Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - December 31, 2025

So I've been watching both Trigun (2000) and Hyper Police, a little-known series from 97, again. This time around, with my ear tuned to her voice, I think I may have identified one of the cast members for Hyper Police, which never had good documentation on the english dub.

Natsuki Sasahara, the lead catgirl from Hyper Police, sounds identical to the character Stefany Bostok from the 4th episode of the original Trigun.

Based on this, I am theorizing that the voice actress who played Stefany, identified as Dyanne DiRosario, may have also played Natsuki.

Year is coming to an end and decided to put out a quick top 10.

1. Catch Me At The Ballpark

2. Takopi

3. Kusuriya S2

4. Apo Hotel

5. I Have A Crush At Work

6. Tasokare Hotel

7. Shoushimin S2

8. Ruri Rocks

9. Anne Shirley

10. Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty

Honourable mentions: City The Animation, The Summer Hikaru Died, Umamusume Cinderella, Dekin No Mogura and COTN S2.

Really weak year for romance, I would say.

> This is the place!

Who’s this cutie?

Need the world to stop for like 2 weeks for me to catch up to fall shows.

[](#thoughtful)

Any idea when kakuryo no Yadomeshi is starting the second half? or was it just a single core this time?

As today we farewell this year I'm sharing my Top 10 titles for the year.
[Image at Imgur](https://imgur.com/gallery/top-10-anime-of-2025-ryVNLwq)

I do hope the manga Last Game is adapted to anime some day. With so many older shoujo manga getting new adaptations or new seasons, it would be great to see this one animated. It's one of my favorite romance mangas.

Honestly Im kind of struggling with my top 10 this year because I have too many shows that are way too close to each other, but here goes my tentative list for now:

1. Apothecary Diaries Season 2

2. Re:Zero Season 3

3. Solo Leveling Season 2

4. Silent Witch

5. Takamine-san

6. Bad girl

7. Arifureta

8. Stunned Hero

9. Beheneko

10. Sentai Red

Honorable mentions: Orb, 100 Girlfriends, Rent-a-Girlfriends and Call of the Night, which barely didnt make it, as well as Dark History Villainess, which I might put on there once I finish it.

[](#mugiwait)

Though I still have like 90% of fall shows to finish, so.

[](#yuishrug)

*Catch Me at the Ballpark* is surprisingly good. Love the characters and the true Slice-of-Life vibes, even if the production is fairly plain. I at least somewhat regret sleeping on it so long, but at least that’s been rectified now.

Man I really wish Pony Canyon's trailers are just Pony Canyon being stupid and not an indication of the anime, cause today's Chained Soldier [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8eE2UaNc3E) is also extremely mediocre.

Out of a 36 second trailer, less than 1 second is dedicated the Queen calling (you) her dog.

[](#kaguyasigh)

I've noticed that more and more, new remastered anime, editions, and distributions of anime and manga are being done by VIZ, which seems to be gaining more and more prominence. I know that Viz is a licensing company owned by the two big Japanese publishers, basically their division in the US.

Is there any equivalent in the European Union/UK/Europe? (Yes i know Crunchyroll exists).

And for Europeans, don't you all think there's a need for a distribution company in Europe, or simply to improve accessibility and centralize distribution more? Because Europe is very diverse, which makes it a much more complicated and disorganized market than the US. For example, sometimes if you want to buy a DVD that only Germany has, its most likely in German dubbed and subbed, not even English subs. Also, for example Crunchyroll despite all European countries of the EU, despite being on a single political Union, have shows that arent available in other EU countries. I know there was Kazé for example, which was absorbed by Crunchyroll. USA, they have a big population all speaking on a same language, is much more easy to invest and distrubute, for example, discotekmedia is awesome on that department, announcing Naoki Urasawa Monster on Bluray, to find that in Europe from what ive seen its a German edition and dubbed and subbed in German (kinda makes sense with the story lmao).

And no, im not asking EU to take action and make a continent political move for weebs have acess to anime. Im just discussing how the European market is... Messy and frustrating.

Doesnt help Japan is complicated to do bussiness. You think in the future, now that Anime is... More mainstream i guess? There will be some changes in the European market or some future company rising?

I think from what ive seen, the best distributor in Europe is the UK (Spain is a underrated one, specially with classical animes, too bad if someone from Sweden wants to buy it and they dont speak or read spanish they wont buy it).

I don't think I will be finishing anything else this year, so here is my [ranking of every Anime I've watched this year](https://i.imgur.com/dEz1ZOq.png).

I should maybe finally get around to watching Reze Arc & Overlord: The sacred kingdom so I can have 2 movies ive seen for the awards.

[](#thoughtful)

Well at the very least it seems like the kaguya-special is not quite the end yet.

Did you ever stop watching an anime because the subs were so blatantly different from the original dialogues? I started watching Medalist a few days ago and I noticed from the very get go some very relevant discrepancies, apparently this is because the subs are based on the English dubs and dubs tend to require more slack in the transposition from a language to another. I can understand that to a certain extent. For the most part I found it a bit jarring but tolerable... until near the end of episode 2.

