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Monster Hunter, Super Smash Bros., Detective Conan Film Win at at Twitter Trends Awards 2018
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Every year, the Twitter Trend Awards give out a prize to the most-tweeted words on the social media platform. Last year, Kemono Friends was dubbed Anime of the Year, leading to director TATSUKI accepting the award while wearing a penguin suit.
This year's awards kicked off on Wednesday night with recipients ranging from Popuko and Pipimi to Virtual YouTubers. Popular VTuber Kaguya Luna appeared to announce the top five Twitter Trends. There was plenty of otaku culture on display but the #1 tweeted topic was this year's World Cup. Japan's Samurai Blue team was supported by its fans, including the Captain Tsubasa anime series.
Second place went to CAPCOM's Monster Hunter game franchise. The video game series is inspiring a Hollywood live-action movie adaptation that recently finished filming. The Monster Hunter Stories RPG mobile game launched in the U.S. this year after previously debuting in Japan in December 2017. The Monster Hunter: World game also remains popular with new expansions in the works and numerous awards to its name.
Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game for the Nintendo Switch console took fourth. The latest entry in the fighting game is the U.S.'s fastest-selling Switch game and the most pre-ordered Switch game and Super Smash Bros. game yet.
The box-office smashing Detective Conan: Zero's Executioner film came in fifth. The movie earned over 11 billion yen worldwide and spawned a new fandom based around the character Tōru Amuro. It is one of the top-selling home video releases in Japan for 2018.
Singer Namie Amuro was awarded eighth place under the tweeted nickname "Amuro-chan." The One Piece and Inuyasha theme singer retired this year.
Pop Team Epic was lucky number 13 and Popuko and Pipimi appeared on stage to acknowledge their award. The animation duo AC-bu also attended to give a live performance of the series' "Hellshake Yano" sequence.
The name "Jeanne," a reference to the character from the Fate/Grand Order mobile game came was 14th at the Twitter Trend Awards. The character was central to an event in the game this summer that involved making dojinshi.
Finally, in 16th place was "Koopa-hime" or "Bowsette" as she was called during her short-lived but fervent meme status. Its explosive growth also earned Bowsette the "Steering Committee Special Award."
The ceremony also acknowledged the VTuber trend with the "Pick Up Award." VTuber Kizuna Ai was the most talked about this year. The Game of the Year award went to Monster Hunter: World and the Anime of the Year was handed to Conan and Tōru Amuro for Detective Conan: Zero's Executioner .
Other trending terms from Twitter Japan's top 20 include "Follower" (#3), Hanyu-kun (#6), Draft (#9), and King & Prince (#10).
Source: Netlab, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
