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Nowhere to go but up from here (hopefully)…

No sugarcoating it – Winter 2025 looks pretty barren for my tastes. There are a couple of high-end prospects, but in terms of depth it’s one of weakest seasons in years on paper. The usual caveats apply – seasons can surprise you. But they usually don’t. At this point my radar is pretty well-honed, but I go into every season with an open mind.

As you probably know, my benchmark for previews is one-third. That is to say, almost invariably I wind up previewing about a third of the new series on the schedule – never by design, that’s just how it falls. Well, this winter it’s barely 20% – 11 shows out of 53. And that’s not with an especially rigorous screen either (the weaker the prospect group the more I lower it). That may very well be the lowest preview percentage of any season since I’ve been doing this, though I wouldn’t swear to that. It’s certainly an indication that this season aligns very poorly with my anime profile.

What really stands out for me – sadly – is just how many isekai manga are being adapted. We’re used to a crush of isekai of course, a scourge of anime. Only rarely are they interesting and the overwhelming majority of them are pretty much generic. But that’s been driven by LNs mainly. It was inevitably that the isekai trend would bleed into manga more heavily given that it’s basically an easy buck – it’s been happening for a few years. But I’ve never seen this many isekai manga adaptations in one season. We have the usual LNs too of course, which makes the pool of potentially good shows a lot shallower if your tastes align with mine.

I’m not really able to point to any one element and say it’s a strong suit. Sequels are thin on the ground for me, though there are a couple of very big ones (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun being the biggest). There are several romcoms I’ll at least trial – I guess that would be the strongest genre on paper. Straight-up comedy, sports, sci-fi, fantasy – it’s just a series or two here and there and that’s it. It’s also a thin season for original series, and quite lacking in big-name directors. All in all I haven’t seen a crop this bare since the COVID seasons of 2020-2021.

Winter does tend to be a weaker season in a typical year, so I’m not as worried as I would be if there were a spring or fall season. Still, compared to the last couple of winters it’s rough. With stuff like Rurouni Kenshin, Dandadan, and Ao no Hako carrying over I’ll certainly stay busy. But for stuff like the Patron Pick, it could be slim pickings indeed. This is the sort of season where you desperately hope something emerges from completely off your radar and turns out to be a big winner.

This is my 55th (I think) Season Preview here at LiA. Thanks to everyone who’s joined me for part of that ride. Here’s hoping efforts to make the site financially sustainable bear fruit, and these previews will continue to be free for anyone who finds them useful and entertaining. As we embark on another year my operating costs continue to skyrocket – hosting alone is more than doubling – so more than ever I’m going to be dependent on your financial support to keep LiA alive. To everyone who’s pitched in to help that cause – you have my sincere gratitude.

 

Let’s move on to Winter 2025.  As usual, the poll is in the sidebar – please go vote!

 

Highest Expectations:

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 2 – Lerche: (PV) Make no mistake, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun is a massively popular manga. The surprise is not to see it get a second season, but that it took as long as it did. Better late than never is the operative phrase here I suppose, and a season has never needed a tentpole series more than Winter ’25. This is absolutely my top expectations series and it’s reassuring knowing it’s going to deliver.

There are some interesting questions here. The first season, which overall did an excellent job capturing the surrealistic visual style of the manga, skipped a fair amount of material. Very fine material at that. Might we see some of that restored to the narrative now? There was even speculation that this would be a reboot, but that’s almost certainly not the case based on previews. The show can sustain the overall narrative without what was cut, but it’s still a shame if that’s the end of it. There’s also Andou Masaomi’s departure as director, which is a concern. Fukui Youhei is untested as a director but has certainly worked in other roles on some tremendous series.

Ogata Megumi’s towering performance as Hanako-kun (and Tsukasa-kun) is certainly the engine driving this vehicle. She’s tremendous here in a very demanding role. But overall it’s a very good cast, and a lot is asked of them because this is a shockingly dark series a lot of the time. In that it shares some qualities with its stable-mate at GF Fantasy, Kuroshitsuji. Both are commercial giants – this series has not received the same level of anime support that Black Butler has. But it makes sense to believe that eventually both are going to receive complete adaptations.