"motto jouzu ni naritai" (I want to improve even more) became "I want to be the best in the whole entire world"

"hountouni umaku ni naritai" (I really want to become good) became "literally. I want to be number one".


This change turned a very meek and insecure girl into an overambitious brat. I just couldn't watch beyond that.

To maybe elaborate on my thoughts from yesterday, with now 56 episodes under my belt (only 1100 more to go!) here’s my more collected thoughts on *One Piece* thus far.

I think saying *One Piece* is “good” for the start is a fair assessment, but I think my bar for “good” is a bit lower than most, and there’s certainly an argument to be had that there is a certain level of “good” one must reach to really justify expecting someone to continue through hundreds of episodes worth of opportunity cost. As to whether OP reaches that level is something I’ll determine when I’m a little further in.

Early OP definitely shows its age in a lot of places. The early parts do kind of have their own charms from a production standpoint, and some pretty decent shots do slip in there, but it is a late-90s/early-00s show and not the most highly produced one at that. Animation is fine in places and laughably bad in others. 

I think East Blue is (all things considered, and partially with the knowledge of where the series is going) a fairly weak opening arc. That might be my modern Shounen brain talking, but it didn’t need to be ~50 episodes long when it’s basically the drawn out version of what most shows go through in 12. I know the live-action cut down the time considerably, and I’d hope *The One Piece* does the same. A lot of the character writing is fairly basic and it has neither a strong immediate hook like *Bleach* or YYH or a brisk pace like HxH to get through what is usually the least interesting part of the story.

The pacing is already a little alarming, and I’m hoping (without having read the manga) that this is just Oda’s inexperience at play here in the manga, and not worrying signs of what’s to come. There’s a ton of characters just standing around, and the slow passage of time can make a scene where, for example, Luffy is drowning seem way longer than it should to maintain believability. Agency is really not a strong suit of the series here. This also leads to large swaths where characters will just disappear from the plot while still being physically present. I hope things do improve, but I’ve also seen the pacing charts.

Lastly, I think Luffy is… kind of weak as an MC. There are two types of MC that work in a Shounen series. Either a character who can carry the plot by themselves like Ichigo or Yusuke, or one whose stubborn idealism is a sounding board for the rest of the characters to stand in contrast to (think Gon or later Senku). Luffy seems to be the latter, but just lacks the opposition to make the character work, not to mention he seems to do a lot of standing around before spontaneously just bursting into action. From my understanding this will improve with time, at least I hope.

Now I have ragged a lot on East Blue here, but I don’t want it to be all negative. There are glimmers of hope after all. When Oda is starting to flesh out the world, it is fairly interesting and honestly I’d wish we’d get more standalone episodes or smaller plots to give us more of this in these early bits. I know OP fans will brag that “it doesn’t have filler” but I think it actually would have done the series well to have some *Pokemon*-style episodes early on to flesh out the setting and allow the main arcs to have a little more room to breathe. If any Shounen could get away with it, it would be OP. Hell, I think the beginning and end of these early arcs are arguably more interesting than the (kind of drawn out) fights for their implications in the bigger picture.

Lastly, and I’ll try to keep this quick, OP is remarkably easy to binge. Like I’ll run into the issue with some shows where I enter “the Zone” while working on something and be taken out because the show I’m watching or podcast I’m listening to ends and I’ve got no alternative lined up. Having such a large episode sink sure does make the time fly, and for everything I said against it, I find myself having to force myself to finish the other shows I need to finish it only because it’s just easy to put on OP and let it play. For everything I can say about the “artistic value” of EB, I can absolutely see the practical value and can see how 1100 more episodes of this can endear someone to the show at large.

Maybe there is something to what everyone is saying about OP, but only time will tell.

As we're doing best-of-the-year today:

1. Medalist - Tsukasa handsome. Inori cute.
2. Apothecary S2 - Waited years for Maomao to stop being the best girl in her own series. Idk how the "Best Character" r/anime award is working this year as the spreadsheet lists "Leading Characters" but our girl better be eligible. Otherwise, I will be ~~selling~~ gifting pitchforks to u/michhoffman and u/qwertyqwerty4567.
3. Grieving Soul S2 - There was an episode where I had to pick between [these banners.](https://i.imgur.com/K6bR1hy.png) Then they went to a hot spring resort.
4. Ishura S2 - I'll be honest. I don't remember much of this season beyond it introduced another 29381 characters and had hype moments. Need to rewatch so I can read the LNs.
5. Black Butler: Emerald Witch - Fantastic audio between the OP, ED, British accents, and German accents. Also, I can fix Sieglinde.
6. I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Thicc Thighs S2 - Generally, a silly and fun show that checks many boxes (e.g. cute girls, isekai, OP MC). Could make all the characters, like, 7 years older, but I'll watch this kind of show anyday.
7. Ave Mujica - Toxic band girls over-dramatizing minor things they could've talked out. Let's fucking go, any news on when the next season airs?
8. Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 2 - Usually dislike "mascot" characters for their lack of story contribution and, well, just being annoying. They got me to like Suika. Well played.
9. Rent a GOAT S4 - Checked all the boxes for a romance, such as Kazuya being pathetic, Mami being a shitstirrer, and spending several episodes at a pool resort. Looking forward to the next cour!
10. Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray cour 1 - ~~Obligatory horse girl entry in the top-10.~~ Preferred the first cour for having more races as the drama storylines are written around them. Second cour felt like it was stretching some moments too long.

