So a few things to say before we jump into this anime list. Firstly, don’t ever expect the anime list to be this long again. Also know that this doesn’t include anime that got second seasons. So things that I started the previous year that had new seasons like Kaiju #8 or Dan Da Dan, know that I love them, but they don’t make the list. And also that some of the them at the bottom are so forgettable. So be aware of that when I don’t write much about those anime. So let’s get to the list.

Anime I Watched in 2025 Ranked

1. The Apothecary Diaries

This is an easy one to top off the list. The show is just great and I can’t wait for more of it come out. The blend of mystery with the aesthetic stands out among a lot of shows. And the character development and growth as the romance slowly burns is amazing as well. I’m tempted to watch it again because it’s that good. And I’ve read the manga, even though I’ve watched the anime, but The Apothecary Diaries stands out.

2. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Now, this is one that was obviously out before last year. But I didn’t get around to watching it until the start of last year and it’s wonderful. The story stands out as something different. Yes, there is this element of fantasy and adventure, but seeing Frieren as the world and those she cares about pass her by as she’s an elf and they are not is interesting. And the revisiting of parts of her past are great as well. It tells this complete story that feels unique.

3. From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman

You’re out in the countryside living a nice normal life. You run a school that teaches swordsmanship, but overall, it’s a simple life. Turns out you are a master swordsman and you need to heed the call to come and train those at the royal city and take part in that life. That’s the plot, it’s a bit dumb, but I like the I’m really overpowered characters, especially when they are an older man who really just wants to live a simple life. It’s tropes, but with a twist.

4. Dealing with Mikadono Sisters is a Breeze

There are a number of romance anime on the list and Dealing with Mikadono Sisters is a Breeze is my favorite. This one follows a boy who is the son of a famous actor. She passes away and a connection, the Mikadono Sisters’ father, gives him a spot in their house. Of course, they are all elites in their own area, and they expect him to be the same. But he’s not great at anything, he just looks pretty. So how can help help the Mikadono Sisters be sisters and join into their family?

5. To Be Hero X

I wasn’t sure about this one at the start, mainly because watching the trailer it looked interesting, but didn’t blow me away. To Be Hero X is a story of a world where superheroes are a thing. And the more people trust you the more powerful you can become. It’s a cool concept, and creates a lot of interesting situations of people gaining and losing powers. The aesthetic is something else with 3D animation and 2D as well blended together depending on the story. Highly recommend this one for that superhero storyline.

6. The Ossan Newbie Adventures Trained To Death By The Most Powerful Party Became

I’m tempted to say this one should be higher. But it’s also in the Top 10 of 59 different anime, so that’s a good thing. Another older protagonist, and this one who has been trained by the most powerful party and he’s now an old adventurer. But because he was trained by insanely powerful people, he himself is overpowered compared to everyone else. It’s that different perspective of the older character that works well in this one.

7. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill

I think this is the first Isekai on the list. It won’t be the last. But this one is more of a slice of life Isekai where the main character ends up in another world but still has access to an online shop. So he gains familiars and generally goes on standard fantasy adventures. Again, it’s the overpowered character, and one who just wants to explore and enjoy his life, not become some great hero. Also, a lot of the food looks really tasty, anyone know where to get some orc meat?

8. Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie

Another romance here, and this one has a bumbling main character. No, it’s not Shikimori. She is, in fact, awesome at basically everything she does. Her boyfriend is a bumbling disaster magnet. It’s a really cute romance with characters who just love each other no matter what. And both of them are worried about losing the other, Shikimori if she doesn’t act girly enough, and Izumi because he’s a walking disaster magnet.

9. Witch Watch

We go from a bumbling male protagonist and now we flip it kind of back around. A strong ogre is set to be the familiar of his childhood friend, the witch. Of course, he’s very serious about everything and she’s a ditz and doesn’t really have great control on her abilities. This is a harem anime, but instead of him collecting girls, she’s collecting a lot of different supernatural creatures around her. There are slice of life episodes and then more serious storylines that happen, but as a whole, a fun and funny show.