Medalist – ENGI: (PV) Medalist is a manga that’s been at the forefront of critical acclaim almost since its debut. It won the Next Manga Award in 2022, and the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2023, and has a boatload of other nominations on top of that. None of that means anything in a vacuum of course, but it’s fair to say that the bulk of opinion on this series is overwhelmingly positive and it’s been garnering a ton of buzz since it first got noticed.

I do love me a good sports anime, and a seinen so much the better. I’m not especially a fan of figure skating but that’s probably not a problem given my track record. The focus of Medalist is on the youth development side of the sport – and this is a sport where champions are usually pretty young to begin with (especially on the women’s side). The two main characters are a fifth-grade girl trying to make it to the top in ice dancing (probably the least well-known of the major figure skating disciplines), and the former hotshot prospect who takes it on himself to coach her to the top.

There’s loads of potential there, obviously. Is Tsukasa trying to live vicariously through Inori? What about the other kids she competes with? The downer here is that ENGI is hardly a studio with an impressive track record, and this figures to be a sport that’s tough to animate well. But the previews look pretty decent, and director Yamamoto Yasutaka and writer Hanada Jukki are experienced and typically very good as their jobs. On balance Medalist figures to be one of the better adaptations of 2025, and it’ll be a disappointment if it doesn’t turn out that way.

 

Mid-table:

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 2nd Season – OLM, TOHO: (PV) To absolutely no one’s surprise, its anime adaptation turned The Apothecary Diaries into a (more) massive hit. Already popular as a light novel and then a manga, it really exploded after this adaptation hit the airwaves. It ranked just being Sousou no Frieren as a commercial powerhouse, and it’s certainly going to receive a completer adaptation unless something very strange happens.

I don’t like that many LN adaptations, as anyone who’s followed this site even a little will know. But I really did like this one. It might even have a shot at 2024’s Top 10 (I haven’t ground the numbers yet), and that’s in a pretty good year. Some of the mysteries were pretty thin gruel but Maomao is a wonderful protagonist, with Yuuki Aoi absolutely nailing the role. I also really liked Lakan as a side character (and her father, as it turned out), and his arc was the high point of the season for me. Also, my doctor’s office has a poster for the series up in the waiting room and that has to count for something.

Sakamoto Days – TMS Entertainment: (PV) Sakamoto days has evolved into one of Weekly Shounen Jump’s most popular series. My podcast cohost Samu considers it a potential “next big thing” (and it’s one of his favorites in the magazine to boot). I’ve sampled it a bit and to be honest, it never did that much for me. But sometimes it’s different once the transition to anime happens. We shall see.

Considering that it is very popular, it’s odd that it’s taken so long (19 volumes) for Sakamoto Days to hit the screen. It also doesn’t seem to be receiving the first-class anime treatment you’d expect, if the previews are anything to go by. On the other hand it has a two-cour (split) commitment out of the box. And it figures to get a long adaptation even if the anime doesn’t significantly boost manga sales (which are already copious).

Story-wise this is the tale of a former assassin who’s grown contended (and fat) with his peaceful family life. But (stop me if you heard this before) he receives an offer he can’t refuse to be drawn back into the underworld. I’m fully aware that battle shounen (not least in WSJ) are legendary for slow starts, and maybe I just didn’t give Sakamoto Days enough play on the lead. I’ll certainly give the anime every chance to win me over.

Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu – Blade: (PV) In a season that looks pretty bereft of sleepers – and creatively ambitious prospects generally – Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu really stands out. It checks a lot of boxes – workplace comedy, adult cast, well-regarded source material. Blade is a studio with which I’m honestly not that familiar but apart from that the signs are positive (and any port in a storm).

The story here is a pair of co-workers who are totally into each other to the point of being unable to keep their hands off each other, desperately trying to hide their relationship. That could be a lot of fun or could be pretty derivative, but as noted the manga seems to be well-liked. It’s also completed, which is a positive – though it was 15 volumes, which could pose a serious problem if this is a single cour.

Honey Lemon Soda – J.C. Staff: (PV) This is a series that would certainly have received an adaptation sooner if it were a shounen. Honey Lemon Soda has sold at least 12 million copies of its 26 volumes, making it one of the best-selling shoujo manga of the past decade. But shoujo doesn’t pull the same weight in anime (many popular titles wind up with live-action dramas – HLS has had a film already), and it’s taken almost a decade for this adaptation to finally hit. It’s at J.C. Staff too, which in recent years has usually meant dirt cheap and CG-heavy. But the previews look pretty decent, for what it’s worth.

