Staff Picks: The Best Anime of 2025
Achievements in animation and the return of some of our favorite creators
We’re back with our second Staff Picks post, following up our video games list with the best anime of 2025!
This year we had a bit of an accidental theme of our contributors trying out series and movies that they didn’t think they’d like, only to come away pleasantly surprised! Who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? Keep reading for our full lists, featuring smash-hit action movies, contemplative sci-fi stories, and the triumphant return of some industry luminaries.
David Estrella
#3: Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is this year’s hyped-up Gundam release, notable for being a collaborative effort between Sunrise and Studio Khara. The project is overstuffed with important names and talent, promising the world and delivering on almost none of the expectations people had walking in. Basically everyone that likes Gundam did not enjoy this one but I thought it was great, if just to witness the temerity of the meta-narrative challenging the sanctity of the text of original Gundam. More than anything that GQuuuuuuX actually managed to accomplish, I love the idea of the work fighting with the source material in an effort to make something new even while actively crumbling under the weight of legacy. This is the kind of train wreck I enjoy watching, one that I’ll remember long after people move on to grumbling about the next big disappointing thing.
#2: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc is the follow-up to MAPPA’s TV adaptation of the hit manga published in Shonen Jump. It’s both a dumb, loud action flick and a tragic love story between a horny dumbass and a totally normal coffeeshop girl that likes him back for real. I went to see it twice and I would have gone three times but the theater cancelled my screening at the last minute. The Reze movie is everything I wanted out of a big-screen adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s weirdo sex pervert manga. Every extra embellishment is earned and deserved, leaving no question about whether or not the anime could do justice to the original manga.
#1: The Colors Within
I’m an easy mark for films about music so when I heard that Naoko Yamada had a new work coming out, I was immediately onboard. It’s been a long time since the K-On! TV series and as much as things have changed over the years, everything about the film felt “right” without leaning into nostalgia. Science Saru steps in for Kyoto Animation on this story about three teenagers from drastically different backgrounds meeting by chance and forming a band to play at a school festival. Countless small actions and events lead up to the climactic performance, ending with the kind of energy that makes one want to run out of the theater and start a band that same day.
Inaki
#3: Medalist
I’ve dabbled in sports anime before but I’ve never considered it a genre I’m well versed in, or even one I seek out. Of everything I watched this year, Medalist surprised me for how quickly and how deeply it sucked me in. I burned through all of it as quickly as possible and am stuck here waiting for the new series. The TV anime pacing, the long stretches of building up tension and then relieving it, are addictive and the characters are extremely likeable and fun. Sometimes you end up in a hobby with a bunch of strangers you might not otherwise have any reason to talk to, something Medalist nails that I can’t remember seeing anywhere else.
Sports anime tends to be hyper youth-focused but part of the charm of Medalist is in its cast being in very different stages of their lives, from the young main cast to former Olympians whose heyday is decades in the past. Even in 2025, cuteness is justice: かわいいは、正義.
#2: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
I will die with criticism of erstwhile sex pervert and manga-ka Tatsuki Fujimoto still on my lips, but sometimes the biggest, loudest, most anticipated work of the year is actually just that fucking good. I went to go see this film on something of a lark, quickly getting caught up on the manga the day before heading to the cinema, and fell for the film body and soul. This is a running theme in my Staff Picks this year but having seen it, I now totally get it. This film is genuinely amazing, and the film adaptation manages to cover many of Fujimoto’s deficiencies as a creator (even where it adds in some of its own — I will never forgive adding a spider catching a butterfly to the otherwise amazing pool sequence). It packs so much in that I was convinced it was an adaptation of at least one or two entire tankobon and was shocked to go back to the manga and find out it was only a couple of chapters.
It’s amazing that I also got to go see this in the cinema, a world I could only dream of in the recent past. A wonderful reminder of why we fell in love with anime and never left, not just the tits and blood but the artistry, the level of craft you can’t see anywhere else.
#1: Apocalypse Hotel
The best TV anime of this year, a hauntingly beautiful meditation on life in the 21st century that sits at the intersection of capitalism, environmental anxiety, COVID trauma, and resurgent multiculturalism. It uses its science fiction trappings to explore finding your sense of self in a broken world, in the powerfully understated way that is quintessentially Japanese. Every episode has a new, unexpected direction for the show to go in and all of them are beautiful. Apocalypse Hotel also contains some of the most gorgeous cuts of animation I’ve seen in recent memory: I genuinely don’t think I’ve seen anything this year that affected me more than the show’s opening.
Watching Apocalypse Hotel put me through a wide spectrum of emotions, from genuine horror and dread with deep roots in real-world anxieties to simple joy to the gentle acceptance of time’s relentless march. A work that will enter your blood and never leave it.
