The Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Director is an above-the-line award given at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards since its third edition in 2019. It is given for the best directing in an anime series from the previous year. Winners are determined through a combined voting process by judges and public voting.
Science SARU's co-founder Masaaki Yuasa first won the award in 2019 for his direction of Devilman Crybaby, which also awarded the second time in 2021 for his direction of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, the first anime director to win multiple awards and currently the oldest director to win. Yuichiro Hayashi holds the record for the most nominations—also the most nominations without a win—with 3 for his direction in the fourth and final season of Attack on Titan.
2 out of 8 anime series won the Best Director category together with Anime of the Year category, the highest award.
In the latest edition in 2026, Akinori Fudesaka and Norihiro Naganuma won the award for their direction in the second season of The Apothecary Diaries.
Winners and nominees In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place.
2010s Year Director(s) Anime 2018(3rd) Masaaki Yuasa Devilman Crybaby Atsuko Ishizuka A Place Further than the Universe Hiroko Utsumi Banana Fish Yo Moriyama Megalo Box Yohei Suzuki Planet With Taichi Ishidate Violet Evergarden 2019(4th) Tetsurō Araki and Masashi Koizuka Attack on Titan (season 3) Kiyotaka Suzuki Babylon Shinichirō Watanabe and Motonobu Hori Carole & Tuesday Yuzuru Tachikawa Mob Psycho 100 II (season 2) Kunihiko Ikuhara Sarazanmai Shuhei Yabuta Vinland Saga
2020s Year Director(s) Anime 2020(5th) Masaaki Yuasa Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Yuzuru Tachikawa Deca-Dence Hiro Kaburagi Great Pretender Mamoru Hatakeyama Kaguya-sama: Love is War? (season 2) Sunghoo Park Jujutsu Kaisen Takashi Sano Tower of God 2021(6th) Baku Kinoshita Odd Taxi Yuichiro Hayashi Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 1 (season 4) Yo Moriyama Megalobox 2: Nomad Sunghoo Park Jujutsu Kaisen (cour 2) Shingo Natsume Sonny Boy Shin Wakabayashi Wonder Egg Priority 2021/2022(7th) Haruo Sotozaki Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc (season 2 cour 2)|- | Yuichiro Hayashi | Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 (season 4 cour 2) |- | Hiroyuki Imaishi | Cyberpunk: Edgerunners |- | Shingo Adachi | Lycoris Recoil |- | Yōsuke Hatta | Ranking of Kings (cour 2) |- | Kazuhiro Furuhashi | Spy × Family |- ! rowspan="7" style="text-align:center;"| 2022/2023(8th) |- style="background:#FAEB86" | Shōta Goshozono| Jujutsu Kaisen (season 2)|- | Yuichiro Hayashi | Attack on Titan: The Final Season The Final Chapters Special 1 (season 4 cour 3) |- | Keiichirō Saitō | Bocchi the Rock! |- | Ryu Nakayama | Chainsaw Man |- | Hirotaka Mori | Heavenly Delusion |- | Daisuke Hiramaki | Oshi no Ko |- ! rowspan="7" style="text-align:center;"| 2023/2024(9th) |- style="background:#FAEB86;" | Keiichirō Saitō| Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Fūga Yamashiro Dandadan Yoshihiro Miyajima Delicious in Dungeon Haruo Sotozaki Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc (season 4) Megumi Ishitani One Piece Fan Letter Norihiro Naganuma The Apothecary Diaries 2025(10th) Akinori Fudesaka and Norihiro Naganuma The Apothecary Diaries (season 2) Fūga Yamashiro and Abel Góngora Dandadan (season 2) Fumihiko Suganuma Gachiakuta Kenji Nagasaki and Naomi Nakayama My Hero Academia: Final Season (season 8) Ryōhei Takeshita The Summer Hikaru Died Shinya Iino Takopi's Original Sin
Records Director
DirectorWinsNominationsAnimeMasaaki Yuasa2Devilman Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!Haruo Sotozaki12Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Entertainment District Arc, Hashira Training Arc)Keiichirō SaitōBocchi the Rock!, Frieren: Beyond Journey's EndNorihiro NaganumaThe Apothecary Diaries (Season 1, Season 2)Yuichiro Hayashi03Attack on Titan (The Final Season Part 1, The Final Season Part 2, The Final Season The Final Chapters Special 1)Fūga Yamashiro2Dandadan (Season 1, Season 2)Sunghoo ParkJujutsu Kaisen (Season 1 cour 1, Season 1 cour 2)Yo MoriyamaMegalo Box, Megalobox 2: NomadYuzuru TachikawaDeca-Dence, Mob Psycho 100 (Season 2)
Age SuperlativeRecipientAnimeAgeOldest winnerMasaaki YuasaKeep Your Hands Off Eizouken!55Oldest nomineeYoungest winnerKeiichirō SaitōFrieren: Beyond Journey's End32Youngest nomineeBocchi the Rock!31
References