2025 was one fucking hell of a year, wasn't it? So much shit happened, it almost felt like it's own decade. It was a year of great strife but of great resistance. It was a year full of people at the top abusing their power but also a year of genz starting revolts, a year in which the GenAI plague spread the farthest it ever has, but also a year where people stood their ground and kept on trucking despite the horrors, a year of great suffering but one where the indomitable human spirit shone the brightest. For me it was a year full of self reflection and one where now more than ever I realized what my values where. In short. 2025 was an ectremely controversial year that seems to be bleeding into these first months of 2026, and among this controversy, at least we can say we had some damn good anime. Which we're looking back on today's post.

I'm only gonna count the 2025 animes I've watched as of February 28th 2026. This is not a list of the 10 best animes of the year, just of the ones I've enjoyed the most. Sure, there are animes like Takopi's Original Sin, Zenshu, Medallist, Gnosia, Apcalypse Hotel, the new Uma Musume one and so on that are probably great, top tier even, everyone seems to agree that they are peak, and I'm probably missing out, but I simply haven't seen them so I can't put them here. Also, this is not a top, just a list, the shows listed here are not in any order, other for my absolute favorite which I've saved for last. Think of it as a couple of recommendations.

That being said; Let's get into the meat and potatoes of it all.

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Lord of Mysteries

Trigger warning: Very violent show, there’s quite a bit of body horror and many characters meet gruesome fates throughout the story, not for the faint of heart. My latest watch as of writting this post. 

First off, this is one of the most stunning shows I’ve ever seen, both in visuals and soundtrack. Victorian settings, body horror, absolutely terrifying sequences, magic and occultist bullshit, people with British accents in the English dub, this has Bloodborne written all over it. Following a chinese IT worker who wakes up in the body of Klein Moretti, an amnesiac university graduate in the Lohen Kingdom who just tried to shoot himself. Only to get roped into a whole lot of lovecraftian bullshit while trying to figure out what the hell even happened. With writing good enough to make me cry at some character deaths as well; It’s one of those slower shows that drip feed you information as the plot progresses, not for everyone, especially with the bad pacing of the first few eps, but the type of people that like to take their time theorizing and trying to solve mysteries before they unfold will absolutely love it as long as you can stomach all the horror elements. It’s called “Lord of mysteries” for a reason.

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Clevatess

Trigger Warning: This show touches on very dark subject matter such as slavery, human trafficking, many types of abuse... There’s also very graphic violence, and the main antagonist’s defeat in the last episode does include quite a bit of body horror.

A dark fantasy follows Clevatess, one of the four kings of dark beasts and who sounds an awful lot like Gold Bullet from Holostars ARMIS, a “RPG final boss” type character who chooses to revive one of the 13 warriors he just swept the floor with, with the purpose of helping him raise a human child. The kids fate will decide whether or not Clevatess chooses to eradicate all of humanity for good. With beautiful visuals that take an artstyle fitting that of a modern anime while giving it that old cel animated 80s OVA vibes with the way things are colored and shaded. This is a great show that, while it is violent and touches on a lot of dark subject matter, especially in the first episodes, always shows a light at the end of the tunnel, especially as the episodes go on and it slowly becomes more hopeful, the villain has an understandable goal, there’s interesting lore and world-building, with fun plot twists towards the latter end of the season. The plot follows a story of continuous drama, struggle, defeat and a resilience that triumphs over all things. The story refuses to morally label its characters and was powerful enough to make me cry in the last episode. Also, the opening’s a banger. There is a reason this thing is on everyone’s top 10 anime of 2025.

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Gachiakuta

Trigger Warning: Ep 13 covers on a very dark topic. It's pretty hard to watch.

A genuinely great shonen following Rudo, a poor kid living in a floating island who gets thrown into the abyss after he is framed for the murder of his foster father and finds community in the pit as he searches for a way to return to the get revenge. This is a great story about consumerism, discrimination, social inequality and more. With a great cast of characters, inventive power system, great character design and a trashpunk aesthetic that is not only totally my vibe but also helps set it apart from other battle shonen. Not to mention the gorgeously draw graffiti and how respectfully it treats some very serious issues.

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The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity

A very vanilla but well executed romance that put a smile on my face the entire time. This show doesn’t just does romance right, it is great at portraying all types of love. Romance, friendship, familial… All types of love you can have for the people in your life are acknowledged and masterfully portrayed by the main leads and the way they interact with their loved ones. This thing makes me so emotional and feels like a love letter to community and human connection in general.

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Digimon Beatbreak

Trigger Warning: This show has episodes focusing on grief, loneliness, war, self-hate, child abuse, suicude, corporate overreach and much more. Be ready to cry.

This is a weird outlier because it's not only stll ongoing, but a franchise that tends to not be too crazy in terms of show quality, but trust me when I say; This is already one of the best digimon shows so far. Time will tell if it continues to be that great or it becomes a disappointment. So far beatbreak has a strong emotional core, an exciting new take on digimon, and themes of futuristic dystopia, the dangers of AI, and the importance of community. All tightly wrapped in a character driven narrative that portraits all sorts of human struggles with the respect they deserve. The creators had permission to write a story first rather than a very long commercial for a product and it shows. It’s been a while since digimon has made me cry.