10. The Gorilla God’s Go-To Gal

This one has an interesting premise, one that I actually think is cool and could have a fun RPG built around it. When you reach a certain age you draw a card and that card determines what animal deity’s powers you get. The main character gets a very rare one, but not one that is going to make her standout in a way that she wants. That story element is a lot of fun, and the main characters just have good chemistry through some of the plotlines are a bit standard.

11. Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister

Another romance anime, this one about a boy who wants to get into medical school, that is his goal. But he’s given the opportunity, one that he doesn’t want, to live at a shrine where three shrine maiden, the Amagami Sisters (not related to each other) live. The interesting thing about this one besides the romance, is the idea of this red string that can cause events to get replayed. It allows for him to grow closer to all of the characters and creates interesting moments as they try and break the loops.

12. The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World

I originally read this manga and I had a bunch of fun with it. This is another overpowered main character. He’s the iceblade sorcerer, one of the great sorcerers, but he just wants to go to school and lead a normal life. So he is trying to hide that fact from everyone. But things keep on coming up that make him need to show off his overpowered skills, even as much as he tries to hold back. It’s a good story about trying to lead a normal life when you don’t feel normal.

13. The Water Magician

This anime came out this year, and after the first episode I was hooked. Another isekai, but you go to another world you want to lead a pretty normal life. Turns out that your abilities as a water magician are not normal. But you don’t know that because you honed them out in the boonies before you realized you probably needed to find people and live a more normal life. It feels like it should then turn into a harem anime, but it doesn’t, there is a romance but it just works really well.

14. I Left My A-Rank Party to Help my Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths

What do you do when things in the great A-Rank adventuring party aren’t actually great. They really don’t want you there. so you leave and then you join up with your former students to help them. It’s a fun anime, again a pretty overpowered main character and a typical fantasy world. But there are fun elements like the fact that they can live stream their dungeon crawl adventures and gain popularity. Like The Water Magician, just a fun anime.

15. Lord of Mysteries

I think this could go higher on my list. Mainly because I haven’t finished up the first season. But this is a highly complex mystery series about someone who transports into another world. There he can level up his abilities, but of course, there is a risk that you turn into a monster. Aesthetically this is a stunning show. And the story has so many layers that you kind of need to keep watching it again and again to fully understand everything that is being set-up.

16. Once Upon a Witches Death

Another one I feel could be higher, but it’s here because I watched a lot of great anime this year. Once Upon a Witches Death follows a forty-year-old horny man… wait, that’s not right, it’s a teenage witch who often acts like a forty-year-old horny man who finds out that she is going to die. There is a chance to save herself, so that’s her mission, at the start. She’s not good at staying on task, that lecherous old soul, but she has a lot of meaningful growth in the series. So two thirds fun and one third serious, the series shines.

17. I May Be A Guild Receptionist, But I’ll Solo Any Boss To Clock Out on Time

The title says it all. All the main character wants to do is live a normal life. In fact, it should be a pretty easy life as the receptionist for the adventurers guild. Of course it’s not though because the adventurers are so bad at taking down the dungeon bosses that it’s creating a pile of paperwork for her and that means overtime. Is she able to balance her life and her powers to deal with these monsters and get to the point where she doesn’t have any OT.

18. New Saga

This is a trope that I love. You know what it is going to happen at the end because you’ve been there. You know you lose, and now the question is, how do you keep that from happening? Plus, the stakes can’t just be you lose, it has to be that everyone loses to make it even grander. I love that story trope and with some fun characters and interesting developments in trying to change the world it’s a very good series.

19. Delicious in Dungeon

Another one I want to be higher. I’m going to keep on saying it, a lot of these I love. Delicious in Dungeon is a dungeon diving anime where they need to get down there, figure out what is happening with the dungeon and try and get a party member back. Of course no time to gather any food so you need to make a meal from what the dungeon is giving you. It’s silly and series and sometimes a bit gross but overall a really good anime.

20. The Shiunji Family Children

You grew up with your whole life thinking you had siblings. The fact that you look nothing alike wasn’t a giveaway apparently. Then when the youngest becomes a teenager your dad surprises you with the story that you are all adopted. The oldest is now the heir to the family’s fortune and everyone will be well set-up, but could you fall in love with the person you thought was your sibling? Apparently in this anime the answer is yes. It sounds dumb, and it is a dumb premise, but the writing makes it work.

