A while back I wrote a feature on the cycle of love and hate in anime where pretty much anything that gained momentum through hype and popular appeal then became scrutinised to death and soon the negative bandwagon would start rolling down the hill trying to obliterate everything in it’s path (okay, I wasn’t that melodramatic but it kind of feels like that’s where this post needs to go). Because today I want to look at the fallout of Crunchyroll’s recent popular vote.
At the time I was commenting on the sudden popularity of Yuri On Ice and how I hadn’t intended to jump on the hype train but after watching it I was kind of dragged along (and of course we all know what happened next, I fully got on board because it was fun to be there).
Anyway, toward the end of the post I said the following wondering what the aftermath for Yuri On Ice would be:
It will be interesting to see where the love/hate split for this anime ends up once the anime has ended. Will the series fail to maintain its standard but still keep those on the hype train sitting there? Will it falter so that those of us who came in out of curiosity (who aren’t totally in the fan category but are really enjoying it) start to pull more of the faults apart? Or will the hate bandwagon gain momentum and eventually win out? Or, will it actually be an incredible anime from start to finish?
I was kind of hoping that we’d end up in a happy middle with the major fans enjoying their fan moment, the rest of finding something to enjoy even as we picked at it, and the few haters throwing rocks from the sidelines. And though it may not seem like it, we have kind of ended up there.
After Crunchyroll announced the winners of their anime of the year awards (other than the anime of the year) the results were clear. Yuri won every category it was nominated for. The fans were thrilled, others were a little more guarded in their response, not disliking Yuri so much but also not convinced that it should have taken out so many awards, and some people were pretty annoyed.
The problem of having a popular vote rather.
What followed on Twitter was an explosion of tweets both positive and negative either supporting the vote or tearing the result apart, though some were fairly level headed.
Before we get to the tweets, I want to put my own thoughts out there. Yuri On Ice was my ‘best’ anime of the year but my selection was entirely based on entertainment value. And while I loved the animation (it was pretty) as a general rule other than something being visually appealing or not I don’t really care or comment on the technical side of anime because I am hopelessly unqualified to do so (I can’t draw stick figures let alone actually animate something).
Yuri On Ice also won my reader’s poll by one vote. As no one had to justify their votes I’m certain most of my readers just voted for what they enjoyed most from the year.
So was I happy that Yuri On Ice won a lot of awards? Absolutely. It shows the fans of the show were active during the voting and that it was loved by a lot of fans. Do I think that from a technical point of view Yuri should have won all of those categories? Probably not, but it wasn’t a technical score but a popular vote so all anyone can do is accept the outcome.
If you made one of the tweets below and want it removed from the post, please contact me and I will remove it. These have been chosen as examples of the range of opinions that were on display and are not intended to pass judgement on any individual’s opinion. Any inappropriate language has been crossed out.
I’m listening to the Yuri on Ice ending and it’s so beautiful it deserved winning best ending award! Thanks! ^^ #yurionice
IF ####### YURI ON ICE COULD WIN BECAUSE IT USED CHOREOGRAPHY WHY COULDNT ALL-OUT WIN THE ANIMATION AWARD FOR THE
#Crunchyrollanimeawards
yuri on ice is great but like it’s not great enough to win every anime of the year award? it was great but there were other amazing anime –
I’m still really upset that Yuri on Ice won the best animation of the year award instead of Mob Psycho but that won’t change anything
Okay which dumb### voted for Yuri on Ice to won most of the Crunchyroll award,get the #### out from my following list
I still can’t believe that Yuri on Ice has won so many undeserved award on Crunchyroll just because the fangirls are scary human beings
Congrat to Yuri!! On Ice
won almost every anime award!! I’m so happy
#teamviktuuri
I think this is reflective of the community at large, the issue being that those negative voice are getting louder and it isn’t the show they are criticising all of the time (which would be fine because there’s always some issues with a show you could point out) but there are a lot of posts attacking the fans of the show (and yes, I didn’t post some of the more offensive tweets I’ve come across because I don’t really want that sort of thing on my blog).
