Heavenly Delusion & Vinland Saga Are Crunchyroll Anime Awards’ Biggest Losers

Heavenly Delusion and Vinland Saga Season 2 are neck-and-neck for the title of most snubbed series at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

Per the streaming site’s official award results, Heavenly Delusion and Vinland Saga were each nominated for five major categories at Crunchyroll’s annual anime awards showcase, whose winners are selected via a worldwide fan poll. Heavenly Delusion scored nominations for Best New Anime, Best Director (Hirotaka Mori), Best Cinematography, Best Drama and Best Opening Sequence (for “innocent arrogance” by BiSH). Meanwhile, Vinland Saga Season 2 earned nominations for Anime of the Year, Best Continuing Series, Best Cinematography, Best Drama and Best Main Character (Thorfinn). Unfortunately, both titles failed to net a single win, frequently losing out to MAPPA’s iconic shonen series Jujutsu Kaisen.

Initially released in 2020, Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the most popular ongoing shonen anime of the modern era. Thanks to JJK‘s lovable characters, thrilling storyline and breathtakingly detailed animation, fans continue to support the anime despite the numerous controversies surrounding Studio MAPPA. The 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards strongly affirmed Jujutsu Kaisen’s icon status; the series came out on top in 11 different categories, shattering My Hero Academia‘s previous record from 2018.

JJK’s Huge Success Overshadowed Anime Like Vinland Saga & Heavenly Delusion

Jujutsu Kaisen‘s triumph at the 2024 Crunchyroll Awards provoked mixed reactions on social media. While many feel that JJK was entitled to its wins, plenty of others felt that both Vinland Saga and Heavenly Delusion have been tragically overlooked. In the latter’s case, the overall sentiment appears to be that Heavenly Delusion‘s production values and storyline were just as good, if not better, than JJK, making it deserving of at least one win. Deeming the losses unusually suspect, one person accused Crunchyroll of unfairly skewing results in favor of certain series and creators. Others pointed out that Heavenly Delusion contains certain elements — such as fanservice and graphic sexual violence — that can hinder its appeal for certain audiences.

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The collective outrage from Vinland Saga fans seems to be even more prominent, with many X (formerly Twitter) posts expressing frustration and dismay on behalf of the series. Dozens of posts refer to the anime as either a “10/10 masterpiece” or “one of the best series they have ever seen” — impressive accolades for a work that has considerably less name recognition than JujutsuKaisen or Chainsaw Man. As with Heavenly Delusion, many Vinland Saga fans placed the blame squarely on Crunchyroll. However, one X user urged their fellows to take the losses in stride, arguing that Vinland Saga‘s “caliber surpasses the need for awards.”

Heavenly Delusion tells the story of a boy named Tokio who lives in safety and security behind Tokyo’s protective walls. Meanwhile, the world outside is a hellish apocalyptic landscape filled with monsters. Vinland Saga Season 2 is a historical drama revolving around a Nordic Viking named Thorfinn. After being sold into slavery, he goes through a harrowing period of self-reflection as he contemplates the decisions that led to his downfall. Heavenly Delusion is available exclusively on Hulu/Disney+. Vinland Saga is available to stream on both Netflix and Crunchyroll.

Heavenly Delusion

A boy grows up behind the safe walls of an apocalyptic Japan full of monsters. Tokyo flourishes as a paradise, while outside the walls of hell dangers lurk. However, a small group searches for heaven.

Release Date

April 1, 2023

Seasons

1 Season

Studio

Production I.G

Franchise

Heavenly Delusion

Characters By

Nick Martineau, Gen Satô, Sayaka Senbongi

Creator

Masakazu Ishiguro

Main Characters

Tokio, Mimihime, Maru, Kiruko

Production Company

Production I.G

Writers

Makoto Fukami

Number of Episodes

13 Episodes

Source: Crunchyroll, X (formerly Twitter)