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Tag: Hiroki Totoki

  • Crunchyroll’s 2025 anime awards go Global with big names and bold nominations

    Crunchyroll’s 2025 anime awards go Global with big names and bold nominations

    MUMBAI: Crunchyroll, has announced the nominees for the highly anticipated 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the ninth annual edition of the world’s biggest celebration of Japanese animation. Fans across the globe can cast their votes daily through April 14 via the official Anime Awards website, helping decide this year’s winners across a broad spectrum of categories.

    This year’s Anime of the Year contenders include Dan Da Dan, Delicious in Dungeon, Frieren, Beyond Journey’s End, Kaiju No. 8, Solo Leveling, and The Apothecary Diaries.

    Adding star power to the celebration, Crunchyroll has also revealed the first wave of celebrity presenters set to appear at the live event in Tokyo on Sunday, May 25. Among the first announced Stranger Things stars Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo, joined by international talents such as Damiano David (Måneskin), Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, Japanese pop culture stars, Vtubers, drag icons, and Youtubers like Gigguk.

    Additional confirmed presenters include,

    The star-studded presenter line-up for the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards features an exciting mix of global talent, including Japanese comedy duo Chocolate Planet, renowned actor and musician Dean Fujioka, and popular Japanese actors Kanata Hongo, Mayu Matsuoka, and Saya Ichikawa. Joining them are international stars such as Brazilian pop icon Pabllo Vittar, English professional boxer Ben Whittaker, Vtuber sensation Ironmouse, American singer-songwriter d4vd, British-Japanese artist Rina Sawayama, globally recognised drag star Plastique Tiara, and American-Chilean singer Paloma Mami.

    Sony group corporation president & CEO Hiroki Totoki will deliver the opening remarks at the live ceremony, hosted by voice actress Sally Amaki and popular entertainer Jon Kabira.

    “The Crunchyroll Anime Awards are one of the most important times of year for fans because we hear directly from them on what anime they love and get to honour the creative community behind that love,” said Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini.

    “Anime continues to deeply resonate emotionally with fans, and anime’s biggest night of the year is sure to invoke a lot of joy and pride amongst the anime community fans and creators alike. This year’s nominees represent more than 50 series and films developed by more than 35 talented studios.”

    To celebrate the awards, a selection of nominated titles is now available to stream for free on Crunchyroll. The Crunchyroll Store is also offering special discounts on related manga, merchandise, and collectibles.

    New this year, fans can cast votes directly via the Crunchyroll mobile app, with a convenient 1-click resubmit option. Voting closes on April 14 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time, and winners will be announced during the live ceremony and global livestream.

    The full list of nominees includes favourites across action, drama, romance, isekai, animation, character design, and performance categories, including several nods to Dan Da Dan, Solo Leveling, and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. Voice artist categories span multiple languages, including Japanese, English, Hindi, Arabic, French, and more highlighting anime’s truly global impact.

    The 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards will be held at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo, in collaboration with Sony Music Solutions Inc. and Dempsey Productions. 

  • Ravi Ahuja to replace Tony Vinciquerra as president & CEO at Sony Pictures Entertainment

    Ravi Ahuja to replace Tony Vinciquerra as president & CEO at Sony Pictures Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Now here is another executive of Indian descent taking on the top leadership position in a global company. Ravi Ahuja, who was Sony Pictures Entertainment’s (SPE’s) chairman of global television studios and SPE president & COO will take over as the company’s president & CEO effective 2 January 2025. He will replace SPE’s current CEO  Tony Vinciquerra who will remain in an advisory role for SPE as non-executive chairman until the end of December 2025.

    Ahuja will report to Sony group chairman &  CEO Kenichiro Yoshida and Sony group  president, COO &  CFO Hiroki Totoki. The announcement was made Sony Group Corp and  SPE today.

