Kaguya-sama: Love is War wins unprecedented 3rd Anime of the Season Title in the Spring 2022 Anime Awards

By
Deiru
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With a commanding lead of 2,480 votes, Kaguya-sama: Love is War is once again crowned as Anime of the Season at Anime Trending – its third win in the polling site’s history, and the only anime to have done so. The show first won in Winter 2019, and then again in Spring 2020, which was marred by numerous broadcast delays due to the then-emerging COVID-19 pandemic. This time, it won over SPY x FAMILY, which settled for the New Anime of the Season award, preventing another chance for a shonen anime to finally win Anime of the Season after 14 seasons.

Attack on Titan was the last shonen anime to have won Anime of the Season, which it claimed in Summer 2018. It competed for the title again during its final season in Winter 2022, but was defeated in a landslide by My Dress-up Darling.

Kaguya-sama’s win also solidified A-1 Pictures’ lead in the list of animation studios with the most anime to win Anime of the Season. A-1 Pictures now have seven AOTS titles under its belt, followed by Lerche with four wins. Other AOTS-winning titles from A-1 Pictures are ALDNOAH.ZERO (Summer 2014), Your Lie in April ( Fall 2014), ERASED (Winter 2016), and Sword Art Online (Fall 2019).

Aside from winning Anime of the Season in Spring 2022, it also won for Favorite Romance, and placed second for Favorite Comedy, and Favorite Opening and Ending Theme Songs. Its main couple, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, placed third for Favorite Couple-Ship, while they individually both placed fourth for Favorite Male and Female Female Characters.

Cinderella Runs

Though it did not win Anime of the Season, Summer Time Rendering still had a great and historic “Cinderella” run in Anime Trending’s weekly charts. From initially ranking as low as #19, it ended up placing third in the final tally with an improvement of 16 spots —  the biggest recorded rank improvement in the history of Anime Trending. In the weekly charts, it was able to reach the top spot in the ninth week and stayed there for two weeks, until Kaguya-sama retook the lead in the final week.

Another “Cinderella” run observed this season, this one ending in victory, was for Yuuichi Katagiri (Tomodachi Game), who is crowned as the Favorite Male Character of Spring 2022.  Katagiri started at #16 in the opening week of the male character polls but rapidly rose to #5 the following week and then slowly made his way to the top, which he ultimately reached during the eight week of the season. He stayed on top until the end of the season, catching up to and amazingly overthrowing Loid Forger’s (SPY x FAMILY) four week lead advantage.

Defying the Detractors

Meanwhile, the award for Favorite Female Character was claimed by Shikimori (Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie), winning the title by a small margin of 238 votes over her closest competitor, Yor Forger (SPY x FAMILY). She also won the award for Favorite Couple-Ship of the Season with her boyfriend, Izumi.

The duo was able to hold on to their lead after enduring quite a barrage of criticism towards their show, mainly based on plot consistency but sometimes turning southwards to the point of ridiculing Izumi’s masculinity. The show was also at a disadvantage as it had two instances of delay due to the workplace interruption caused by an outbreak of COVID-19 within Doga Kobo, the studio behind the show. In the end, their supporters apparently still had the upper hand and ultimately prevailed in the game of numbers.

Kabe Taijin (Ya Boy Kongming!) and Kurumi Tokisaki (Date a Live) complete the set of the character awards winners, being crowned as Favorite Supporting Male and Favorite Supporting Female Character respectively.

Other Winners

AOASHI made an unprecedented win in the Spring 2022 Anime Awards. Aside from winning Favorite Sports Anime, it has also become the first-ever sports anime to win the Favorite Action or Adventure award, which was until now, monopolized by battle shonen and isekai anime.

Ya Boy Kongming! came in second in the list of anime with the most awards won this season, as aside from winning Favorite Supporting Male Character, it also won as this season’s Favorite Music Anime, prevailing over the mighty Love Live franchise, and Favorite Opening Theme Song for QUEENDOM’s “Chiki Chiki Bam Bam.” The song rose in popularity thanks to the song’s impressively animated dance sequence featuring its characters, including the titular character Kongming, who is based on the renowned historical Chinese military strategist and statesman.

Dance Dance Danseur, and The Rising of the Shield Hero, also won awards this season, winning Favorite Drama and Favorite Fantasy respectively.   

The full list of awards and results are available on our Spring 2022 Anime Awards Winners Portal.  

Check out how our community reacted to the winners on Facebook and Twitter.

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