Only two isekai. Kadokawa, step up your game next year.

As expected, **100 Meters** was fucking amazing, 9/10. Would place probably somewhere around ranks 5-15 of my top anime of the year list. The usage of rotoscoping was really well done and added a lot of expression to the character movement, both in the SoL and the running scenes. And Kaido is probably one of the top characters when it comes to the ratio of all-timer lines to total lines spoken, what a legend.

MAL Secret Santa gifts have come through, and it's a mixed bag again, although for different reasons from last year. The first recommendation they gave was Oregairu, which is probably a good one, except I usually watch anime legally when it's reasonable, and I might not have Hidive again any time this year. The other one was Grand Blue, which would probably a *great* recommendation, if I hadn't specifically been asking for dubbed anime and even have the series on my PTR list. There's nothing wrong with that recommendation from a rules standpoint - for some reason you can't make dubs a hard requirement and it's OK to use something as long as they haven't actually read the manga - but I mainly just feel bad at them wasting their time on it. Still, overall it was solid. Definitely could have been worse. (The manga side had even more issues, but given the situation *I* was put in there, I'm not judging anyone.)

You know what, maybe I should finally stop stalling kaguya and wash it.

[](#thoughtful)

If Kaguya can get an anime original ending, so can AoT.

[](#mugiwait)

I was counting up the number of seasonals I finished this year and came up with "just" 20 with half of those being from Summer. Below is the number of seasonals I've watched per year in the year that they released (e.g. DanMachi Seasons 2 and 3 don't count for 2019 or 2020 since I didn't watch the shows until later on).

|Year|Number of Seasonals Watched|
--:|--:|
|2019|45|
|2020|51|
|2021|**68**|
|2022|63|
|2023|56|
|2024|40|
|2025|20|



I don't think it was a bad year for anime. There were several shows that I watched that I enjoyed quite a bit such as Takopi, Fragrant Flowers, Dr. Stone and Apothecary Diaries. I think I've just moved away from the desire to have a seasonal or multiple seasonals to watch daily while simultaneously becoming more picky with what I do watch.

I only watched 8 anime of this year (not counting dropped ones) but I feel like my top-5 of best OPs of this year is already pretty definitive:


1. [Silent Witch](https://youtu.be/DWNiF9QdQ_E?si=XnAYJN4T9OVgaHRH)


2. [Takopi's Original Sin](https://youtu.be/ciFvLHCThdg?si=mDcXtSXhCyfT5xX0)


3. [Ruri Rocks](https://youtu.be/o4ZmD85u6nM?si=dasLA9bqCuWjt0MH)


4. [Anne Shirley](https://youtu.be/UQD4mwWpoJc?si=pQ36E__nvKl71nQs)


5. [With You and the Rain](https://youtu.be/q2ia6Fv-iHk?si=8JEV4xPBpjgK2INY)


Are there any cool openings I missed?)

Of course the moment I start my trip the kaguya special drops.

I guess I’ll go over my most anticipated anime of 2026 tomorrow, but for now it’s New Year’s Resolution time.

Always like to set goals for myself else I’m never getting through this planning list. For 2026, I’m fairly locked on the following:

- *One Piece*
- *Hajime no Ippo*
- *Getter Robo*
- *Candy Candy*

I’ve already started OP so that’s set in stone. Will probably start *Ippo* next week to align with the Olympics in a month. Unsure which order I’ll get to *Getter Robo* and *Candy Candy*, but as two of the “Big Three” I need for my Top 50 Anime of the 1970s list, they need to die sooner rather than later.

Stretch goals are as follows:

- *Saint Seiya*
- *Mazinger Z*
- *Initial D*

The *Saint Seiya* OP has been living rent-free in my head for months now, but I won’t commit to it as three long older anime is a lot even for me and with a lot still on the planning list, I might just use the spot between GR and CC for a shorter, newer palette cleanser. *Mazinger Z* was gonna go in *Getter Robo*’s spot, but as I just crossed my 900th TV series, I figure I’ll leave *Mazinger* for the big 1000. That much I’m committed to, but with OP on the schedule, I’m unsure if that makes it a 2026 or 2027 series. If I finish OP in a reasonable time, I might end up pick up *Initial D* as another big (mostly) dubbed series, but I make no promises when I’m 1100 episodes away from even considering it.

In other general housecleaning, the planning list became a little unwieldy last year. Year-over-year is probably gonna be up as there’s a lot more subbed series that I can’t easily binge quite like the dubbed ones. Will probably work on chipping through some smaller one-cour subs until I go mad. 

