My Anime Year in Review: 2025

It’s been a good year since I first posted here, looking for suggestions after I finished Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso.
Now, I’m mostly reading (Light) Novels/Manga mostly, but would like to thank y’all for introducing me to a whole new world out there.

So, I would like to share some of the ones I watched in no particular order, since I don’t have any preference (don’t know if this is the best place to share, so forgive me if I have made any mistake).

MASTERPIECE (Absolute best, would rewatch anytime):

  1. VINLAND SAGA
  2. Sonny Boy
  3. Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite
  4. Koe no Katachi
  5. Neon Genesis Evangelion
  6. Hotaru no Haka
  7. Takopii no Genzai

GREAT (Respect the shows a lot):

  1. Shingeki no Kyojin
  2. Death Parade
  3. Love, Chunnibyou, and Other Delusions
  4. 5 Centimeters per Second
  5. Re:ZERO- Starting Life in Another World (second favourite isekai)
  6. Steins;Gate 0
  7. Into the Forest of Firefly Lights
  8. Oshi No Ko (SEASON 1 only guys, had to mention this coz it’s so relatable in the music industry)
  9. Spirited Away

GOOD (Very enjoyable, good shows to relax to):

  1. Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!
  2. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (favourite isekai btw, reading light novel)
  3. Bocchi the Rock!
  4. Chainsaw Man (currently reading manga)
  5. There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… (very funny hehehe)
  6. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
  7. Whisper of the Heart
  8. Weathering With You
  9. Suzume
  10. Your Lie in April
  11. Reincarnated as a Vending Machine (i forgot the title)

MID (Enjoyable to a certain extent, but found the story flawed):

  1. Darling in the FranXX
  2. Clockwork Planet
  3. SPYxFAMILY
  4. Steins;Gate
  5. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian.
  6. Your Name.
  7. Fireworks

ABSOLUTE TRASH (honestly a waste of time):

  1. Horimiya
  2. My Sister, My Writer
  3. Redo of Healer (yikes!)

NEVER WILL WATCH BC OVERRRATED OR UNAPPEALING, UNLESS I FIND SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT IT:

  1. My Hero Academia
  2. Demon Slayer
  3. Jujutsu Kaisen
  4. Sousou no Frieren
  5. Tokyo Revengers
  6. Naruto Shippuden
  7. Dandadan
  8. Tbate

SHOWS I HAVEN’T WATCHED YET, BUT LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCHING IT

  1. Cowboy Bebop
  2. Fullmetal Alchemist (and Brotherhood as well, why not ​:fernsmile:​)
  3. GANGELION
  4. Code Geass
  5. Dr.STONE
  6. HUNTERxHUNTER (1999 and 2011)
  7. Kono Suba
  8. Mahou Shoujo Site
  9. Berserk (reading manga atm)
  10. Ex-ARM (Will skip CGI arc ​:btr_bocchi_panic:​)
  11. Uma Musume
  12. Violet Evergarden
  13. Hibike! Euphorium
  14. Ghost in the Shell
  15. JoJo
  16. Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou (forgot English title. I read the manga, and i was absolutely hooked on. Sadly, the manga ended halfway through the story.)
  17. and many more i seem to have forgotten.

all in all, I had one of the best first years, in my humble opinion. Any more suggestions you could throw in?

NOTABLE MENTION: I want The Summer You Were There anime!

@anime@ani.social

  • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    11·
    19 hours ago

    I couldn’t help by notice the lack of Dungeon Meshi.

    A note on Fullmetal Alchemist.

    Brotherhood is the “canon” adaptation.

    The original anime cought up with the manga, and then just made up its own story. It’s not bad, but IMO it doesn’t hold up to the standard set by the manga.

    Bortherhood is a faithful adaptation, and with higher production quality to boot.

    • isyasad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      13 hours ago

      Long rant:

      spoiler

      As someone who prefers the FMA 2003 series, I have to offer a counterargument to the notion that Brotherhood is the “canon” series. The manga published from 2001-2010.
      FMA 2003 aired from 2003-2004.
      FMA Brotherhood aired from 2009-2010.

      I really consider the 2003 series to be the original story. From 2004 until 2010, there was no such thing as a “canon ending to FMA” other than what was in the 2003 series. It was finished and packed away years before the manga approached its ending. I don’t have a source for this, but I even remember reading somewhere that Hiromu Arakawa made changes to the manga inspired by some anime-original content that she liked. There’s not really a “standard set by the manga”. Rather, 2003 is what set that standard.

      You could also question what “canon” even means. Like, the events of the 2009 anime are obviously canon within the 2009 anime; the events of the 2003 anime are canon within the 2003 anime; and the events of the manga are canon within the manga. You can search up a list of differences between Brotherhood and the manga pretty easily, and even find ways in which 2003 is a much more faithful adaptation of the early manga than Brotherhood. It’s not like there’s a single continuity of canon events that defines Fullmetal Alchemist, there’s clearly three. Arakawa also requested that the 2003 anime would have an original ending, so it’s not like it’s contrary to the vision of the author, either.

      Last point, but I would also disagree that Brotherhood has higher production quality. FMA 2003 had much better background art, never resorted to cost-saving use of 3D models, and I prefer the character designs and lighting. Other than that, there’s not really any big differences in style/animation. I was going to paste in a bunch of sakugabooru links but really the series look pretty similar in action scenes. A lot of boring action lines, but a lot of good dynamic shots, too. Brotherhood never has anything really stunning though, like the ballroom scene from the end of 2003.

      tl;dr, FMA 2003 is pretty good, too. It’s kinda misleading to call it non-canon when it was the original completed story. I’d also argue that the 2003 version had better production value in terms of visual style/animation. It’s definitely worth watching, at least.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        11 hours ago

        It’s definitely worth watching, at least.

        No-one is saying it isn’t.

        But of course the manga “set the standard”. The parts of 2003 that were adapted from the manga, follow its writing.

        The writing past that point, even if it had nothing to “follow”, and is since original, was by someone else. And in my opinion, you can tell. I watched 2003 without even knowing about Brotherhood, or the manga. And while I like it, I did feel it went “off the rails” in terms of the writing, character development and worldbuilding.

        And that’s without knowing at the time that those feelings coincided with the change in who was writing the story.

        As a narrative, IMO, the original manga/brotherhood is a more internally consistent narrative, with character arcs that make more sense, and a world with greater implied detail.

        That is simply down to the fact that when you pass the bat on writing the way the 2003 series did. People can tell.

        Like two halves of a painting done by two artists, where one didn’t expressly try to mimic the other. And even when they do, it’s never the same.

        The difference doesn’t make one or the other half worse, but unlike art where creators collaborate throughout, when you “draw the rest of the owl” the “new” artist will never be able to tie up every thread the original set up, and in ways that’ll make sense in the context of things only the original artist is aware of.

        That said, there is nothing insulting about “non-canon”. “Canon” is just whatever the original creator says it is, ret-cons and all.

        Doesn’t mean the extended Star Wars universe is suddenly worthless and bad.

        And as far as transitions in writing, FA 2003 is one of the better example out there. They made something you can actually watch to the end, and not be pissed at it, because they leaned into what they did with and followed through.