Crunchyroll Anime Awards Adds BamBam, TEN, Young Miko as Presenters
The addition of four mainstream music artists from K-pop, Latin, and contemporary genres signals Crunchyroll's continued push to position the anime awards as a crossover pop culture event rather than a niche industry ceremony.
Reporting from 2 sources: Niche Gamer (Anime), Animehunch.
Crunchyroll announced four new celebrity presenters for the 10th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, set for May 23, 2026, in Tokyo. The additions are Thai K-pop artists BamBam and TEN, contemporary musician Ethan Bortnick, and GRAMMY-nominated Puerto Rican recording artist Young Miko. They join a previously announced lineup that includes The Weeknd, RZA, Asuka Saito, and Winston Duke. The ceremony will be hosted by entertainer Jon Kabira and voice actress Sally Amaki, with a pre-show co-hosted by Gigguk. The event will feature performances by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Yoko Takahashi, and Asian Kungfu Generation. The livestream will be available on Crunchyroll's Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube channels, as well as Sony Group Corp's YouTube channels, in nine languages. Sony Music Solutions Inc. and Dempsey Productions are supporting execution.
The four new presenters each bring distinct musical backgrounds. BamBam is a Thai-born rapper from the K-pop group GOT7 who has worked as a solo artist since 2021. TEN, a member of NCT and WayV, debuted solo in 2024 with "Nightwalker" and topped iTunes Albums in 19 countries with his 2025 EP "Stunner," which Billboard named one of the year's best K-pop songs. Ethan Bortnick is a pianist and songwriter whose singles "cut my fingers off" and "engravings" have earned over 135 million Spotify streams. Young Miko has over 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 21 million followers across social media.
The previously announced presenter lineup includes The Weeknd, RZA, Asuka Saito, Rashmika Mandanna, and Winston Duke. The pre-show, co-hosted by Gigguk, starts at 5:00 p.m. Japan Time on May 23, with the main ceremony at 6:00 p.m. Japan Time. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra will perform symphonic suites with Conductor Hirofumi Kurita and Composer/Arranger Kazunori Miyake. The livestream will be available in nine languages: English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, and Latin Spanish.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Niche Gamer (Anime) 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards adds more celebrity presenters
- Animehunch Crunchyroll Anime Awards Levels Up With New Celeb Hosts