BOCCHI THE ROCK!, Summer Time Rendering Lead Awards Tally in the 9th Anime Trending Awards

By
Deiru
-

The record for the most awards won by an anime in a single Anime Trending Awards has been broken this year as BOCCHI THE ROCK! takes home eight awards in the recently concluded 9th Anime Trending Awards. The record was initially set by Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai with seven wins in the 5th Anime Trending Awards. However, it was unable to snatch the coveted Anime of the Year title, which BOCCHI THE ROCK! was able to clinch! 

Missed the Awards Nights Livestream? Watch it here!

With the win, BOCCHI THE ROCK! becomes the first-ever music-themed anime to win the Anime of the Year title in Anime Trending, and the third Fall season anime to have done so after Natsume’s Book of Friends in 2016, and Akudama Drive in 2020. It also marks the first CloverWorks-produced anime to win the Anime of the Year title since the studio’s inception in 2018. In total, the studio has fielded nine anime for the title. Five of those are from this year alone, making CloverWorks another record-setter this year as the studio with most Anime of the Year nominations in a single year. 

Keiichirou Saitou, the director of BOCCHI THE ROCK!, gave an acknowledgement message for the anime’s win as Anime of the Year. The original creator and mangaka, Aki Hamaji, also gave an enthusiastic thank you on her Twitter account, ending it with “Love, Love, Love!”

The Anime of the Year victory for BOCCHI THE ROCK! caps off what could possibly be the greatest Cinderella run in the history of Anime Trending. The same can be said of the runner-up for the title, Summer Time Rendering. Both anime ranked fairly low during the start of their respective seasons and also had little fanfare prior to their airing, compared to their competitors which generated a lot of hype from various press conferences. BOCCHI THE ROCK! did not fare well in the Fall 2022 pre-seasonal poll as it only placed #13, while Summer Time Rendering started at #19 in the first week of the Spring 2022 Anime Charts. Both eventually made their way to the top spot in the latter weeks of their seasons. BOCCHI THE ROCK! reached the top spot on the sixth week of Fall 2022 and stayed there for 3 consecutive weeks, while Summer Time Rendering reached the top spot on the ninth week of Spring 2022 and stayed there for another week. 

Meanwhile, Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night took the other major award, Anime Movie of the Year. It marks the first time for the SAO franchise to clinch a major annual award title at Anime Trending, after multiple nominations in the past. It had four Anime of the Year nominations, previously finishing seventh for its second season (2014), eighth for its third season (2018), third for the first half of its fourth season (2019), and eleventh for the second half of its fourth season (2020). 

Sword Art Online’s second film is the third film with a prior TV series to win the Anime Movie of the Year title. Previous franchises with the same classification that won the title are Beyond the Boundary (2015), and KonoSuba (2020). 

Ayako Kono was thrilled about the film’s victory:

Summer Time Rendering Dominates Character Awards

Summer Time Rendering became the second anime to have two characters win a Character of the Year award as Shinpei Ajiro won Boy of the Year, and Hizuru Minakata won Supporting Girl of the Year. The first anime to have accomplished the same feat was Re:ZERO in the 7th Anime Trending Awards (2020), where Otto Suwen and Echidna won Supporting Boy of the Year and Supporting Girl of the Year respectively. 

Ajiro is now the fourth character to have won Boy of the Year, but not the seasonal equivalent. In Spring 2022, he placed third overall behind runner-up Loid Forger (SPY x FAMILY), and Yuuichi Katagiri (Tomodachi Game). His voice actor, Natsuki Hanae, also won as Best Voice Actor, making it the second time that both the seiyuu and their corresponding character won together. The first time was with Mamoru Miyano who voiced Koutarou Tatsumi (Zombie Land Saga) in the 5th Anime Trending Awards (2019). 

Hanae thanked the fans in a tweet:

Marin Kitagawa (My Dress-up Darling), and Tengen Uzui (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) complete the set of Character of the Year Winners for the 9th Anime Trending Awards, winning Girl of the Year and Supporting Boy of the Year respectively. Kitagawa swept the Winter 2022 Female Character Charts, winning all nine weekly issues and becoming the second female character to do so. The first one to achieve the same feat was Shirayuki (Snow White with the Red Hair) back in 2016, though her season had only eight weekly issues. Along with Shirayuki, she is the only character to have swept the seasonal charts to win the Girl of the Year title. She’s also only the second character from a Winter season anime to have won said title. Such a feat is remarkable considering that Winter anime are often at a disadvantage in annual awards due to recency bias. 