I’m about 20 entries shy of that Top 50 Anime of the 1970s list. I’ll likely try to find a way to take on many of the remaining two-cour entries in ‘26. Will take some creativity to achieve, but if I want to stay on pace for a 2027 completion, it will have to be done.

Alternatively, I make no promises because life can always fuck me over, but that’s at least the idea.

The shot of Ruto falling into the trash pit in in Gatchikuta episode 1 is insanely cool.

What a contemptible ending Watari-kun had. It just felt like a series of obligatory send-offs, and yet none of them were even real send-offs. Because God forbid you ever let a harem stop being a harem after you've picked a "winner." Everyone has to stay in the MC's orbit, constantly infatuated with him, even after the fight is over.

This series really could have been something special, had it not chosen the most lukewarm, cowardly way forward at every opportunity.

Has anybody ever realized how Digimon kind of shaped a lot of our basic understandings of liminal spaces? Your mom is using liminal spaces before they were even really a thing they just weren’t as refined as they are now in how they work and not as creepy or dark, but it’s been doing back room type of shit for a while now

Is that chitose show good? Its all over my timeline, looks good

Is this a harem? Bait harem with a clear main girl? Why Aoi Hinami painted her hair black and got there?

Okay I am *definitely* on-board with Tamon's B Side, that was an incredibly delightful first episode.

[](#azusalaugh)

Thanks u/_Ridley for shilling it to me.

Oh damn, the new season is already on?

[](#flustered)

Shame that some of the new shows might not get a lot of attention, because they air on the same day as a massive blockbuster (Ugoku! Neko Mukashibanashi • Cat Tales)!

Well I currently have exactly 10 anime from this year that I gave a score higher than 7/10 to so that makes the cutoff easy:

1. **With You, Our Love Will Make It Through** — Great execution of a shoujo school romance on the steamy side and has an interesting theme handled somewhat maturely beyond that.

2. **I Have a Crush at Work** — An adult office romance that doesn't have the couple acting like middle schoolers around their first crush.

3. **This Monster Wants to Eat Me** — Fantastic atmosphere in how it conveys depression and I love the trio's dynamic.

4. **The Apothecary Diaries Season 2** — A step down from the first season for me but I still loved everything about it.

5. **cocoon: Aru Natsu no Shoujo-tachi Yori** — Beautiful, painful.

6. **Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express** — Great banter, nice quick story, good 3D animation.

7. **Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2** — I unexpectedly liked this one a lot more than the first season, good shenanigans and a great finale.

8. **Senpai is an Otokonoko Movie: Sunshine After the Rain** — Not the perfect ending that I wanted but it was a good conclusion to their story.

9. **Catch Me at the Ballpark!** — Slice of baseball with a fun cast around the stadium.

10. **A Star Brighter Than the Sun** — The flip side of shoujo with insecurities around one's innocent first love and a great childhood friend story.

[removed]

Everyone worried about Kaguya original finale, as if Aniplex ever let people down with a mangaka wanting to do an original finale for their popular series using the anime as a platform

Back from watching the Watanare episodes 13-17 on Tokyo MX.

They were amazing, to say the least! Now to MugiWait for the discussion threads for them to go up

[](#mugiwait)

I was clicking around on MAL a bit, and it surprised me to see that Sentenced to Be a Hero is coming from the same studio as A Star Brighter Than the Sun. That was a series with a lot of heart and creativity, but not very impressive from a technical standpoint. I guess it's a matter of priorities and/or individual crew at the end of the day.

Oh right today is also watanare day...... :( (thread is still missing by the way. Edit: Up now!)

Well it seems u/abysswatcherbel still has about 8 hours to finish his "best bath scenes of 2025".

Fall Anime Retrospective

Since my seasonals are finished, I wanted to take a look back at the expectations I had for each anime I watched in the fall season, and compare to how I feel about them now. I posted a list of all the anime I planned to watch before the season started here, ordered by how much I thought I'm going to like it. let's go through the list in the same order:

- Zombieland Saga Movie: didn't watch it yet

- Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Part 2: very good overall. slightly weaker than the first cour. Obey Your Master was really fun. my #2 show of the season.

- May I Ask for One Final Thing: started fun for the first 3 episodes but fell off after unfortunately

- This Monster Wants to Eat Me: ok show, don't really have strong feelings about it. it failed to really grip me but was entertaining enough.

- Ganzo! Bandori-chan: I wish it had longer episodes, 1 minute is just not enough, garupa pico had like 2.5 minutes per IIRC. still fun overall.

- Mechanical Marie: dropped after 3 episodes, wasn't nearly as good as I hoped coming into the season.

(line separating shows I was actively looking forwards to and shows I didn't have much expectations for)

- Chanto Suenai Kyuuketsuki-chan: watched till the end but honestly I should have dropped it wayy early, it was bad

- Isekai Quartet 3: pretty much exactly met my expectations, pretty fun.

