Category: Entertainment

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Crunchyroll Anime Awards: ‘Solo Leveling,’ ‘Look Back’ Big Winners at Star-Studded Tokyo Ceremony

Solo Leveling was the big winner Sunday night at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, taking home anime of the year, best action, best new series, and multiple performance and music honors in a starry ceremony that brought together anime’s most passionate global fans. Held at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo, the annual celebration honored the top talent in Japanese animation across 28 categories — drawing a record-breaking 51 million fan votes worldwide to decide the winners.

In the feature film category, Look Back, the emotional adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot manga, earned Film of the Year, while fan-favorite Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba added to its legacy with best continuing series and best animation. The genre-defying Dan Da Dan picked up several creative awards, including best opening sequence, best anime song, and best character design.

Hosted for the third year in a row by voice actress Sally Amaki and entertainer Jon Kabira, this year’s show again welcomed a diverse slate of celebrity presenters, further underlining anime’s global appeal. Appearances were made by Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves, Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo, Latin music icon J Balvin, Japanese actor Kanata Hongo and Japanese Academy Award-winner Mayu Matsuoka. Also on hand were singer Rina Sawayama, Brazilian pop star Pabllo Vittar, model Saya Ichikawa, actor Dean Fujioka and Damiano David of Maneskin fame.

The night’s most poignant moment came when Attack on Titan was awarded Crunchyroll’s first-ever Global Impact Award, a new honor recognizing a franchise’s profound influence on anime and global pop culture. Director Yuichiro Hayashi accepted the award on behalf of studio Mappa and the series’ many creators, following the release of Attack on Titan: The Last Attack in late 2024, which concluded the long-running saga.

Fans were also treated to live performances from some of anime music’s biggest acts, including Creepy Nuts with their viral hit “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” from Mashle: Magic and Muscles, Japanese rock legends Flow with “Days” in honor of Eureka Seven, and a three-song medley by J-pop star Lisa, including her Demon Slayer anthem “Gurenge.”

“Fans form deep emotional connections to anime. These are not just series, films or songs, but rather works of art that help define the identity of anime fans,” said Rahul Purini, president of Crunchyroll. “With an incredible 51 million votes this year, the 2025 Anime Awards are celebrating the creators in Japan who have captured the hearts of fans and are powering anime’s prominence in global pop culture.”

Crunchyroll partnered with Sony Music Solutions Inc. and Dempsey Productions to deliver the high-energy show, which will be available to stream via Crunchyroll’s YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as Sony Pictures Core and other Sony Group platforms.

Sony Group has identified anime as a key pillar of its growth strategy, with Crunchyroll sitting at the center of its holdings in the sector. On Sony’s most recent earnings call in May, the conglomerate revealed that Crunchyroll now counts 17 million subscribers worldwide. Crunchyroll, Aniplex and Sony Pictures will collaborate later this year on the North American and international release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, a trilogy of films that concludes what is currently the world’s most bankable anime franchise. Crunchyroll and Aniplex are also co-producing an anime series based on the blockbuster samurai adventure PlayStation game Ghost of Tsushima.

Full List of 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards Winners

Anime of the Year: Solo Leveling

Film of the Year: Look Back

Best Original Anime: Ninja Kamui

Best Continuing Series: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc

Best New Series: Solo Leveling

Best Opening Sequence: “Otonoke” – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan)

Best Ending Sequence: “request” – krage (Solo Leveling)

Best Action: Solo Leveling

Best Comedy: Mashle: Magic and Muscles – The Divine Visionary Candidate Exam Arc

Best Drama: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Best Isekai Anime: Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World – Season 3

Best Romance: Blue Box

Best Slice of Life: Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

Best Animation: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Training Arc

Best Background Art: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Best Character Design: Dan Da Dan

Best Director: Keiichiro Saito (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)

Best Main Character: Sung Jinwoo (Solo Leveling)

Best Supporting Character: Fern (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)

“Must Protect At All Costs” Character: Anya Forger (Spy × Family, Season 2)

Best Anime Song: “Otonoke” – Creepy Nuts (Dan Da Dan)

Best Score: Solo Leveling – Hiroyuki Sawano

Voice Performance Awards

Japanese: Aoi Yuki (Maomao – The Apothecary Diaries)

English: Aleks Le (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling)

Arabic: Hiba Snobar (Anya Forger – SPY × FAMILY Season 2)

Brazilian Portuguese: Charles Emmanuel (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling)

Castilian Spanish: Masumi Mutsuda (Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling)

French: Adrien Antoine (Kafka Hibino – Kaiju No. 8)

German: Daniel Schlauch (Monkey D. Luffy – One Piece)

Hindi: Lohit Sharma (Satoru Gojo – Jujutsu Kaisen, Season 2)

Italian: Ilaria Pellicone (Kyomoto – Look Back)

Latin Spanish: Miguel Ángel Leal (Eren Jaeger – Attack on Titan Final Season: The Final Chapters – Special 2)

(Source: THR)

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Margaret Atwood to receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Canada Honor

As Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale builds towards its series finale, Margaret Atwood, who wrote the 1985 novel on which the popular TV drama starring Elisabeth Moss is based, will be honored by The Hollywood Reporter at its Women in Entertainment Canada event on May 29 in Toronto.