    “The extraordinary turnaround at SPE over the last 10 years would not have been possible without Tony’s deep experience and expertise in the entertainment space, his strategic vision and his outstanding leadership,” said Yoshida. “Under Tony’s watch, SPE became a critically important part of our efforts to maximize the value of our IP and find synergies across all our entertainment and technology businesses, and it remains a key driver in Sony group’s ongoing corporate strategies to lean further into the creative and entertainment spaces. I want to thank Tony for his years of dedication and leadership at SPE, and for his invaluable support across the group companies during his successful career at Sony.”

    Yoshida continued, “Since joining SPE in 2021, Ravi has been at the center of Tony’s leadership team, navigating the unprecedented challenges of today’s media and entertainment environment and positioning SPE for further growth. Ravi brings with him years of experience from his time at some of the world’s most successful entertainment companies, and we look forward to working more closely with him in his new role as president & CEO of SPE.”

    Vinciquerra joined SPE in June 2017, and has led the company’s dramatic turnaround with five consecutive years of increasing profit by strengthening of SPE’s film slate, reimagining SPE’s television businesses, and with aggressive M&A in key growth areas, such as anime with the acquisition of Crunchyroll in 2021.

    Vinciquerra’s strategic decisions to divest most of SPE’s international cable networks as that market began to deteriorate, and to not jump into the overcrowded streaming space with a general entertainment streaming service, has kept SPE profitable during a time of unprecedented industry change.

    In recent years, Vinciquerra led SPE through some of the entertainment industry’s most challenging events such as the COVID-19 epidemic and the historic combined SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of 2023, events which brought television and film production to a standstill. Despite these unprecedented events, SPE remains in a
    very strong and competitive position among its industry peers.

    “When I stepped into this role seven and a half years ago, I would’ve never imagined the extraordinary industry disruption and opportunity we’d face,” said Vinciquerra. “I’m filled with immense gratitude for this exceptional company and its profound legacy in Hollywood history. I’m consistently inspired by my brilliant and resolute colleagues. Together, against the odds, we achieved remarkable success and have consistently proven that this is a community built on passion and resilience. Thank you for making these past seven and half years the most gratifying of my career. My sincere appreciation goes to Kazuo Hirai for offering me this opportunity in 2017, and to Kenichiro Yoshida and Hiroki Totoki for their leadership and unwavering trust and support over the years. I have the utmost confidence that SPE will continue to thrive in the years ahead and know that Ravi is the right leader to take SPE forward.”

    Ravi Ahuja joined SPE in 2021 to oversee all production businesses for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and the studio’s India business as chairman of global television studios. SPT and its production companies produce several award-winning and acclaimed television series including The Crown, The Boys, Gen V, Cobra Kai, Better Call Saul, The Last of Us, Outlander, For All Mankind, The Night Agent, Twisted Metal, The Wheel of Time, S.W.A.T., The Good Doctor, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Shark Tank, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, 90 Day Fiancé, Octonauts, SuperKitties, and many more.

    Since joining SPE, Ahuja has also overseen SPE’s M&A activities, including the acquisitions of award-winning nonfiction entertainment company Industrial Media, leading UK production company Bad Wolf and VFX company, Pixomondo, as well as the sale of GSN Games to Scopely. 

    Prior to joining SPE, Ahuja was president of business Operations &  CFO of Walt Disney Television. Prior to that he was in positions of increasing authority, including CFO, at the Fox Networks group, and Virgin Entertainment group.

    “It is my privilege and honor to take the helm at SPE,” said Ahuja. “This is a special place — an iconic studio with an extraordinary 100-year history of storytelling. Thanks to Tony’s remarkable leadership, we have leading businesses with clear strategies and are set up for even greater success in the years to come. I am energized by the opportunities ahead and am lucky to work alongside thousands of talented colleagues around the world at SPE and at our Sony sister companies. I am grateful for Tony’s mentorship, guidance and friendship through the decades, and I thank Yoshida-san and Totoki-san for entrusting me with this important role.”

    Ahuja’s ascendancy to the top role at SPE comes at a time when there has been a change in leadership at Sony Pictures Networks India with NP Singh stepping down as CEO after a long successful stint and Star India executive Gaurav Banerjee taking up the role.