Kitagawa’s voice actress, Hina Suguta, was so hyped to learn that Kitagawa won as Girl of the Year in a tweet:

Meanwhile, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya have finally won the Couple or Ship of the Year title after three attempts. They were first nominated for the award back in the first season (2019) of Kaguya-sama Love is War, where they finished as runner-ups to Nishikata and Takagi (Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san)—who only placed 11th this year for their show’s third season. In their second nomination (2020), they placed fourth in a race won by Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki (TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You). This season’s confession scene might have been just what it took to propel them to victory this time. Tatsuya Ishikawa, the anime’s producer, gave a comment on the couple’s win. 

BOCCHI THE ROCK! Wins Half of the Aspect Awards 

Four of the eight awards won by BOCCHI THE ROCK! are Aspect Awards, which is ‌a record as it now has the most Aspect Awards won by an anime since Violet Evergarden in the 5th Anime Trending Awards. The anime’s winning staff includes Erika Nishida, who won the award for Best in Adapted Screenplay; Takeshi Seo, Keiichirou Saitou, and Yuusuke Kawakami for Best in Episode Directing and Storyboard; and Tomoki Kikuya for Best in Soundtrack (with extended credits to otoha, Daichi Yoshioka, Hidemasa Naitou, Kayoko Kusano, Kouki Adaniya, Ai Higuchi, ZAQ, and Keiki Nishida for their work on the insert songs featured in the anime). Yoshino Aoyama, Ikumi Hasegawa, Saku Mizuno, and Sayumi Suzushiro, the core voice cast members of the anime, won the award for Best in Voice Cast. 

The Best in Voice Cast winning members, and Erika Nishida sent in their reactions to their respective wins. Gen Okamura and Ritsuo Mitsui, the show’s music director and music arranger respectively, commented on the Best in Soundtrack win:

The award for Best in Episode Directing and Storyboard is a newly-created award for this year’s Anime Trending Awards, making Seo, Saitou, and Kawakami the inaugural winners. They won the award for their work on the eighth episode of BOCCHI THE ROCK!, which has the same title. The episode highlights include the mesmerizing fluid animation of the Kessoku Band’s performance, and the infamous title drop by one of its characters, Nijika Ijichi, which spawned memes right after. The episode was in close competition with Summer Time Rendering’s 15th episode “Lights, Camera, Action” — which featured the action-packed battle between Shinpei Ajiro and the Shadows; and the fifth episode of Kaguya-sama: Love is War’s third season entitled “Chika Fujiwara Wants to Beat a Rhythm / Ai Hayasaka Wants to Talk / Maki Shijo Wants Some Help” — which featured the hilarious and amazing rap song team up of main characters Miyuki Shirogane and Chika Fujiwara. The two episodes finished second and third respectively, with the runner-up trailing by only 559 votes.

For the remaining Aspect Awards, Chief Animation Director Yoshimichi Kameda won the award for Best in Animation for the second time for Mob Psycho 100. The first time he won the award was for the anime’s first season (2016) in the 3rd Anime Trending Awards. It is the only anime to have won an Aspect Award twice. Kameda, in a video message, thanked the fans who voted for the anime, and gave some insights into the animation work behind it:

Imigimuru scored a victory in his debut as an anime character designer, as he won Best in Character Design for Lycoris Recoil. The character designer is best known as the author of the slice-of-life comedy manga, This Art Club Has a Problem, which had an anime adaptation back in 2016 that also won the Best in Character Design award in the 3rd Anime Trending Awards. In a message, Imigimuru felt honored to know that his debut work was well received:

Lycoris Recoil also came close to winning the award for Best in Original Screenplay but in an upset  was defeated by Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. It is the first-ever non-simulcast anime to have won an award in Anime Trending. Yoshiki Usa, Masahiko Otsuka, and Bartosz Sztybor, the anime’s screenplay writers, each gave their own award acknowledgement message for their victory. Their messages gave a bit of insight on how complex yet rewarding the scriptwriting process was. 