- Dusk Beyond the End of the World: absolute garbage show holy moly, hate watched it to the end but it wasn't even fun as a hate watch. worst show of the season.

- A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace: far, far exceeded my expectations. this show started out with a strong first episode and just kept getting better and better, with episode 12 being the highlight. I liked every episode and all of the characters (Ha san best girl). absolute cinema and AOTS.

- Bukiyou na Senpai: meh romance where they are adult but you can't really tell by how they act, made me miss I Have a Crush at Work.

- Shuumatsu Touring: I liked the episode with the abandoned radio station, rest of the episodes were ok to meh.

- Alma-chan wa Kazoku ni Naritai: Idk why I watched it to the end, really wasn't for me.

- Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle: another garbage show but this time I actually had a lot of fun hatewatching and I'm looking forward to cour 2 to continue hatewatching. but if we're judging based purely on how good I think the show is then this is the actual worst anime of the season

- Let's Play: surprisingly enjoyable, going into the season I was thinking I'm gonna drop this early but I watched till the end and it was pretty ok with some good parts.

- Yano-kun's Ordinary Days: dropped after one episode because it was a slog to get through, but I kinda want to un drop it based on what I've heard about it later. we'll see.

- The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess: watched because of the director (who also directed Saiki K and Machikado Mazoku, which I love), expected insane pace with 10 jokes per second and got pretty much exactly that. the source material he worked with was kinda weak but oh well.

- Tatsuki Fujmoto 17-26: liked it more than its position on my expectation list but it didn't really wow me. best episode was the assassin one, worst episode was the mermaid one.

- Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota: dropped after 1 episode because the male lead was really annoying

- level 9999 gacha: lmao, got what I deserved for watching isekai slop (I know it's not an isekai but come on, they use the word gacha and keep saying "level 9999" every 2 seconds)

- Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai: knew I would hate it, did hate it, dropped after 4-5 episodes (don't remember exactly).

- Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru: watched for morbid curiosity abut the animation, found it surprisingly inoffensive (until she [Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru] >!bought a slave!< , but that's par for the course).

this is the end of my original list, but I also ended up watching 2 other shows:

- Gnosia: this show is pretty good and I'm looking forwards to the 2nd cour next season. Rounding out my top 3 of the season.

- a Wild Last Boss Appeared: picked it up because it aired early in the season and I was bored, have already forgotten everything about it.

and that's it for the season! overall I expected a weak season and got a weak season, but there was some incredible surprises (Mangaka is so good and honestly almost my AOTY, and Gnosia wasn't on my radar at all but I'm liking it a lot), and the disappointments weren't that bad so I'm not complaining. Next season is looking strong so I'm looking forwards to it! (and I'll make a similar expectations post soon)

I guess at the end of the day, what a 10/10 really says is this is impressive to me".

"Did I enjoy it" doesn't really work the more you think about it. Like, you can enjoy a work and still think its not a 10. "Enjoyed it enough to be a 10" I guess works, but is obviously circular.

It being basically a measure of "impressiveness" would also explain why people new to the hobby seem so willing to throw out 10s like Oprah. I kind of agree with that Yahtzee quote I love to throw around about how giving a work a 10/10 is more a sign that you lack creativity than anything about the actual quality of the work. Its a statement of "*I* can't think of how this work could be better" with big emphasis on the *"I*".

I guess by that metric, I am 0.9% uncreative.

In my defense, and knowing I am fully speaking out my ass here, I think you can patch up those issues with a degree of importance such that the issues within the piece become minuscule in the overall scope of things. Really then a 10/10 just becomes a 9/10 with extra weight to it, but maybe I'm just coping.

Last anime of the year was Mononoke for me. Was planning on also watching the movies but holidays and family obligations. But anyway was an anime that was on my short PTW list for years. Who would’ve guessed that actually watching those shows is fun. Visuals are of course a standout but also quite like its theatrical storytelling. 

So next year I should continu and just watch short list stuff. Girls Last Tour, Acca,  Aria, Dennou Coil, Windy Tales, Great Passage, Rakugo, Heike, LWA, Mob Psycho, Odd Taxi. I keep saving them for the right moment but you create that special moment by just watching them….. 

Damn, yesterday I started True Tears rewatch. But today new Kaguya-sama and WataNare dropped. And I still busy celebrating New Year.

Somethiong will have to wait till next evening.

since some of us are doing top tens and other favorite things today, i'll drop mine. (spoiler warning: horse)

* 10: Sorairo Utility
* 9: Blue Box
* 8: Food for the Soul
* 7: The Summer Hikaru Died
* 6: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
* 5: This Monster Wants To Eat Me
* 4: Call of the Night Season 2
* 3: There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless...
* 2: My Dress-Up Darling Season 2
* 1: Umamusume: Cinderella Gray (counting for both cours, but i liked cour 1 a little more)

Favorites:

OP: Alexandros - 超える (Umamusume: Cinderella Gray)

ED: NANAOAKARI - 明日の私に幸あれ (Guild Receptionist...)

