Hal Rayner

The Weeknd will present the Anime of the Year award at the Anime Awards 2026 in Tokyo 🏆 “When I was first introduced to anime, I was a child. Sailor Moon was one of my first crushes, Goku my first imaginary sparring partner, and “One More Time” by Daft Punk was a song and music video I couldn’t get out of my head. But it wasn’t until my teenage years that one specific anime changed me forever and became part of the fabric of my early career: Samurai Champloo by Shinichirō Watanabe. It was the first time I experienced two of my favorite mediums—anime and hip hop—blending so seamlessly that it completely reshaped the way I watched film and listened to music. The fusion of a samurai story told with auteur precision, paired with the sounds of Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Force of Nature was nothing short of transformative. That influence stayed with me all the way through the creation of House of Balloons, where I wrote “The Morning,” “Glass Table Girls,” and “Loft Music” over Nujabes’ instrumentals. Without Watanabe and Nujabes, House of Balloons simply wouldn’t exist. Samurai Champloo opened my eyes to a more mature world of anime and helped shape my visual DNA. The works of Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, and Katsuhiro Otomo became foundational to the look and feel of The Weeknd. So it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be here without anime. It’s an honor to celebrate the artists behind it and a medium that continues to inspire the world.”