-riot at every U.S. anime convention this year. The fact that it was stripped off top awards has been a tough pill for its die-hard fans to swallow—and it has left many scratching their heads.

Hype, Legacy, and the Snub That Sparked Outrage

The series was widely considered the most likely to grab the Best Action, Best Animation awards, and even emerge as the Anime of the Year. Anyway, it did not turn out that way. Instead, the choice fell on Solo Leveling and Demon Slayer—both of which are undoubtedly LSB motivated winners; however, completely disabling Jujutsu Kaisen is a different story. Does it equate to having been unjustly ignored?

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Insiders held the belief that it might be to do with the timing of the final decision. The most thrilling episodes unfolded half-way through the season and, therefore, there might have been no time for those yet to complete voting to have perused and watched them. Other people, however, presume that voters could be weary or they were in fact forcibly made to focus on newer IPs only.

However, the fans on the street, what do they feel? To them, it seemed like a betrayal.

Fans React Across the U.S.: “Rigged?” “Biased?” or “Too Predictable?”

“JJK getting snubbed is wild,” said one netizen on X (formerly Twitter), which acquired more than 90k likes in a matter of hours. TikTok creators reacted by stitching their despair alongside hashtags such as #JJKrobbed and #CrunchyrollAwards were instantaneously popping up and trending once the final announcement was made.

At the 2025 awards, more than 51 million votes from across the globe were cast. The ability of Crunchyroll to reach out to “new talent, rising trends, and diverse genres” in the pre-show ads suggests that the platform has changed its focus on Jujutsu Kaisen and the shift may have had a bigger impact.

For example, projects such as Look Back and Ninja Kamui, both less in terms of grand and of emotional content, were presented. Although this move benefits the industry, it wasn’t a hit with devoted supporters of old franchises.

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More than just the awards, what happened is a sign that U.S. anime fans are in transition. Now, while they are not ready to give up on flashy fight scenes, the fans are interested in original, unique in style, and having bold stories more than ever.

And the audience is not just excited, it’s in a relationship.

The anime series Jujutsu Kaisen is not over yet, even though it was insulted at the awards. Season 3 is in production now. The merch sales are going well. The other good news is that American fans are even more passionate.