For more than twenty years running I’ve been trying to sample every new anime broadcast in Japan each year. In my perspective, 2016 to 2018 was a three-year span that produced a lot of new titles yet few spotlight masterpieces. 2025 may conclude a similar three-year span. Two of the most highly praised broadcasts this year, Lord of Mysteries & To Be Hero X, were not Japanese-produced anime. Several of the finest broadcasts of the year were continuations of 2024 titles, including Ore dake Level Up na Ken & Dandadan. But that’s not to say that 2025 didn’t debut any of its own exceptional releases.
The criteria I’ve used to count “new” broadcast anime has been consistent for decades. Streaming counts, but theatrical releases are excluded. Shows that continue episode numbering from earlier seasons are excluded. Foreign productions dubbed into Japanese language are excluded. And, of course, shows that premiered in 2024 or earlier are excluded. With those criteria in mind, I counted 243 new titles. I’m very fortunate to have watched at least the first episode of all 243 of them (although I barely edged in Haai! Myaku-Myaku desu with ten-minutes remaining in the year.) I’m also excluding Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Deluxe-hen & Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Deluxe Kesshou-hen as “new” series although they debatably do meet my criteria as “new” titles.
Thematically Apocalypse Hotel is about non-humans gradually developing “humanity.” After the extinction of humanity, the robot staff of the Gingarou Hotel continues operating the empty lodging for centuries until intergalactic aliens begin visiting the establishment. Through their shared experiences and over hundreds of years, the robot and alien staff become family and learn the human values of loyalty, compassion, and sacrifice. Along the thousand-year journey, the show exposes the cast and viewers to every variety of comic absurdity imaginable. Especially because the cast isn’t bound by human limitations, the characters undergo extreme, crazy experiences that get animated for great laughs. After an initial one-or-two-episode slow start to establish the cast and setting, the show indulges in golden age style hijinks, letting animators go wild with elaborate action set-pieces and absurdist, creative scenarios. The show is simply joyous to watch because it’s having so much fun with itself.
The short Netflix series Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 can be criticized for relying on cliché scenarios, but as told to us by the Book of Ecclesiastes, there’s “nothing new under the sun.” The excellence of the Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 anthology lies in its artistry. The episodes are consistently lushly and often stylistically animated. Moreover, each episode is a wildly different viewing experience. Seven of the eight episodes have some sort of sci-fi or fantasy theme, but all of them are affecting and interesting. Every minute of the series is captivating, constantly surprising viewers with shifts in tone, genre, and approach, ranging from sweet first love to gruesome ultra-violence, aspirational drama to apocalyptic tragedy, domestic abuse to repaired relationships. And many of the episodes swing from one pole to the other, giving viewers a wild viewing experience.
Illustrated childhood trauma is often the equivalent of award-bait. Yet I still have to credit Takopii no Genzai with the audacity to dive headfirst into the deep end of child trauma and abuse. The show may be called manipulative and tearjerker, but it has the dignity to deliver its story with heartfelt sincerity. The contrast between the cheery mascot alien Takopii and the despairing children seems like a laughable contrast, but the story uses the contrast meaningfully to hammer home its point with sledgehammer ferocity. The show is tough viewing and can be criticized as being emo-porn. But it deserves and earns admiration for its willingness to be unabashedly intense and harsh.
A few more titles fell narrowly short of achieving “best of the year” status. But I’d still like to mention them.
Oide yo Mahou Shoujo Mura (Fuhou Senkyo) went largely overlooked because it’s a crudely illustrated series of short web cartoons. But the cynicism of this magical girl parody makes even Madoka Magica seem happy by comparison. “Welcome to Magical Girl Village (Illegally Occupied)” is a pitch black comedy revolving around alcoholism, mass murder, and experiences that drive the cast into literal insanity. And the greatest terror is that these hopeless, deprived, and displaced hobos are so lethally powerful that the rest of humanity must helplessly pray that the magical girls don’t destroy the world. The primary flaw with this bleak yet hilarious absurdist existential comedy is its absolute lack of an ending.
A weak ending also compromises Kowloon Generic Romance. Although based on a 2019 manga, the story could easily be mistaken for a late golden era production by Rintaro. The mysterybox story does reveal its answers; however, after a lengthy, languid, fascinating escalation, the climax and resolution occur with breakneck speed that breaks the tone of the show and feels highly unsatisfying.
Food Court de, Mata Ashita is another 2025 show that’s very easy to overlook, for good reason. This slice-of-life program is only six episodes, and 99% of it occurs in a single location, a shopping mall food court. But the more time viewers spend eavesdropping on the mundane conversations between high school girls Wada & Yamamoto, the more viewers come to know about them. Yamamoto appears to be a superficial and thoughtless gyaru. But viewers gradually come to know her as a deeply considerate, loyal, and thoughtful person. Wada is easily mistaken for being prim and proper, a virtual Yamato Nadesico, yet she’s actually jealous, narcissistic, and petty. And more, she knows she has a rotten personality and, at some level, despises herself for her own flaws. Food Court de, Mata Ashita is absolutely not a show for viewers seeking flashy excitement or action. It’s a placid series about empathizing with others by simply listening to them. Unfortunately, as a narrative entertainment, while viewers do learn more about the characters, the story ends where it began.
I’m not going to discuss the worst new anime of 2025. There’s educational value in categorizing and discussing bad anime, but such is not the purpose of this article. I will say, however, that I’m confused by the number of critics whom I’ve seen claim that Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu has “beautiful animation” or is “beautifully animated.” I’ll concede that the show has a stylistic visual design. But it’s not well animated. Clearly the show had a very limited production budget. Its animation is low frame rate and frequently jerky. The show smartly uses plenty of still frames and artistic compositions to distract attention from its limited animation.
