Hello everyone. I’m Kenalski, one of the hosts of the 2024 r/anime Awards, and I will be detailing our decisions regarding the changes that have been made since last year.

**Removing Cast**

The Cast category has historically had some issues with definition and discussion. In the past we’ve made attempts to define it as Ensemble Cast, focusing on anime that does not have a singular main character but instead a cast with equal screentime. This approach both narrowed down the eligible anime too much and wasn’t preferred by jurors. Meanwhile, using the traditional definition of Cast as any anime with good group dynamics and chemistry was too vague and often resulted in the category becoming “Anime of the Year That Happens to Have a Larger Cast”. Public votes were usually just any well recived anime with lots of characters, while jury discussions were limited in insight. Additionally, the vast majority of these anime received plenty of discussion related to their cast in the main and genre categories.

Due to the issues with both the narrow and vague definitions, we have decided to remove the Cast category. We are confident that anime with strong casts will still make themselves known in the other categories.

**Merging Comedic and Dramatic to Best Character**

The initial reasoning for splitting Comedic and Dramatic Character categories was that it felt awkward to directly compare characters serving very different purposes, often causing rifts between jurors. However, this split was introduced many years ago, and we believe the issues from back then can be managed with the experience we’ve gained. Additionally, the split led to confusion over what qualified as a “Comedic” or “Dramatic” character, often reducing jury discussions to which character was “most dramatic/comedic.” By merging the two, we aim to judge characters more holistically, including those not specifically focused on either drama or comedy.

Since we have removed Cast and merged the two remaining Character Categories, it no longer makes sense to keep the Character Grouping. As such, the last remaining Character category will join the Main Group which is also more prestigeful and will give it a better chance to stand out.

**Open Categories**

Two years ago, we introduced the concept of Open Jurors, allowing anyone to apply as a juror without committing to a specific category. This aimed to create a more casual Awards experience where participants could engage at their own pace. However, it created a bottleneck, as Open Jurors couldn’t easily join a category without hosts actively searching for potential members. Additionally, the nomination phase occasionally led to burnout due to the time required for watching shortlists, resulting in jurors dropping out altogether and forcing hosts to scramble to fill spots.

To address these issues and make the Awards a more conducive space for learning and discussion, we’re upgrading the Open Juror system. Genre and Production categories are now fully open for all jurors to join at any time. This way, jurors can decide which categories interest them most and manage their workload based on their own experiences, rather than just observing in the Awards Discord. We hope this initiative creates a more welcoming environment for new jurors to actively participate in the Awards.

**Shortlisting with Contracts**

In a bid to reduce juror workload during the Nomination Stage we have reduced the minimum watching requirements for shortlists. However, to still incentivize jurors for discussing and watching other jurors’ shortlists we have introduced the new concept of Contracts associated with shortlisting shows (exact details of the system are in the Jury Guide). This system ensures a fair distribution of the jury checks out all the shortlists while fostering a more engaging platform for jurors to exchange opinions about shows.

**10 Categories Per Juror**

With the new Open Category system, participating as a juror during the nomination stage should be a more casual experience for those who prefer it, as you can hop in and out of categories as you wish. Therefore, it makes sense to increase the number of available ones so jurors can try a bunch of different categories without needing to commit to a smaller amount. However, since the ranking stage remains unchanged from last year, the 5 category limit still applies there.

So to be clear, if I’m applying to a genre category I only need to answer one question? Will answering both questions improve the chances of me being accepted or will I only get credit for a single question?

Mewkledreamy Mix! is not a 2024 show and should be removed from “Pending Allocation”

Is the fall season not included because it runs until December which would be the end of the year anyway?

It’s not especially concerning because it doesn’t really matter to applications and I’m sure it’ll be a lot more clear once you’re actually in awards, but reading the detailed jury guide I find the attempted explanation of shortlists extremely confusing, I don’t really feel like I understand them at all. It kind of feels like it was written by someone taking for granted readers who haven’t participated before and don’t have pre-existing familiarity.

What’s the scope of a shortlist? Just like, my favourite shows? Every show I think deserves consideration? Why am I submitting multiple? Or is a “shortlist” as used in the documented just referring to an individual show I am shortlisting? That sounds like it makes more sense for some parts but it’s also referenced as “create *a* shortlist” and add shows to “the shortlist” so it sounds like it is a collective thing? There’s a whole detailed explanation of how shortlists are going to organized and contracted but it never stops to just define what it even means.

Genre thoughts for what I watched:

* Action: Agree.
* Adventure:
* Lv2 Kara: Romance. House was teleported once and they went to a hot springs once? Theme was *not* adventuring while chilling with the year’s #1 wolf waifu. *Looks at MAL/AniList and wonders how the covered material is adventuring.*
* Chiyu Mahou: Should be in comedy as there was little adventuring. Isekai -> training around capital (one trip to another location IIRC) -> action?
* Isekai Onsen Paradise: Uh, wasn’t this building a hot spring in one location with a new girl showing up every couple episodes? Probably comedy as I don’t associate fantasy worlds with SoL.
* SPY×FAMILY CODE: White: Probably comedy?
* Reincarnated as the 7th Prince: Action.
* Slime Isekai S3: No idea where to place this.
* Comedy: Mostly agree.
* Drama:
* Code Geass: Probably action or suspense.
* HIGHSPEED Étoile and MF Ghost S2: Action for the quantity of racing?
* Romance: Agree.
* SoL: I finished… four of these?
* Hime-sama, “Goumon” no Jikan desu: 100% comedy.
* Suspense: Couple I could argue are dramas but also understand wanting a roughly even distribution across categories, so debatable shows usually get placed here.