21. Summer Time Rendering

There aren’t enough horror anime out there. Summer Time Rendering is a great one for that. You get stuck in a time loop but whenever you die you get closer to the point in time where you died, so the loops get shorter and shorter. Can you unravel the mystery that is happening on the island and maybe understand why you are the person who is looping. So good and creepy and a really good mystery.

22. Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches

Firstly, I want to commend this anime for being one season, telling a complete story, and then it’s done. Yamada-Kun has the power to steal the power of witches, or at least swap with them. He’s a high school student who finds it out by accident. There are always seven witches at the school and now it’s a mystery as to why. Of course, it’s not going to be easy to find them all and not everyone is using them for good. So how is this mystery going to end?

23. Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low Level Spells

Long name and fun anime and manga. This is one that I’ve read as well as watched. The deity who summoned the main character to this world sees that he didn’t get any good powers. So like she does with all of them who don’t get good powers, she dumps them into a dungeon and they can die there. Turns out that his basic powers can level up and soon he’s extremely powerful and kind of on a revenge tour, though that is generally more of a background plot part.

24. Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl

Another romance one and this one is a bit awkward. That is mainly because there is an age gap between the two main characters. It all revolves around a kid who works at a Game Centre. When a foreign student comes in her befriends her not realizing their age difference. And they kind of fall for each other. Once they realize, it becomes a waiting game and trying not let others know. It’s a goofy romance show, but one that I enjoyed.

25. My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds The Heroes

You want the plot or at least some of it, you got it. But the assassin is in an interesting spot. He is the most powerful, and the summoning to this world isn’t on the up and up. He starts out wanting to go home, but is that going to work and what about the characters he meets along the way in the world, can he leave them? Also, does he care enough to help his classmates get home?

26. Let’s Play

Based off of a web comic, this one might move higher as more comes out. Though it’s getting close to being done for this season, I think. It’s about a shy girl who creates a video game and the people in her life. The story is a solid romance where she has a bit of group of boys who like her. And it does a good job dealing with some heavier things that the characters are dealing with. The one thing that does disappoint me a bit about it is that the animation is not as good as it could have been.

We’re going to start going through them faster now.

27. Masumune-Kun’s Revenge

Masumune is rejected when he’s young so his plan is the get in shape become awesome and then break the girls heart back.

28. The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest

Following in the footsteps of his mentor the main character wants to become the strongest and a court magician. But when he skills aren’t used as they should be he’s kicked out of the party and is now on his way to being the strongest with his old party.

29. The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made

Imagine you could eat a fruit and get super abilities. That’s what happens to the main character who is dumped into a fantasy world. It’s pretty fun but doesn’t blow me away.

30. Dr. Stone

The world is petrified and Dr. Stone, a highschooler, is the first to awaken. How can he rebuild the world with science and who should he awaken?

31. Shy

Shy has superpowers but she is also really shy. How can she overcome or work around her shyness to be the hero she wants to be?

32. The New Gate

I’ve read this one, but trapped in a death game the main character beats the final boss and everyone logs out except him. He gets a gate into a new world, but really the world he’s been in in the future. What is his new adventure.

33. Rascal Does Not Dream

A surprisingly good show with romance and characters who struggle with puberty syndrome, this being something that makes people forget them and the struggles of why it happening.

34. The Brilliant Healers New Life in the Shadows

Overpowered main character, check. Kicked out of his party, check. Now he’s setup shop in the slums and just wants to help people like he couldn’t before.

35. Bogus Skill Fruit Master – About That Time I Became Able to Eat Unlimited Numbers of Skill Fruits that Kill You

He wanted to be the hero, too bad, he only got the skill fruit master from the fruit of mastery. And you know if you eat two, you die. Turns out, maybe not the case for him.

36. More Than A Married Couple But Not Lovers

Let’s go to an absurd world where high school students are asked to live together to learn how to be couples. But the main character doesn’t end up with who he wants to and someone who actively bugs him. How can they make it work? It’s actually pretty cute considering the absurd premise.