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was also nominated for Anime of the Year, placing 10th in the final tally. Though it did not win, it still made history as the first-ever non-simulcast anime to be nominated for the top title. Non-simulcast anime can only qualify for the top title through the wildcard rounds where they compete with the next-highest ranking anime from each season that did not qualify for Anime of the Year. This is the first time that such an anime made the breakthrough. Aside from winning Best in Original Screenplay, it also won Sci-Fi or Mecha Anime of the Year, which was another upset as it defeated Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury for the title. The Gundam franchise is a staple when it comes to the mecha genre so its loss was a surprise this year. 

Call of the Night completes the set of Aspect Award winners, as Norihiko Yokomatsu, Izumi Takizawa, and Yuuki Tsuchimoto helped it win the award for Best in Sceneries and Visuals. This anime was definitely a crowd favorite to win the title as the anime is known for its stunning night time visuals.

Other Winners and Surprises:

Akira Asai (Call of the Night) and John (SHADOWS HOUSE) both made surprising podium finishes for Best Supporting Girl and Best Supporting Boy respectively. Asai managed to rank above the likes of Kurumi Tokisaki (Date A Live) and Kei Karuizawa (Classroom of the Elite), who both are prominent names in light novel Best Girl polls, and most notably, Kikuri Hiroi, a supporting character from BOCCHI THE ROCK!. Meanwhile, John placed higher than Majima (Lycoris Recoil), who beat him for the same award back in Summer 2022, and Damian Desmond (SPY x FAMILY). 

“Third time’s the charm’ for Atsumi Tanezaki as she finally won Best Voice Actress on her third overall nomination for her role as Anya Forger (SPY x FAMILY). It was a hard-fought win as Chika Anzai (Lycoris Recoil’s Chisato Nishikigi) and Misaki Kuno (Made in Abyss’ Faputa) did not trail far behind in the vote tally. Tanezaki and Kuno had a difference of only 419 votes. 

Other anime that took home wins in the 9th Anime Trending Awards include Chainsaw Man for Action or Adventure Anime of the Year (which nearly also won Best in Soundtrack for Kensuke Ushio’s music), Made in Abyss for Fantasy Anime of the Year, and AOASHI for Sports Anime of the Year.

Best Podium Finish

For the first time in the history of Anime Trending, only two anime managed to win more than two awards. BOCCHI THE ROCK! has eight while Summer Time Rendering took home five. In addition to their wins, BOCCHI THE ROCK! and Summer Time Rendering each finished the year with three silvers and one bronze. With these final podium tallies, they are the top two anime on the podium.

Check out the full tally below: 

Rank Anime Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 BOCCHI THE ROCK! 8 3 1 12
2 Summer Time Rendering 5 3 1 9
3 Lycoris Recoil 2 3 2 7
4 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 3 1 6
5 Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic- 2 2 2 6
6 Call of the Night 2 0 2 4
7 SPY x FAMILY 1 4 2 7
8 Mob Psycho 100 III 1 3 2 6
9 My Dress-up Darling 1 2 1 4
10 Chainsaw Man 1 1 2 4
11 Ya Boy Kongming! 1 1 0 2
12 Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun 1 0 3 4
13 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc 1 0 1 2
14 AOASHI 1 0 0 1
15 Ranking of Kings 0 2 0 2
16 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury 0 1 1 2
17 Dance Dance Danseur 0 1 0 1
18

 SHADOWS HOUSE 0 0 1 1
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform 0 0 1 1
Attack on Titan: Final Season Part II 0 0 1 1
Danmachi 0 0 1 1
Love Live!! Superstar! 0 0 1 1
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 0 0 1 1
Arknights: Prelude to Dawn 0 0 1 1
BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story- 0 0 1 1

 

Check out how our community reacted on Facebook on the winners and results in this Facebook Post Album Compilation

Check out how our community reacted on Twitter on the winners and results in this Tweets Compilation

The List of All Winners and the Full Results of the 9th Anime Trending Awards is available on our ATA Portal.

Want to see all of the beautiful artworks or illustrations featured in the 9th Anime Trending Awards? You may find them all here on our Awards Illustration Gallery, or if you are on Facebook, you may also check them out on this Facebook Post Album Compilation.

A Video Compilation of all the winning anime of the 9th Anime Trending Awards is also available on our YouTube Channel:

Leave a Comment!

RELATED ARTICLES

Leave a Reply