Amazingly enough in a popular vote, something that is popular (not necessarily good/or bad) will win. That’s a basic issue with awards being given through votes rather than some sort of criteria of selection panel (which is also able to become totally disconnected from the fans or just completely corrupt).
The other thing a lot of people haven’t considered is that for most categories people were given four choices that had already been selected (yes there was an other option but the likelihood of enough write in votes to overturn the options given is pretty low).
So the whole thing needs some perspective. These awards simply give the community a place to have their say about what they enjoyed, for whatever reason. Because it is a popular vote, whichever fandom has the most momentum at the time within the anime community is almost guaranteed to win. The only way for the results to be any different in a popular vote is for a concentrated PR campaign to mobilise other fandoms prior to the voting commencing and getting sufficient voter turn out. And at the end of the day, it’s an online poll of anime shows.
Your thoughts on the awards and the fall out?
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
In general, once you bring awards into the mix, viewers reactions tend to become more exaggerated. I’ve no idea why that is, as these aren’t really “awards” in any sense, and mean very little outside of the popular vote you mentioned. They certainly don’t mean something is objectively better than anything else.
There’s something about the word award that sets people off. With Yuri “winning” so much, odds are it’s going to end up being hated by the community in general just because it won so much.
After all, the only thing people love more than building something up, is tearing it down.
Yeah, my cynicism is showing, I know.
But it is true. As soon as something becomes popular people feel the need to tear it down to show how discerning their taste is because they don’t follow the popular masses. Oh well, I guess everyone needs a hobby.
Hipster mentality has become very in vogue lately. Why, I have no idea.
You’re too square, man 8)
I really am. 😀
I think YoI deserved the awards it got, maybe not all 100%, but considering we rarely see a frankly LGBT anime even get near enough to get votes, much less win, I’m super thrilled.
I realize fans were pissed their fave didn’t win, but it’s why I said that if YoI had lost I wouldn’t care. I’m happy it did, it shows that it matters. Diverse cast, beliefs, races, sexualities, matter and were a strength for this show.
Plus we also got to realize that not everyone watches all the anime’s in every season or year.
Tbh, I didn’t even vote, didn’t even known about CR awards until the shitstorm hit 😹😹😹
While I agree that the negative voices of fans who don’t enjoy a show are getting louder, I think there’s also something to be said for fandoms shunning those who don’t enjoy their series getting worse as well. I saw quite a lot from the YOI fandom calling people who didn’t like the show homophobic or narrow minded, basically saying they just can’t stand a show because it has gay guys in it. That’s a problem just as much as the haters saying that no one would care about this show if it was a straight couple or two girls. It’s getting to the point where basic discussion can’t even be considered because everyone gets so up tight and so wound up about their opinions.
And at the end of the day, that’s all any of this is. Someone’s opinion. If you think something was more deserving, make your own list or write your own article. I would love to hear a genuine discussion about why other shows were better than YOI if only for the fact that I’m curious to see what people who didn’t enjoy the show (for legitimate reasons, let me clarify) would have to say. I miss the days where fans could be fans and just talk about the things they enjoyed.
True. Fans who won’t hear crtiicism or take legitimate criticism or conversation as a personal attack makes having an actual dialogue just as difficult as people who are actually attacking the show. Whatever your opinion is you need to at least accept that it isn’t the only opinion even if you disagree with others there should be basic respect for their right to have an opinion and to be a part of a respectful conversation.
Very good point.
Honestly, maybe it didn’t deserve the best animation awards and many others, but it was popular choice awards, and of course, it’s bound to win. One way or the other, this anime tugged on people’s heart in a way few did this year, even if there were lots of faults. Because along with the mistakes there were so many things done right in the show.
As with pretty much any award show or event, it will almost always be surrounded with controversy. What is liked by some, is not liked by others and voice versa. I honestly don’t mind these events, and think they are great fun. That said, I always form my own opinion on things anyway, as a show or movie getting a lot of awards doesn’t always mean that I like it 😊
When I first looked to see what shows were nominated for the Anime Awards and saw that Yuri on Ice was in so many of those categories, I knew that most of them were probably going to be won by that show. And I was not wrong lol.