I haven’t read any of the manga, so I’m going in pretty cold here. By reputation it seems to be seen as a pretty by-the-book shoujo romance with better than average execution, but I’ll reserve judgment until we have actual episodes to consider. The story follows a shy, bullied girl who meets a flashy yellow-haired boy (thus the title) when she gets to high school. He slowly encourages her to open up to the world, and romance blooms. Sounds fine, if pretty familiar.

 

Modestly Interested:

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku – Studio Bind: (PV): Honestly, there’s not much in this tier that feels like a real prospect to me.  But Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku has as good a chance as any of them I suppose. It’s the story of a genki girl on a tiny island (population 600) who joins the broadcasting club because she loves storytelling. This has more than a whiff of “healing” and CGDCT to it, but the manga is decently reviewed. Studio Bind is basically “Studio Mushoku Tensei” up to this point, so I have little familiarity with them.

Übel Blatt – Satelight: (PV)  Übel Blatt is quite a popular manga. It finished in 2019, which once upon a time would have made an adaptation in 2025 a longshot. But adapting long-finished manga is a thing now, and Satelight is in charge of this one. Übel Blatt chronicles the travels of a mysterious scarred man wielding a black sword in a dystopian world. I’ve heard it called a poor man’s Berserk, among other things, and overall in addition to being a decent seller the series seems to be pretty well-regarded. Again, not familiar with the manga directly but it’s good a chance as any of these bottom feeders.

Zenshuu. – MAPPA: (PV) An original from MAPPA about a rising young anime director assigned to do a series about first love, dealing with the fact that she’s completely inexperienced romantically. Series about making anime can be hit and miss but there’s always potential there. LiA quiz: who’s the most important staff member on an original series? With Zenshuu. that person is Ueno Kimiko, who’s been pretty good with adaptations but has a very thin track record with original series.

Sousei no Aquarion: Myth of Emotions – Satelight: (PV) Well, that certainly came out of nowhere. A sequel to an original anime from 20 years ago that I never thought was all that popular? Interesting – maybe this is conceived as a 20th Anniversary project. The original was a post-apocalyptic sci-fi set on Earth after an alien invasion, so I’m assuming Myth of Emotions will follow that theme (details are scarce). All I can say for sure is that the art style is wildly different.

Babanbabanban Vampire – Gaina: (PV) A total stab in the dark. This one is a curiosity at least as it’s the first series by post-Gainax studio Gaina in ages. It’s based on a manga about a part-timer vampire working at a bathhouse trying to keep the owner’s son a virgin so he can enjoy his blood when he turns 18. The problem is that the boy is in love with a girl at school and progressing way too fast. Maybe some comic potential there, though it’s a longshot.

 

Will definitely blog: Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 2, Medalist, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 2nd Season. A small list for a small season.

Sleepers: Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu is honestly the only one I can include here. That doesn’t mean nothing else will surprise me but I’m not vibing anything else as a real threat going in.

 

OVA:

Two seasons in a row with an actual entry in the OVA category is rare these days.

SK∞ OVA: Extra Part – 03/19/2025: (PV) I quite liked SK∞, though the final arc seriously lost its way for me. It’s the sort of series that should lend itself to an OVA, as it’s best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

 

Theatrical:

Two films this winter, not normally the biggest season for theatrical anime.

Versailles no Bara (Movie) – 01/31/2025: (PV) The Rose of Versailles is certainly one of the all-time legends of shoujo romance. I guess rebooting it now is just part of the general trend to revive old chestnuts in new anime form. MAPPA has put together a pretty good staff here including director Yoshimura Ai, but we’re talking about a ten volume manga being adapted in one film. I’m skeptical.

Mononoke Movie: Dai Ni Shou – Hinezumi – 03/14/2025: (PV) I was never as big a fan of Mononke as some. But we don’t see much of Nakamura Kenji’s work these days, so anything new is notable. This is the second in the new film sequence, the first (Karakasa) receiving generally favorable reviews.