2025 ANIME TOP 10
[broadly accessible recs]
Ao no Hako (Blue Box)
rock solid romance/sports show. just really, really good all around
Ballpark de Tsukamaete! (Catch Me at the Ballpark!)
incredibly genuine ensemble workplace comedy/drama. does not look good pretty much ever but every little intertwining storyline is just absolutely lovely
Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite (Orb: On the Movements of the Earth)
orb! I bounce off nearly everything even vaguely historical flavored and I was enthralled with this one from start to finish
Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku (The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity)
another super solid romance. cute as hell
Maebashi Witches
this one kinda treads the line between accessible and spicy due to the weird idol/magical girl/tourism outfit it's wearing, but underneath that is some of the most empathetic, heartfelt writing and characterization of anything that aired this year. must watch
Medalist
not terribly well made most of the time but a very uplifting and encouraging sports story about chasing your dreams at your own pace and not falling victim to "but they did it faster than me :(" syndrome
2025 ANIME TOP 10
[broadly accessible recs]
Silent Witch: Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto (Secrets of the Silent Witch)
everyone loves the terrified autism squirrel
Takopii no Genzai (Takopi's Original Sin)
content warnings out the wazoo but if you're in the right headspace to handle something this heavy, it's an absolutely fantastic story about cycles of abuse
[spicy recs]
Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan (From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!)
you kinda need to be deep enough in the otaku swamp to be familiar with the fake genre "villainess" tropes and other game-y isekai nonsense it's riffing on to fully appreciate this, but it's an absolute joy if you can. it's earnest and genuine in a way so many of its predecessors simply aren't interested in being, and funny as hell at that
Apocalypse Hotel
deeply weird, frequently crude, and misses its swings as often as it hits, but still manages to be super charming. its peaks are just that high
Food Court de, Mata Ashita. (See You Tomorrow at the Food Court)
it's literally just two girls chatting over food for six episodes. not so secretly the spiciest recommendation on the list
GNOSIA
I don't like recommending something that hasn't finished airing yet but the last few episodes have been so outrageously strong I can't *not* encourage you to give it a shot. from the moment it was announced, I was convinced there was no way the adaptation could possibly be any good, and I've been proven wildly wrong at basically every step
2025 ANIME TOP 10
[spicy recs]
Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu (The Summer Hikaru Died)
trauma, loss, love, and a little bit of horror/mystery mixed in
Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show
wildly creative original anime ostensibly about washed up vtubers playing haunted video games against lovecraftian horrors and actually about the ways broader society expects gay people to acceptably perform their homosexuality and how about fuck that
Ruri no Houseki (Ruri Rocks)
don't let the horny veneer fool you. this is first and foremost a series about the joy of discovery and getting off your ass and *learning*, a wonderfully relevant message in the current [waves]
Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi (The Shiunji Family Children)
for the incest lovers. *fantastically* well made trash.
Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi (This Monster Wants to Eat Me)
it has no animation and even less direction, but the writing is so incredibly strong it still ends up being wildly compelling week by week. japanese mythology-flavored trauma centered around a trio of girls, none of whom are equipped to deal with the messes they either caused or found themselves in
2025 ANIME TOP 10
[sequels, you already know what you're getting here]
BanG Dream! Ave Mujica
Dr. STONE S4
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto S2
Re:ZERO S3 (second cours)
Shangri-La Frontier S2 (second cours)
Shoushimin Series (second cours)
Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru S2
Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu S2
Yofukashi no Uta S2
happy homo holidays!
and behold, my top 10 anime of 2025