Is All the things Isekai? Anime in 2025 Retrospective

Okay, fine, we’ll talk about Solo Leveling.

Anime in 2025 has been an exercise in patience. When Solo Leveling won the award for best anime at the Crunchyroll Awards, it was already clear that we’re going to be spammed with Isekais for the rest of the year.

It doesn’t help that the current season of One Punch Man has received poor reviews across the board, and there were few bright spots in the new releases that emerged. But, despite all this, a lot is happening in the world of anime, and we’re going to take a look at some headlines that have kept otakus engaged. 

Awards Season: A Memorable Snub

The Crunchyroll Awards awarded Solo Leveling the best anime badge. And while the series has its fans, many critics pointed towards Frieren as the deserving winner. While the isekai is the more beginner-friendly of the two anime, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a masterclass in character writing, and features actual tragedies (unlike Solo Leveling, where every compelling character is written out post a few appearances). 

While Dandadan was nominated for most awards at the show, it won only the awards for “Best Character Design,” “Best Anime Song,” and “Best Opening Sequence.” Both awards were well-deserved, and it was a worthy contender for the “Best Anime” award, even though the ending of the first season wasn’t great.

The other awards were decent. Demon Slayer’s new arc, “Hasira Training,” was a fun pastime, and the movie “Infinite Castle” was a massive hit at the box office. It won the award for the best continuing series. 

“Look Back,” a genuinely warm coming-of-age story, won hearts around the globe and picked up the original movie win. The time-traveling tale follows the life of a young mangaka, exploring fate and the future. And “Ninja Kamui” won the Best Original Anime award, and despite the slower recent episodes, one could argue that it deserved the award. 

Now, Crunchyroll awards are usually popularity-based. We can look to the Tokyo Anime Awards for a more critical examination of the anime scenarios. 

The Anime of the Year at the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival (TAAF) was Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. For those unaware of the story, it follows an Elven mage who revisits friends and goes on a long journey. The story reflects upon life, friendships, and how immortals might feel when their friends pass away. It’s genuinely stunning in terms of visuals and features some of the most well-written characters in anime. 

For the movie awards, TAAF awarded Look Back, which was well-deserved. 

What To Watch: Summer Anime 2025

Before our awards season review gets you down, understand that summer 2025 was still an insane season for anime. There were really impressive sequels and some debuts that we’ll remember for ages. Let’s take a look at three that we highly recommend:

1. Sakamoto Days

Sakamoto Days started slowly in January. Fans complained about the muted color palette and lack of fight choreography in a show that features some of the most gorgeous fights from the manga it’s adapted from. However, before people could dismiss the anime as just another Netflix failure, the makers stepped in and delivered one of the best comebacks in anime history. 

The second part of Sakamoto Days is an actual delight. The colors pop, and the action scenes rival the likes of Jujutsu Kaisen and One Punch Man. If you’re looking for warm, found-family stories where the stakes are high, this is the anime to watch in 2025.

2. The Summer Hikaru Died

This horror anime doesn’t play around with jump scares. The story follows Yoshiki and Hikaru, two oddball friends who grow up together. As the story goes on, Yoshiki realizes that an eldritch horror has replaced Hikaru. 

If you’ve ever wondered if Lovecraft could get over his rather over-the-top racism to write about Japan, this is the series you need in your life. The anime genre has given rise to some of the best psychological horror available, and this is no exception. 

The small town in Japan features some deadly secrets, and you can drift into a sense of unease that just doesn’t leave. This is one of the best first seasons in anime in recent years, and it promises to become better as time passes.

3. The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity 

If you’re tired of the violence in Sakamoto Days and the horror in The Summer Hikaru Died, you’ll be charmed by this series. Rintaro Tsumugi and Kaoruko Waguri are the main pair in question, and they come from different worlds. Tsumugi is a student at a public school who appears to be a delinquent but carries a heart of gold, and Waguri is a student at the Kikyo Private Academy. 

The world’s clash makes the story even more complicated. But the story is warm and filled with warm art. People who love Skip and Loafers and My Love Story!!

4. Bonus: The Rose of Versailles 

When Netflix licensed the remake of The Rose of Versailles, it might have come as a surprise to anime fans. While the shoujo manga is one of the classics and is considered a beautiful story, this movie does the storyline justice with a fresh treatment. 

This anime movie is filled with musical numbers that lend credence to its premise (set in the late French Empire) and features some very compelling characters. Oscar, the woman charged with guarding Marie Antoinette, is the standout in this case. The story is compressed for the format, but the visuals and the music more than make up for this. If you’re looking for a date night anime, this is the movie to plug in.

The summer release slate has been incredible, with some anime that have made a lot of noise. Now that we know about the anime that’s already out, we’re going to take a look at some future releases that we’re looking forward to. 

Eagerly Awaited: Winter 2025 & Early 2026

 There are some releases that our team is eagerly awaiting as we head into 2026. Let’s take a brief look:

1. Record of Ragnarock

The second season of Record of Ragnarok ended with the wild fight between Zerofuku and Buddha. So, the third season is expected to feature fights with Hades, Susano’o Mifako, Apollo, and Leonidas. 

Now, the reason this anime doesn’t top many lists is that the animation is bad. However, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, since Season 2 improved upon Season 1; there’s a chance Season 3 will be even better still.  And even if the animation is bad, there’s just some sort of joy in seeing Gods fighting humans.

2. Jujutsu Kaisen 

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 was a massive disappointment in terms of the animation. However, the season 3 scheduled for 2026 might mark an improvement. Given the negative reviews that have marred some of the shonen series released this year, MAPPA (the production studio) may actually put more effort into improving the series. At least we hope they will.

3. Hell’s Paradise

MAPPA pretty much picked up the cream of the crop with JJK, Hell’s Paradise, and Chainsaw Man. The story of an Edo-period ninja with dark fantasy themes is something to watch out for, and it does work well. The series is gory and inventive, and the art style is really unique and interesting. There’s a lot to watch out for in season 2 here, and we’ll be offering prayers so that MAPPA doesn’t mishandle it. 

2025 has seen the release of some excellent anime. Sadly, the most popular out of the crop have not met expectations. Solo Leveling has dominated the charts, and while that will pave the way for the adaptation of more manhwa, the proliferation of isekai is becoming annoying. But, as always, if you look under the surface, there are a lot of excellent stories that are streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix, and you should watch them to the finish!

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