What is Frieren? Highest-rated anime that beat Solo Leveling, Dandadan with 29 Crunchyroll nods in 2025

Solo Leveling was expected to dominate the 2025 Crunchyroll Awards, but a slow paced anime swept the show with 29 nominations.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | April 13, 2025 03:45 PM IST

3 min read

Frieren beats Solo Leveling with record nods.

Solo Leveling stood out as one of the biggest animes of 2024, and the web novel written by Chugong was expected to dominate Crunchyroll’s ninth annual Anime Awards, scheduled for May 25. But even the platform’s marketing push for the anime didn’t help. The nominations turned out to be a major upset for Solo Leveling’s fans, as a new contender quietly overtook the craze around Sung Jin Woo and swept the nominations with a massive 29 nods, becoming the most nominated title of the year. The anime is called Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. And that’s not the only blow, several other titles managed to surpass the South Korean manhwa as well.

Frieren tops Crunchyroll awards nominations

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a Japanese fantasy anime that’s unlike the usual action and battle-packed titles. The manga is written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe. It’s actually a pretty emotional and slow-paced story. Right now, it’s the highest-rated anime on MyAnimeList. It follows an elf mage named Frieren, who once helped defeat the Demon King. But the story picks up after the victory. Now, she’s on a journey filled with memories, regrets, and reflections, especially after the death of one of her old teammates, Himmel. Critics and fans have called it a masterpiece. It even managed to beat Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood on MyAnimeList. Is Season 2 on the cards? Definitely. It’s going on floors in 2026.

The anime snagged an impressive 29 nods, including heavy-hitter categories like Anime of the Year, Best Drama, Best Animation, Direction, Character, Score, and more. That’s more than any other anime released in 2024. Dan Da Dan got 22 nominations.

Also read: Next Solo Leveling? This anime adaptation is leading Crunchyroll’s spring 2025 release

What happened to Solo Leveling?

Solo Leveling Season 2 recently wrapped up, and when producer Atsushi Kaneko said that Season 3 renewal clearly depends on fan support, we think this is exactly what he meant. Because despite the hype and being labelled the anime of the season, Solo Leveling only got 13 nominations—which is less than Kaiju No. 8, Delicious in Dungeon, and even The Apothecary Diaries, which either beat or tied it. To be fair, Solo Leveling didn’t flop at all. It’s still huge on Crunchyroll. But as much as fans loved it for its flashy characters, intense battles, and arcs, they hailed others for being the total package.

But then again, the decision lies with the fans. Fan can vote at Crunchyroll’s site until 11:59 pm PDT on April 14. The award show will take place on May 25, live from Tokyo, with hosts Sally Amaki and Jon Kabira returning. It’ll have international stars presenting awards, including Stranger Things actors Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo.

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