Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation Earns North American TV Critics' Nomination
Anime fans, take note — Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation has officially caught the attention of North America's most influential television critics.
The Television Critics Association (TCA) announced the nominees for its 42nd Annual TCA Awards on Friday, June 12, and the Disney+ anime series earned a coveted spot in the Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming category. The winners will be revealed later this summer.
A Star-Studded Category
The nomination is no small feat. Twisted-Wonderland is competing against a formidable lineup that includes:
- Electric Bloom
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- Phineas and Ferb
- Stranger Things: Tales from '85
- Vampirina: Teenage Vampire
- Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
- WondLa
The TCA Awards cover the eligibility period of June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026, with over 220 professional television journalists from the United States and Canada casting votes. Making the shortlist in a category this competitive speaks volumes about how the show has resonated with critics across the continent.
This is also a big year for Disney overall — The Walt Disney Company racked up a total of 23 nominations across its various platforms at these awards.
What Is Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation?
If you haven't dived in yet, here's the quick pitch: this anime is a stylish, villain-flavored fantasy built on the bones of one of Japan's most beloved mobile games.
The story follows Yuken (Yu) Enma, an ordinary Tokyo high schooler who gets pulled through a magic mirror into Twisted Wonderland — a realm where history's most iconic Disney villains aren't the bad guys at all, but legendary heroes. These "Great Seven" figures inspired the seven dormitories of Night Raven College, a prestigious academy for aspiring sorcerers. Each dorm is themed after a classic villain: the Queen of Hearts, the Sea Witch, the King of Beasts, the Sorcerer of the Sands, the Fairest Queen, the King of the Underworld, and the Thorn Fairy.
Yu arrives with zero magic and zero context. He has to survive monster encounters, navigate the academy's intense dorm hierarchy, and figure out how to get back home — all while befriending first-year students Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade, and butting heads with the temperamental dorm leader Riddle Rosehearts.
Season 1 — subtitled Episode of Heartslabyul — premiered on October 29, 2025, exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu, and already has a three-season renewal confirmed.
Why This Nomination Matters
Twisted-Wonderland sits at a fascinating crossroads: it's an anime adaptation of a Japanese mobile game, produced by Aniplex and Walt Disney Japan, designed to appeal to both longtime game fans and Western audiences discovering the franchise for the first time. Getting a TCA nod in the Family Programming category puts it squarely alongside prestige live-action and animation juggernauts — and signals that the anime is breaking out beyond the core fandom.
For anime in general, these kinds of mainstream Western awards nominations are still relatively rare, making this recognition all the more notable. It joins two live-action series based on Japanese stories — Drops of God and Last Samurai Standing — also nominated this year in the newly introduced Outstanding International Series category, suggesting critics are increasingly paying attention to Japanese storytelling in a big way.
How to Watch
Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu. Season 1 features eight episodes, with the remaining seasons set to adapt the Episode of Savanaclaw and Episode of Octavinelle story arcs.
Whether you're a fan who's been with the game since day one or someone entirely new to the world of Night Raven College, this TCA nomination is the perfect excuse to finally check it out.