37. Secrets of the Silent Witch

The witch is really shy but extremely powerful. In a world where you can’t normally cast spells without speaking she can. But then she gets an assignment that puts this shy character into a school setting to protect a prince.

38. Management of a Novice Alchemist

She’s an alchemist who is learning. And now she has her first shop set-up out in the boonies. How is she going to help the people out there?

39. Isekai Cheat Magician

Isekai, check. Massive powers, check. Still a lot of fun, yeah. Doesn’t stand out, but you get the picture.

40. My Next Life as a Villainess All Routes Lead to Doom

Isekai, yes. No massive powers because the main character is reincarnated into a video game as the villainess and her main goal is to avoid all the bad endings her character gets in the otome game.

41. Love After World Domination

What happens if the two main powers from rival factions fall in love? Can they keep it hidden? This is an absurd but fun story.

42. The Unaware Atelier Meister

Kid is super powerful, don’t convince him of that, instead let him just use those powers to help others.

43. Kakuriyo – Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

You can see spirits and when your grandfather passes away you inherit his debt in the spriti realm. It’s an interesting story but doesn’t quite make it.

44. In Another World with my Smart Phone

Could and maybe should be lower, but isekai but with your smart phone.

45. The Dreaming Boy is a Realist

Should be higher, the main character has a love of his life. He professes it every single day and gets shot down. So one day he stops and just wants to help his love live a happy life, but does she happen to actually have feelings for him.

46. Cardcaptor Sakura

Kids show about a girl who has to capture cards that escaped her basement and only she has the power. Silly fun.

47. How Not To Summon A Demon Lord

Video game characters summon and try and bind a player character bringing him into the game. But the spell bounces back on them and now they are bound to him. Kind of like In Another World with my Smart Phone, doesn’t stand out.

48. Why The Hell Are You Here, Teacher!?

Students keep on finding themselves in compromising situations with teachers. It’s a comedy and not that great.

49. I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability

Not an isekai, the character is just brought back to his same world. The main character is a bit annoying, his sidekick is more annoying, and the story doesn’t stand out.

50. Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles

Reincarnated in another world and into someone who wants revenge. It feels like many isekai before.

51. Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero

You can get pulled into another world, get powers and return. It’s honestly very forgettable for having a different premise.

52. The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody

Maybe should be higher, but the Great Demon Lord is reborn in the future, a last ditch effort to save himself. Now he’s a new person, or is he, in a new body.

53. Reborn as a Vending Machine

Isekai, check. But this time it’s as a vending machine that can level up. It’s probably too low because it is something different, but also mainly is just okay and fun most of the time. I think it’s that the novelty wears off.

54. Death March To The Parallel World Rhapsody

Isekai, check. But this time into a game that the person created, or something close to that. Doesn’t feel that interesting.

55. Love Tyrant

Your name is put in the Kiss Note (not Death Not) you need to kiss someone or you’ll die and then you fall in love. It’s an okay comedy, romance, harem anime.

56. The Silver Guardian

You’re in love and also in a video game. This anime is just a mess as it’s about a video game that’s going to be shut down and needing protect the person you love. Sounds simple enough, but the anime doesn’t do anything that well.

57. Domestic Girlfriend

You love your teacher, you bang her sister (unknown to you) and then they become your step siblings. It’s erotic and romantic and generally garbage. I’m glad they made a season of it because the actual ending sounds worth than the one season was.

58. Raven of the Inner Palace

This should be higher, but it’s this low because it’s the if you watched The Apothecary Diaries watch this. This, however, has none of the heart, little of the mystery and animation that is flat and lifeless. It’s probably better than some, like I said, but the gap is so huge and it feels like a disappointing anime more than the others.

Final Thoughts

Great year for watching anime for me. And I should say, this is not all I watches. I watched Sangri-La Frontier again. And then there were season two of My Dress-up Darling, Kaiju #8, and Dan Da Dan. Plus I rewatched some anime as well like Solo Leveling and Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki. And of course I’m watching My Hero Academia now. It’s one that I’ve watched before, but with the final season out now, it’s time to watch the whole thing.

What’s your standout anime that you watched this year?

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