There are also additional categories. Here is the winner in each:
- Best Action Anime - Wistoria
- Best Adaptation - Days with My Stepsister
- Best Adventure - No Longer Allowed in Another World
- Best Animation - Wistoria
- Best Character Design - Makeine
- Best Comedy - No Longer Allowed in Another World
- Best Drama - Days with My Stepsister
- Best Fantasy - Wistoria
- Best Mystery/Suspense - Oshi no Ko
- Best Original - Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture
- Best Romance - Pseudo Harem
- Best Sci-Fi - NieR
- Best Couple - Alya/Masachika (from Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian)
- Best Slice of Life - Days with My Stepsister
- Best Soundtrack - Days with My Stepsister
- Best Storytelling - Days with My Stepsister
- Best Voice Cast - Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian
- Best World Building - Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest
- Best OP - My Deer Friend Nokotan (“Shikairo Days”)
- Best ED - Oshi no Ko (“Burning”)
- Best Boy - Kazuhiko Nukumizu (Makeine)
- Best Girl - Masha Kujou (Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian)
- Best Female Seiyuu - Hikaru Tono (Anna Yanami from Makeine)
- Best Male Seiyuu - Kouhei Amasaki (several shows including Days with My Stepsister, Alya, Wistoria)
Makeine is more like Alya in that they romantic comedies. Makeine is heavier on the comedy, with a heavy reliance on failed-romance to drive the comedy/plot forward. Alya has a more prominent non-romantic drama plot that runs alongside the romance/flirting. Both feed a bit into a basic male sexual fantasy (Alya more so, but episode 2 of Makeine had a pretty unnecessarily spicy scene).
Days with my Stepsister is more of a romance / coming-of-age story without much comedy and I feel like it doesn’t excessively feed into a sexual fantasy. There’s like 1 exception early-ish in the season, but even that kinda felt like the main purpose was to shake up the story, rather than getting the viewers horny.
That scene in episode two certainly felt unnecessary, maybe a service to the horny viewers. They manage to keep it somewhat believable, where most other shows typically fail to do so. I think the overly interested in the younger characters’ romance teachers is weirder than that scene, though I’ve met people like that and they aren’t even exaggerations.
Maybe I just relate to the MC. There’s a reluctance to romance that takes me back. Most other anime I’ve seen way over exaggerate it, or don’t play on it at all.
I appreciate your explanation.