That was written over two months ago for a 2025 recap post I ended up scrapping. Two months later I can confirm that is not only still true but the show has in fact only gotten better, Digimon Beatbreak does nothing but put out banger after banger episode while simultaneously touching on very serious topics with the respect they deserve and making me cry several times, without losing any of the heart. We're at 21 episodes now and this has got to be the best piece of TV entertainment to ever come out of Digimon.

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May I Ask for One Final Thing?

I actually enjoyed this thing way more than I expected I would. At first I was just gonna give it a couple of episodes for the sake of it having a funny premise but I actually got hooked. When it comes down to it, this anime is very simple; There are many asshole nobles out there, and lady Scarlet El Vandimion has two fists with those nobles’ names written on them. Which is honestly based as fuck. It’s not anything deep, the animation is whatever and the story is fine I guess, there’s a lot of shit going on. But god damn is it one hell of a fun time. This show is fully self-aware and doesn’t try to present itself as anything other than what it is. Pure. Dumb. Fun. The fact alone of seeing these rich shitheads getting their teeth kicked is on its own already half the appeal, it’s just satisfying to see them get what they deserve, not to mention the english cast pulling up all the stops to make it as campy, as over-the-top, and as fun as it is. I mean it when I say that the english dub genuinely makes this show so much better.

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Honorable mentions

• Tamagawa Wants To Be A Cat

A short and sweet little TV special about a hotel worker getting taken in by a best selling novelist he met at a cat cafe, after falling asleep and having to be woken up. Very enjoyable 17 minutes of animated queer love with an adorable dynamic. Very light watch and absolutely heart-warming. 

• How To Be Hero X

Leave it to people outside of the US to give you a cool new take on superhero media. It’s happened with My Hero Academia and it’s happening again with To Be Hero X. It’s got some real solid characters, alongside direct commentary on how social perception affects celebrities, and a beautiful constantly changing style for both art and animation that’s got me flabbergasted as an artist. I however can't put it in the actual list since I'm still watching it and haven't finished it.

• Witch Watch

Pretty fun and silly mix of urban fantasy and romantic comedy about a witch and oni childhood friend duo who due to circumstance end up living together and getting up to all kinds of silly shenanigans. I really like this one but, just like To Be Hero X, I'm currently watching it and haven't finished it so I can't put it in the actual list.

• Sanda

Trigger Warning: There’s some spicy scenes, as well as themes of grooming and creepy adults. Sanda is a zany and unhinged wild ride of an anime that got a couple of laughs out of me, often switching between fun shenanigans and “Oh fuck” moments. It follows Kazushige Sanda, a boy who finds out he can turn into a buff version of Santa Claus in a world where Christmas is no longer a thing and old Saint Nick has become the stuff of legends. A power with which he’ll have to protect his friends and solve the mystery of just what the fuck is happening in that school. Also, there are lesbians. It takes on a classic character while providing a fresh relatively darker perspective, I already said it’s funny, but it also has great animation and characters, provides commentary on how society treats kids, adults and the idea of growing up, a distinctive artstyle you’ll recognize from the creator of Beastars, and it also has some genuinely tense moments. All of that together makes this a great watch for anyone that can handle the more adult parts of the show. The only reason it's not on the main list is that I liked the other ones more. 

• Twisted-Wonderland The Animation: Episode of Heartslabyul

When the Twisted Wonderland anime got announced I was cautiously optimistic about it, I was like, "neat" and then moved on with my day. I thought it’d be fine, maybe even bad, I’m used to videogame adaptations not being the best. I was gonna enjoy it anyway since I’m already a fan of the game though. I thought they’d botch the story, or get a character wrong. I was gladly surprised though. Not only is it a faithful adaptation of both the game and manga that came prior. The visuals feel like seeing the official art come to life, the animation is consistently good, they translated the story into a TV show, and all the important moments of this first arc feel even more impactful just by virtue of being animated. This is a banger if we consider what we could have gotten. Still, I don't know if good enough to make this year's fave list. Maybe in a less stacked year.

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The Summer Hikaru Died

Trigger Warning: This entire show is just a very long trigger warning but still, these are the most major ones. Body horror, child death, grief, toxic friendship, homophobia.

Stressful horror anime that acts as a metaphor about being gay in a village full of homophobes, it beautifully reflects on suppressed homophobia, societal pressure, seriously you have to be blind not to see the romantic connotations that many of Hikaru and Yoshiki’s scenes have. You genuinely feel the anxiety of everyone involved. “Hikaru” especially is a character that made me feel very seen in a weird sort of way. A great story about death, love, mourning,and everything in between. This is my anime of the year, too bad homophobia will prevent many from giving it a chance.Then again, they don’t deserve to experience peak.