The Canadian author, poet and activist will receive the ICON Award at this year’s second annual WIE Canada gala ceremony. Atwood wrote the Handmaid’s Tale book on which the Hulu TV series, from creator Bruce Miller, is based. Her follow-up 2019 novel, The Testaments, is currently being adapted as a sequel series.

The Handmaid’s Tale explores the complicated lives of handmaids who are sex slaves forced to give birth for infertile elite couples. Cultural and political observers have noted that the themes and concepts of the Canadian-born author’s celebrated novel are eerily familiar in today’s climate that sees the Donald Trump administration making repeated strikes against the rights of women, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and other marginalized communities.

The WIE Canada’s ICON Award was created to recognize Canadian cultural icons who have advanced greater representation of women in the media and entertainment industry and whose artistic vision has reached global audiences.

Having written around 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels, Atwood will publish her memoir, Book of Lives, later this year. She has also received awards like the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award.

WIE Canada earlier announced that Tantoo Cardinal will receive the Equity in Entertainment Award, lifestyle journalist Jeanne Beker will be given the IMPACT Award; and The Sex Lives of College Girls star Amrit Kaur will receive the Breakthrough Award at this year’s event.

The upcoming second annual WIE Canada summit will again bring together the Canadian industry across TV, film and music to celebrate and recognize the achievements of women driving the industry forward.

The event’s return follows a successful first-ever WIE Canada summit on May 30, 2024 that was attended by iconic Canadian entertainers in the TV, film and music fields like Lilly Singh, Nia Vardalos, Devery Jacobs, Kim Cattrall, Catherine Reitman and Jully Black. (THR)

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Marvel’s Thunderbolts* proves a hit at box office

Marvel and Disney’s newest release Thunderbolts* has proved a hit at the box office, after taking an estimated $162m (£122m) internationally.

The film, which both production houses hope will kickstart a new franchise, is based around lesser-known superheroes who have to take on human and superhuman threats whilst fighting their own personal battles.

It stars Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan in two of the main roles, alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Harbour.

Whilst not all critic reviews have been favourable, the movie has been a hit with superhero fans – drawing in an impressive 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It means the film receives the third highest audience score for a Marvel title, tying with Spider-Man: Far From Home and behind Shangi-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Not all critics have not treated the film as favourably, with Empire’s John Nugent noting that the film is “missing a bit of colour – literally, in the washed-out palette and CG shadow-threat that dominates the latter half of the film — and figuratively, in its subject matter”.

He adds that the topics covered, including suicide, depression and domestic violence are “not always sensitively handled”.

Radheyan Simonpillai at The Guardian gives the film three stars, citing that although the film is “the best thing to come from the brand [Marvel] since WandaVision“, “Thunderbolts often irritates because the depression and trauma the movie supposedly grapples with so often lives on the surface”.

Simonpillai is full of praise for Pugh though, “who can wrestle sincerity out of a screenplay (and a franchise) that has so little”.

However, Clarisse Loughrey from The Independent looks on the film a little more favourably, giving it four stars and calling it “the best Marvel movie in years”.

“Thunderbolts does feel different to what’s come before.

“It’s the first of its kind to seem genuinely self-aware – Thunderbolts might actually then be the ultimate Marvel film for now,” she adds.

Audience fatigue when it comes to Marvel films is a genuine concern for the studio, which has been trying to pivot away from the characters from the main Marvel Cinematic Universe since the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

It is perhaps why Deadpool & Wolverine was a big hit for Marvel last summer, as it featured characters that have been less front and centre for them, with Thunderbolts* potentially following a similar path. (BBC)

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Disney faces US investigation over DEI practices

The US government agency that regulates television says it is opening an investigation into Disney’s diversity and inclusion practices, in the latest sign of pressure being applied to media firms.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to Disney on Friday notifying the firm, and its ABC News unit, of the plan.

He said the move had been prompted by concerns that the company was promoting diversity “in a manner that does not comply” with government regulation.

A spokesperson for Disney said the company is reviewing the letter.

“We look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.

The FCC’s investigation into Disney also comes amid a wider crackdown on DEI practices by the Trump administration, with impacts felt beyond the US.

French companies with US government contracts received a letter from the American embassy in France this week, asking them to sign on and comply with Trump’s executive order banning DEI programmes.

The order, the letter said, “applies to all suppliers and service providers of the US government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate.”

In a letter addressed to Robert Iger, the chief executive of Disney, FCC chairman Carr said he wants to ensure that the media company “ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name”.

He added: “I want to determine whether Disney’s actions – whether ongoing or recently ended – complied at all times with applicable FCC regulations.”

Carr has been a member of the FCC since 2017 and was named to lead the agency by Trump in November.

Since being appointed to the post, he has ramped up scrutiny of media firms, launching probes of NPR and PBS and demanding information from Big Tech companies including Apple and Google, about their use of services that influence how news articles get ranked.

