Popverse's top stories

• DC Comics cancels Red Hood comic book series
• Simon Kinberg on writing X-Men movies, producing Glenn Powell's The Running Man remake, and co-creating Star Wars Rebels [Popversations]
• Better angels and online demons: A trip down the rabbit hole of Downton Abbey fandom

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... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic