To celebrate our 3rd anniversary, all members-only content debuting this week is free for one week! New members can also join for just $0.99/month for their first 3 months (save $15!) with code THREEYEARSOFPV.

Popverse's top stories of the day

• Updated: Sadly, you will never be able to read Andy Weir's 'The Last Algorithm,' one of multiple non-existent books recommended by the Chicago Sun-Times in major AI snafu
• MEMBERS ONLY: For Your Consideration: Before Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, we uncovered perfect spy movies in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Skyfall, and... Confessions of a Dangerous Mind?!?
• WATCH NOW: Remember the fantastical & the failures of SEGA's Dreamcast

It's been eleven years since Attack on Titan debuted on Crunchyroll, and the world simply has not been the same since. Now, according to Variety, the anime's pervasive effect on not just anime but on global pop culture in general will be celebrated by the platform itself, as Crunchyroll will present it with a brand new award at this year's Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

That award is the Crunchyroll Global Impact Award, which the streamer has clarified "may be awarded yearly to honor works and visionary creatives who have produced the anime series changing popular culture." 

"This year," says Crunchyoll's COO Gita Rebbapragada, "We’re proud to introduce the new Global Impact Award. We recently commissioned a study with National Research Group that explores just how important anime is to fans, especially Gen Z. For example, nearly 40% of teen anime fans consider anime a meaningful part of who they are, and 30% say it has influenced their outlook on life. The Global Impact Award will honor the series and films leaving a mark on culture and global fans alike."

Maybe we're biased after last year's AnimeNYC, but even though those numbers are certainly impressive, they're hardly surprising in light of the ever-growing amount of cosplayers, merch buyers, and fans that flood anime conventions just like that one. And we'd bet that, even if Attack on Titan isn't their absolute favorite example of the medium, most of that legion would agree there's no better way to kick off this award than by granting it to the series.

The 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards will be held Sunday, May 25 at 5PM Japan Standard Time, and will stream on Crunchyroll's YouTube and Twitch channels.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Why the finales of My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and One Piece feel like the end of an era in manga
• Why is One Piece more popular now that the anime is 25 years old? We asked around and found out
• Dan Da Dan is weird, profoundly inappropriate, and the perfect anime this season
• Why One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy is the perfect anime hero for the dark times ahead
• 40 years after its debut, Dragon Ball is a pop culture force like few others
• Dan Da Dan's most emotionally devastating sequence proves that sometimes words aren't necessary
• Gnosia, the "Among Us meets Everything Everywhere All at Once" visual novel is getting an anime adaptation that needs to be as weird as possible
• Assassination Classroom is a Shonen anime well worth revisiting, ten years on
• Sony is making big moves to own the anime industry by buying Kadokawa, publisher of Oshi no Ko, Sword Art Online, and Konosuba
• 2025 is the year One Punch Man season 3 finally adapts the cosmically weird Monster Association Arc and I can't wait