The FCC also announced investigations of Verizon and Comcast and its media unit, NBCUniversal over their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Disney, best known for its cartoon classics and theme parks, made changes to its DEI policies earlier this year.

“While I have seen reports that Disney recently walked back some of its DEI programs, significant concerns remain,” Carr wrote in the letter.

“I want to ensure that Disney and ABC have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” he said. (BBC)

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Sex worker drama ‘Anora’ sweeps Oscars with five awards including best picture

The Academy Awards have taken place in Los Angeles, with Anora scooping the most honours, while Conclave, The Brutalist, Wicked and Emilia Pérez also took prizes.

Here is the full list of winners.

Best picture

WINNER: Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

I’m Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

Best actress

WINNER: Mikey Madison – Anora

Cynthia Erivo – Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez

Demi Moore – The Substance

Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

Best actor

WINNER: Adrien Brody – The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo – Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes – Conclave

Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

Best supporting actress

WINNER: Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown

Ariana Grande – Wicked

Felicity Jones – The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini – Conclave

Best supporting actor

WINNER: Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain

Yura Borisov – Anora

Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce – The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

Best director

WINNER: Sean Baker – Anora

Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez

Brady Corbet – The Brutalist

Coralie Fargeat – The Substance

James Mangold – A Complete Unknown

Best international feature

WINNER: I’m Still Here – Brazil

The Girl with the Needle – Denmark

Emilia Pérez – France

The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany

Flow – Latvia

Best animated feature

WINNER: Flow

Inside Out 2

Memoir of a Snail

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

Best original screenplay

WINNER: Anora – Sean Baker

The Brutalist – Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold

A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg

September 5 – Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David

The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

Best adapted screenplay

WINNER: Conclave – Peter Straughan

A Complete Unknown – Jay Cocks and James Mangold

Emilia Pérez – Jacques Audiard

Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes

Sing Sing – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Best original song

WINNER: El Mal – Emilia Pérez

Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late

Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez

Like A Bird – Sing Sing

The Journey – The Six Triple Eight

Best original score

WINNER: The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

Best documentary feature

WINNER: No Other Land

Black Box Diaries

Porcelain War

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Sugarcane

Best costume design

WINNER: Wicked

Nosferatu

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Gladiator II

Best make-up and hairstyling

WINNER: The Substance

A Different Man

Emilia Pérez

Nosferatu

Wicked

Best production design

WINNER: Wicked

The Brutalist

Dune: Part Two

Nosferatu

Conclave

Best sound

WINNER: Dune: Part Two

A Complete Unknown

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

Best film editing

WINNER: Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

Best cinematography

WINNER: The Brutalist

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

Maria

Nosferatu

Best visual effects

WINNER: Dune: Part Two

Alien: Romulus

Better Man

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Wicked

Best live action short

WINNER: I’m Not a Robot

Anuja

The Last Ranger

A Lien

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Best animated short

WINNER: In the Shadow of the Cypress

Beautiful Men

Magic Candies

Wander to Wonder

Yuck!

Best documentary short

WINNER: The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Death by Numbers

I Am Ready, Warden

Incident

Instruments of a Beating Heart 

(BBC)

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Going For Gold presenter Henry Kelly dies at 78

Journalist and TV presenter Henry Kelly has died aged 78, his family has announced.

Kelly was a journalist who later pivoted to light entertainment, hosting TV gameshow Game For A Laugh and Going For Gold in the 1980s and 90s.

He also presented programmes on BBC Radio 4, LBC and Classic FM.

In a statement, Kelly’s family said he “died peacefully” on Tuesday “after a period of ill health”.

“Henry will be sorely missed by his friends and family,” it continued, “including his partner Karolyn Shindler, their son Alexander, Henry’s daughter Siobhan and her mother Marjorie”.

Born in Dublin on 17 April 1946, Kelly started his journalistic career in newspapers.

He worked for The Irish Times in the 1970s during civil unrest and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

He left the newspaper and moved to London to join the BBC in 1976, working as a reporter and presenter for Radio 4’s The World Tonight.

But in 1980, aged 34, he left journalism to become a light entertainment presenter.

He went on to front ITV’s Game For A Laugh, and the first iteration of Good Morning Britain on TV-am, alongside Toni Arthur.

Game For A Laugh largely involved practical jokes and elaborate set-ups, often on members of the studio audience or filmed on location on unsuspecting members of the public.

Kelly also fronted lunchtime quiz show Going For Gold for 10 seasons from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

The theme tune for Going For Gold was composed by Hans Zimmer, who went on to become a hugely successful film and TV composer.

The show saw contestants from different European countries compete against each other to answer questions to win prizes.

Going For Gold was briefly revived in the late 2000s by Channel 5, presented by John Suchet.

Kelly later became one of the launch presenters of Classic FM and also hosted shows on speech station LBC, BBC Radio London.

He hosted a show on BBC Radio Berkshire for 10 years from 2005.

Speaking to Challenge TV about his memories of Going for Gold, Kelly – who almost missed the hosting audition as he was planning to play golf – noted how “the whole point” of the show “was that it was Pan-European”.

“We were the only people in this country at the time, and probably since, who were really European, and so we had contestants from all over Europe,” he said. (BBC)