Evan Minto
#3: CITY the Animation
Kyoto Animation is back with their first non-sequel production since the arson attack that took the lives of 36 staff members at the studio in 2019. CITY adapts the comedy manga of the same name by Keiichi Arawi, creator of one of the studio’s most recognizable productions: Nichijou. And a spiritual successor to Nichijou this certainly is, with the same quirky sense of humor and penchant for drawn-out, hyper-dramatized gags, though this time the cast has widened to include a lot of adult characters and a lot fewer high schoolers. The real star of the show, however, is the art and animation. CITY’s characters and backgrounds are drawn with flat colors and thick lines, and the show is almost entirely devoid of complex post-production effects like lens flares. Instead, KyoAni sets about meticulously recreating the feeling of a hand-drawn marker illustration, complete with hatching to render shading, depth, and even blur. And as good as CITY looks in still-frame, it absolutely sings in motion, bringing Arawi’s designs to life with beautifully expressive character animation in every shot, without fail. CITY is worth the price of admission for the art alone.
#2: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
I had some gripes with the first Chainsaw Man season back in 2022, which I enjoyed despite it not fully capturing Tatsuki Fujimoto’s zany, punk-rock sensibilities. The Reze movie gets considerably closer to what I love about the original manga while adapting one of the best arcs in the series. Denji’s in love once again, this time with sweet high school girl Reze. But as their budding relationship kicks into gear, our horny teenage protagonist learns a lesson that’s central to the whole series: ”everybody wants Chainsaw Man’s heart, but nobody wants Denji’s heart.” To its credit, Reze Arc spends an inordinate amount of time on human drama, building up the romance and eroticism of Denji and Reze’s connection with sensitivity and a steadily rising sense of dread. And when the big moment hits, the movie explodes — literally. The final hour is a nonstop barrage of blistering fight scenes, propelled by director Tatsuya Yoshihara’s (Yatterman Night) impeccable sense of timing. The Bomb Devil is a terrifying sight, capable of nearly instantaneously exploding anything nearby, and the finale has a real sense of stakes and impact. And to my delight, we get some of the splashes of color and looser, more expressive animation that Chainsaw Man always deserved. If this is the trajectory the anime is on, we’re in for a real treat in the coming years.
#1: New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
To start with, a disclaimer: I’m friends with a few folks at Studio Trigger, so it’s a little hard for me to be totally unbiased here. That said, is it any surprise that New Panty & Stocking is my Anime of the Year? The maniacs at my favorite anime studio finally got the rights to make a sequel to one of their most beloved shows and put the full force of the studio behind it. New Panty & Stocking picks up right where the original series left off (five minutes later to be precise). After a rollicking first episode that quickly and hilariously dispenses with the first season’s non-sequitur ending, the new series delivers episode after episode of massive flexes in both concept and execution. A whole episode animated like ’60s superhero cartoons and Jack Kirby comics! An uncle-themed collectible card game featuring the rare “Blue Eyes White Uncle”! A semen-themed Fast and the Furious parody! The team constantly experiments with the show’s visual style, showcasing work from Trigger’s stable of world-class animators and directors, from veterans like Yoh Yoshinari (Little Witch Academia) to rising stars like Kai Ikarashi (director of the upcoming Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2). No anime I watched this year was as consistently surprising or made me laugh as much as New Panty & Stocking.
Patrick Sutton
#3: Momentary Lily (Episode 1)
I was in Japan when the first episode of Momentary Lily aired and just happened to catch it live with my friend Tom Aznable. It was an unforgettable experience of shock and horror as Tom was exposed to the majesty of GoHands for the first time. I haven’t had that much fun watching a single episode of anime in a long time. It was great to see GoHands firing on all cylinders with weird angles and insane spaghetti hair once again. Do I recommend the show to folks? Not really, but that first episode is definitely a future anime con room party crowd-pleaser.
#2: CITY The Animation
I adore Kyoto Animation and Keiichi Arawi so I was excited to see what they could do together for the adaptation of Arawi’s comic CITY. They knocked it out of the park with one of the most imaginative and incredibly animated series in years. There’s at least one segment in every episode that will blow your mind. The colors are wonderful and vibrant. The show is just full of charm and made me happy to watch it every week.
#1: Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl
Yasuomi Umetsu is back baby. The legendary animator and director known for Kite and Mezzo has finally returned with a new “series” and it ruled. Virgin Punk is the story of a young woman working as a bounty hunter who gets tied up with Umetsu’s creepiest creeper villain yet. This first “movie” was only 30 minutes but it was all killer no filler. Umetsu proved that he still has it with fantastic action choreography, animation, and direction. The story still has his signature skeeviness that might turn some off but it’s not as bad as some of his previous works. It’s supposed to be a series and ends on a cliffhanger but the supplemental materials that played after the screening didn’t fill me with confidence that we’ll be seeing the rest anytime soon, if ever.
Check out our video game picks and look out for our “Everything Else” (all of our non-anime/game picks) on Patreon in the coming days!