OST: Umamusume: Cinderella Gray

Character: Oguri Cap

Movie: Demon Slayer: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (this is by default bc i didn't watch any other anime movies that came out this year)

Non-Seasonal Show: Umamusume: Pretty Derby Season 2

all in all, very good year for me for anime. pretty strong seasonals throughout the year and some entertaining non-seasonals too

So I guess the season officially started with its first 2 shows and unfortunately I have my first 2 drops of the season along with it, though not really that unexpected in my case for both.

* **Jack-of-all-Trades something**

This show is probably the most bland and generic "banished from the hero's party" type show I've ever seen. Usually there's at least some sort of hook to set itself apart at least a little bit from the rest, but this one was just so by the book, it gave me not a single reason to keep it.

* **Tamon's B-Side**

So going into it, I knew this show was fighting an uphill battle for me personally. I couldn't care less about male idol shows (and don't really put much stock in female idol shows either fwiw) and I also have a rather bad track record when it comes to enjoying shoujo shows in general. I still tried it in hopes that at least the comedy might perhaps be really funny, but unfortunately I never once even smiled, let alone laughed. Like, I kinda had negative interest in the subject matters these two were talking about for the entire episode. On top of that I didn't really vibe with the characters either. Tamon was whatever and Utage was reaching giga stan levels that I find more weird than fun to watch tbh. Still, I can't even say the show was *bad* really, those things are mainly just personal issues and not something the show did particularly wrong. Just a textbook example of "not for me (at all)". The production quality was solid though, you could tell the staff put some passion into this, the VAs were really good too (don't think I've ever heard Hayamin talk in such a hyper tone lol).

A few years back I watched an anime which had a scene in it where the dialogue was something like this:

“Tamago to pan, tamago to bacon to sausage to pan; pan pan pan…”

At least that’s what I remember… anybody has any idea from which anime this might be… there also was a YouTube video with the exact scene but I can’t find it anymore…

Anyone knows where this might be from?

I take it all back. *One Piece* is a 10/10 masterpiece. Any series with Laboon in it can't possibly be anything less than the greatest piece of media of all time.

I just finished my full 2025 in anime wrap-up on CDF since I won't be finishing anything else this year, and now I'm curious about what *non-airing* shows everyone here watched for the first time this year were your favorites? [](#curious)

Here's mine:

1. Hunter × Hunter (2011); also made my top 10 favorites list *period* at the #4 spot

2. Undead Unluck

3. Yuusha-Ou GaoGaiGar Final

4. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou

5. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

6. School Rumble: 2nd Semester

7. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

8. Fire Force Season 2

9. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

10. Aoi Hana

[Put together a bingo board of anime to watch this year and Millennium Actress has us off to a good start in more ways than one](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/514215337496150018/1455735756772347958/image.png?ex=695677d2&is=69552652&hm=3785df4a05760ec985d0bebc8edb74875cd8ed064840351db276ae7ccbefe066&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1872&height=875).

Absolutely loved the movie. The way it just flows through its sequences is unlike anything else I've really seen before. Just absolutely captivating stuff.

As for bingo, we'll see how the year goes. But my summer is pretty free, so I'm hoping to do some good work.

So here are some thoughts about the shows that came out in 2025 that I have watched:


Ameku Takao - Some of the episodes are pretty fun, although that might not be a consistent one.


Medalist - Only watched 3/4 of the first season (just made it to the first competition), but I'm thoroughly enjoying it.


Mujica - My favorite of the winter 2025 batch. A roller coaster from start to finish.


Sorairo Utility - A wholesome golf series about improving yourself. Definitely needs another season.


Kinnikuman Perfect Origin S2 - Might not be as great as the first season, but still enjoyable nonetheless. The tag match was something indeed.


GQX - Yet another Gundam show that would do better if they're given more episodes to flesh the story and world out, just like Witch from Mercury. Still enjoyed it, though.


Anne Shirley - A quite abridged adaptation of an old classic that somehow manages to adapt 3 books in just 2 cours of anime, with many sacrifices to stories being skipped. Hopefully we could see more of this anime to adapt more of the books.


Mono - A very fun slice of life with a lovable ensemble cast and several Yuru Camp cameos sprinkled over. Definitely would like to see more of it.


One Piece in Love - A series about people named after characters in One Piece in real life that also happens to be a comedy with some romance on it. And also features an Usopp character with even more ridiculous items than the one in the main show.


U Takes Terra - Another light hearted take on the world of Arknights after last year's Kay's Daily Doodles.


Dandadan 2 - Its highs are not as big as the first season's, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Can't wait for 2027.


City - Only make it through 2/3 of the show as I write this, it's an interesting take on the Nichijou's formula if the sheanaigans goes through the whole city itself, which seems to have an interesting cast of people in it.


Detectives These Days Are Crazy - It is crazy indeed. Enough said.


Arknights Rise from Ember - I feel like more episodes is needed to adapt the game's chapter 7 and 8 (which is pretty packed), maybe we could also have some of the game's music in the anime's important fights to improve it.


