January - March • 166 anime
Winter 2025 landed as a season where heavy sequels and confident originals both made noise — 133 titles showed up and a surprising number actually mattered. Solo Leveling Season 2 and The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 were the ones people kept talking about, with BEASTARS finishing its run in a meaningful way.
Honestly, the season felt like a balance between spectacle and slow-burn storytelling. Action and fantasy led the way, but the wins came from shows that made time for characterization as much as set pieces. Production-wise, a few studios — CMC Media and TMS among them — put out work that looked and moved better than their trailers promised.
Solo Leveling Season 2 amped up the scale: fight animation and sound design gave Sung Jin‑woo’s world the punch it needed, and the darker beats landed because the show leaned into them. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 deepened the court intrigue; its quieter character moments and sharper mystery plotting made the second half feel earned. BEASTARS’ final season closed threads with weight, wrapping character arcs without turning sentimental. Sakamoto Days was the season’s surprise for pure timing — goofy, fast, and smart about mixing comedy with real action choreography. Overall, winter felt like a season where bigger titles justified their returns and a bunch of originals weren’t afraid to get weird.