As far as I’m concerned, I’ve yet to actually start the show (along with other shows of that season I never got around to watching). I, of course, wished that Luluco got more love, but I will be content with Erased getting one category win. Even with that, I’m not that upset over Yuri on Ice sweeping the rest, I expected it to happen.
This is Crunchyroll’s first year doing the Anime Awards, and I hope they got some good experiences and some things to learn for next time. I’d love for them to continue doing it for future years.
I’ve seen a number of posts about the Crunchyroll Awards recently and most of them were negative. I like how yours adopts a neutral take. To me, it seems ridiculous to be angry when a popular show won by popular vote. The YoI fandom’s been everywhere recently and I’m not surprised that it shows in the results. Attacking fans and calling them names for voting for something they loved is pretty low.
I think it is easy to stay neutral on this when right from the start you don’t expect anything else from a vote other than a popularity contest. While it might be nice for the awards to have been something else, in the format they were in, that’s all they were.
hey, im just content to sit on the sidelines and watch the salt-fest. truly it’s a treat. i still dont get why anyone would think those awards mean anything…it’s not like were picking a president or anything.
overall my reaction has been simple:
> expecting people to vote logically in 2016
True. This was one of the more predictable votes over the last 12 months.
As you’re already aware I don’t care for Award Shows or their results in the slightest. I view these things for Anime in a similar light as the Academy Awards and the Oscars in film.
The panels are always comprised of individuals who have a very limited knowledge and perspective on the medium and a lot of the voters are basing their picks based on what they liked, which normally correlates with what’s most popular.
Am I a little disappointed that Yuri!!! On Ice won so many categories? Sure. Am I mad about it? No. Why would I be? It means nothing to me, and I did my own Awards of 2016 for that very reason.
The fans on both sides are being far too toxic about this. Haters are bashing the fans because they’re butt hurt and some of the die hard YOI fans are jeering like immature babies because their show “won”.
*sight* It’s all so sad. People should know better than to care so much about these silly things that have no bearing on anything significant.
Great post that sums it all up nicely, and props for keeping the negativity out of the post. We could all use less of that.
It’s the overreactions to the awards that hurt because it really does make getting into anime just that little bit harder when the negativity around fandom gets such a public display.
I have no problem with Yuri on Ice winning all of the categories that it was nominated for, because it must have done something right for the fandom to get such a huge momentum and that is why it won as you said. I really liked Yuri on Ice myself, but I was specially impressed with the first half of the series because of the beautifully animated skating scenes.
But the animation took a noticable hit later in the season (I am guessing that the budget was getting a little short) which was really disappointing to me since I am a big fan of good animation. So in my opinion Yuri on Ice deserved everything it won except Best Animation. But I’m a big animation nerd, so I might be a little biased haha!
I’m interested what your choice would have been for best animation? It’s something I don’t pay too much attention to unless it is actually pretty bad and distracting (or in the case of the opening episodes of Yuri On Ice, really good).
Sure, from the nominated ones I would give it to Flip Flappers. While not as good as Yuri on Ice at it’s highest, it was still very well animated, had a interesting and vibrant style and it was very consistent when it came to quality.
But if we’re talking about all of the shows that came out in 2016, then I would give it to Tales of Zestiria The X. Take the things I said about Flip Flappers, that being quality, style and consistency and turn them up to eleven! That show was animated by Studio UFOTABLE and it shows from how good the show looked. Too bad I didn’t find the story as good though.
Let’s just say it had more style than substance!
Yeah, I knew from the get-go that Yuri On Ice was going to take a lot of those awards (mainly because the fandom is still fresh in their minds) and there was going to be outrage, considering the voting system is more aligned with something like the People’s Choice or the MTV Movie Awards.
As for YOI winning the majority of everything, I knew it was inevitable and I just accepted it.