Nube 2025 - Also only made it to the 2/3 of the show by the time I wrote this, overall quite a fun show even if you haven't watched the original.


Milky Subway - Probably my favorite of the summer shows. It's short, yes, but also charming.


Puniru S2 - This season's ending on a pretty emotional note with the final episode.


Reze Arc - I only watched the recaps of the first season before the movie, so I don't know how much of the direction changed between the TV series' first season to the movie, but I totally enjoyed it. My highlights would be on Reze and Beam's voice acting.


Infinity Castle Part 1 - Honestly, I don't find the final flashbacks that annoying, it's a pretty sad one too. But perhaps it could be segmented during the fight?


Baan - I feel like this could be a feature film since it seems like some things seem to be left blank due to the length.


MHA Final - I haven't watched the previous seasons, but I have mostly read the chapters that are adapted to this final season, so I am pretty much ready for what's to happen. Can't wait for the epilogue in the next few months.


Cingray part 2 - I haven't watched the first part yet, but somehow I could catch up with the story. What a season this was.


A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace - Not expecting this show to be one of my favorites of the season. More of this, please.


Potion - Somehow the animation doesn't really bother me, but the only thing that bothers me is the sudden ending and no hints for more episodes being made.

[White Album 2 e11] >!I was starting to have some doubts - ever so sight - about this series but my boy Kitahara fucking DELIVERED at the end there. Absolutely beautiful play. As soon as the kissing started, I unironically started cheering out loud. I fucking love it when people make horrible decisions.!<

Top of the short list going into the new year

- s-CRY-ed
- Genshiken
- GunxSword
- Stellvia
- Simoun

Not sure where to put Gundam. Do I want to start it right away? I might not even watch anime in January

[](#hardthink)

And Kaguya has been watched, marking my last entry in MAL for 2025! Still really funny, picked some great moments from the manga, though I'm a bit disappointed so many of the skits will be skipped over. Still a 9/10. I'll see if I can do a proper recap of everything I watched in 2025 if I have time...

Ragna Crimson still not having a second season announced makes me sickkkkk

I have a lot more thoughts to write about White Album 2, but that was a thoroughly fun experience to watch. I was smiling very happily by the end. This is what growing up is all about - we fuck around, we have fun, we try, we fail, we suffer, we stumble, we eat shit, and then we grow and we learn. Hopefully, anyway.

I hope they'll all meet, ten years from now, and laugh about what moronic teenagers they once were.

Looks like everyone's giving their thoughts on all of this year's shows. I pretty much stopped keeping up with seasonal anime actively, I'd love to get a few more in this year but it's been harder with work and horse. But I guess I'll give some thoughts on the anime I watched from this year. Just gonna go in order of the seasonal chart:

- 100 Girlfriends Season 2: Pretty much the same as season 1, pretty funny and sweet with surprisingly decent characterization. Not a strong favorite but a fun time I'd watch more of.

- Zenshuu: I love this show. It's a love letter to the ways we fall in love with art. Natsuko does remember love, and it makes me remember it too. I love the bizarre little details of the in-universe fiction, and I think it's a well crafted take on the relationship between auteurs, the creative process, and fan expectations. The cast is a delight as well. Episode 7 is one of the best episodes of the year.

- Honey Lemon Soda: A pretty delightful little shoujo romance. Surprisingly atmospheric and with some intriguing and distinct directorial quirks. It's a middle school girl's fantasy that makes me, an adult man, kind of get it. A delightful ensemble cast and one of my favorite soundtracks of the year.

- Medalist: What is there to say, I need a Tsukasa in my life. This show is the sort of wholesome I think someone can find life-changing, the relationship between Inori and Tsukasa is so uplifting and Tsukasa toes the line between excessively supportive and realistically pragmatic perfectly. Solid animation and the personal joy of immediately recognizing two of the performance pieces bring it over the top for me. Really sweet and poignant with all of the grit and hype of great sports dramas.

- Flower and Asura: Just shy of being great. It can get clunky and I don't love the whole ensemble, but like Takeda's previously adapted novel it has solid dialogue and it digs into the particulars of its activity with the precision that only comes from dedicated research. A nice little drama with hints of greatness, even if it sometimes reminds me a bit too much of its much better brother in Eupho.

- Ave Mujica: Only about half way through, but it fucking rules. All of the great nuances of its prequel with somehow twice the angst. It's rife with tension that never quite seems to burst, and that I know it can't last is insanely gripping. Plus it's got more of my girl Tomori, who still means the world to me. Need to finish this.

- Sorairo Utility: Didn't like this much. The characters have little going for them, the attempts at drama are half-baked and they have no chemistry to carry a sitcom. I much preferred the OVA short.

- Cinderella Gray: I think it's got some noteworthy pacing issues, but everything else about it is as good as everyone says. It's gritty, it's angsty, it's hype, it feels like a more traditional spokon and downplays the cutesier elements. The characters are fun, the races are hype, the visuals are solid. I don't like it as much as season 2 or RTTT (still need to watch BoaNE) but it's still great.

