Twitch is set to livestream the Crunchyroll Anime Awards on February 24. Ahead of the event, Crunchyroll’s Twitch channel will host a 2017 anime marathon to get everyone who didn’t spend the year watching new anime up to speed.
Starting at 9 AM PST on February 22 in the US only, the marathon will include shows nominated for a Crunchyroll Anime Award. If you tune into the Twitch channel that day, you might see series that debuted this year like The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, or Kemono Friends among several others.
The award show, meanwhile, will be available to Twitch viewers all over the world. The live performance will take place at 7 PM PST at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood and will feature several high profile (at least, in the anime world) guests. Christopher Sabat, the voice behind Dragon Ball Z’s iconic character Vegeta, will appropriately receive an Industry Icon award (Sabat has also worked on anime shows like Fullmetal Alchemist and Fairy Tale). Other notable attendees include Freddie Wong of YouTube channel RocketJump fame and the Green Bay Packers’ Mike Daniels, who has a noted interest in anime. Check out his cosplay chops at 2017’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Together, Crunchyroll — which distributes manga, drama series, and other East Asian content in addition to anime — and Amazon-owned Twitch have come up with a Twitch video player extension that will let viewers vote on who they think is going to win each Anime Awards category. The votes won’t change the outcome, but they should encourage increased viewer engagement and maybe some low-level gambling.
To promote the awards show, Crunchyroll and Twitch will allow other broadcasters on the platform to co-stream the event. Twitch has used this feature to spread the world about big events and award shows in the past, dating back to the 2015 Game Awards and Twitch’s own Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) coverage. Since co-streamers can also make their own comments alongside the footage, big Twitch personalities can throw in their two cents and provide an extra draw for viewers who may be more interested in the personalities than the awards show.
You can get tickets to attend the Crunchyroll Anime Awards at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre here.