- Apocalypse Hotel: My anime of the year, full stop. It's everything I want out of an original, and tells a story similar to one that's been brewing in my head for some time. It's a hilarious and poignant look at one robot's journey to coming to terms with a lack of objective meaning in a world without God, and finding her place among the day-to-day, transient interactions of customers and the mark she leaves in the here-and-now. It feels like an adaptation of something a philosopher would have come up with, like the steps of some journey to self-actualization. It's so clever and packed with meaning, I love the characters and it has so many standout episodes, yeah episode 11 is great but so is the previous one and the first one and like three others. A new favorite, straight up.

- Dress-Up Darling S2: Even more delightful than the first season. It's jam packed with so many wholesome moments of support and self-acceptance that all tie into Gojo's journey. All of it helps him realize that he's not actually that weird, gendered expectations affect so many other people and there's a world of legit support out there that should take precedence over one asshole little girl's childhood comment. This, in turn, helps progress his feelings towards Marin, which is why I don't buy the "there's not enough romance" angle I've seen some give. Cosplay and romance are directly tied. That being said, most of my favorite moments here are cosplay related, it's the ensemble cast that really made me love this season, even if there were plenty of adorable moments between the lead couple. I found this season more consistent than the first.

- The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity: Gave it three episodes, was not a fan. The dialogue is actively not good, and the chemistry between the characters really suffers for it. The central conflicts introduced are contrived, and while it looks kind of nice the moving-manga style direction doesn't elevate the material. Entirely mediocre imo.

- The Summer Hikaru Died: Really great from what I've seen. Slow burn, atmospheric, both nostalgic and stifling, it's got a rich palette and is elevated by its direction. Yoshiki's conflicting feelings are super compelling, there's so much to dig into, and I can tell the story has barely gotten started from where I'm at. Will definitely finish.

- City the Animation: I don't think anything else has brought me as much joy as this show has this year, at a time where it's really needed. I saw someone describe it as "the highest energy iyashikei," and while that is blatantly not correct, it's the closest approximation to what I consider the appeal of the show as I've seen anyone get. Rather than another take on Nichijou, it feels more like Aria on steroids to me in terms of how I enjoy it. I don't laugh very much, instead I feel a constant, consistent sense of happiness at seeing all of the characters interact and painting a more vivid picture of how the city interconnects and how its people live. It's a testament to the power of community and kindness, and is so full of mundane stories that are still relatable in their absurdity. It's also possibly the most visually impressive TV anime ever made, no exaggeration. It revels in the joy of pure movement, it's so delightful to look at. Everything about it fills me with joy in a way I haven't felt since I watched Ponyo last year. Starting every episode with "hello, dear my friend" sets the mood perfectly. KyoAni is on another level.

- See You Tomorrow at the Food Court: A literally perfect sitcom. Proof the only thing you need to make a great show is characters with personality and chemistry. The best dialogue of basically everything I saw this year, full stop. I love the two dorks at the center and all their winding conversations, I see a lot of myself in both of them (but especially Yamamoto). One of the year's bigger delights for me.

- Milky Subway: An accomplishment of independent animation. Just a tight package all around. Great, expressive animation, stellar dialogue, voice acting, and direction, and a really fun story that has something to say and doesn't overstay its welcome.

And that's what I watched from 2025. I think it's a phenomenal year, this is not at all everything I was interested in checking out. Happy new year friends.

On ep 5 of Code breaker and had to put it down halfway I just can’t stand Sakura she’s too annoying im gonna have to give it some time 😭

Kay Historie is now being confirmed for an anime....anytime now Haruhi. Yona of the Dawn S2, and now this work getting adapted.....I just need one more, and maybe the 2020s go up in my decade ranking.

Can someone explain to me why they can't just destroy the fingers in JJK?


My friend kinda spoiled me on every anime (rip) and I'm confused mostly about the JJK plot.

Now that it's 2026, [it's finally time for my tier list of 2025's anime](https://i.imgur.com/wnuHEaZ.png)

Each tier is ordered, too -- and I decided to include the movies I watched too, although that swung AOTY for me

- Yamato Nadeshiko needs a remake or season 2 but to be given a proper and ckear ending compared to the original work (manga). And a better flow that acting like one shots (I still love it, but if we can have another season and animation, please give us a different spin). 


- Need more of Eyeshield 21 (to have the rest of the manga animated).

Does anyone know of any isekai where the protagonist is an adult woman?

Preferably with a male love interest who is a calm, mature adult (i.e., not the tsundere/yandere type).

I just finished binge-watching The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent and love how most of the characters there behave like responsible, mature adults, especially Director Johan. So, I'm hoping to find anime whose characters behave similarly.

Hello /r/anime, a new daily thread has been posted! Please follow
[this link](/r/anime/comments/1q10to2/anime_questions_recommendations_and_discussion/) to move on to the new thread
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